Europe Trip Summer 2009 Highlights

Highlights from our recent trip to Switzerland, France, and Italy. Check out the photos for more about seeing Annecy and Mont Blanc in France, camping in Cinque Terre along the Italian coast, soaking in Florence, our last-minute trip to Rome, and relaxing at Lake Como.

We started our trip in Geneva, Switzerland and enjoyed some time with Daniel's cousin and his family for one night.

They served our favorite Swiss dinner: Raclette. Definitely a good way to start out our trip.

We met up with our good friends Simon & Annette (from Switzerland), and spent the first week of our trip driving and camping with them through Switzerland, France and Italy. Although we had planned to use Annette's parents' camper, it unfortunately got in an accident 2 days before we left! So they quickly looked around and rented this (really nice!) camper instead. It had room for 2 of us to sleep inside and 2 camped outside in a tent. (They were nice and let us sleep on the bed inside since Katie was pregnant!)

This was our typical set-up when we camped. The camper had a great little kitchenette, complete with stove and fridge, so we could cook our meals and eat outside under the awning. We were also able to do our laundry at the campgrounds and string them up to dry, which helped us minimize the clothes we brought (and thus the weight/bulk of our luggage) - important since Katie couldn't lift heavy stuff like luggage onto trains, planes, etc.!

This was a typical campground - European campgrounds seemed really luxurious to us! They had nice bathroom areas like this, with hot water, power outlets, special laundry areas, dishwashing areas and even footwashing areas!

Each day we ate lunch in or around the camper, wherever we were. A typical lunch was bread (fresh if you can get it, and NOT pre-cut - Annette calls pre-cut bread toast since that's all it's good for :) ), cheese, pickles, mustard and some kind of salami.

Our first stop: Annecy, France. This is beautiful Lake Annecy, which somehow managed to have both a tropical clarity and a pristine mountain cleanness and coolness. We enjoyed swimming in it!

This is Old Annecy, also known as the Venice of France. It has several canals going through the town, like Venice, but we've heard it's generally cleaner (and the water is from the lake, not the ocean).

The visual focal point of Annecy (in our opinion) was the Old Prison - called Palais de l'Isle - built from the 12th century. Initially it was used as a castle, which seems a much more appropriate use for such a lovely building than its later use as a prison! However, it has not been used as a jail since WWII, and today is simply a museum.

From Aiguille du Midi you could see several mountaineering teams departing for or returning from a trek up to the top of 15,781-foot Mont Blanc.

Here are two teams, partway up the route to the summit.

From the cable car station we took an elevator up to the very top of Aiguille du Midi. This shot shows you the station below, perched on the edge of the steep incline, as well as Chamonix, France, underneath a layer of clouds.

From Chamonix, we drove through the 6-mile tunnel beneath Mont Blanc, into Italy. This was the next morning's sunrise, peering out from behind a house chimney in the village of Sarre, in the Aosta Valley of northwestern Italy. One thing we noticed passing into Italy from France were these unique slate roofs all around us.

After Aosta, we drove south to the Mediterranean. This is Cinque Terre, literally Five Worlds. It is an exquisite strand of coastline, with five villages built along it, each perched on sheer cliffs above the ocean, and each only accessible by train, boat or on foot. We spent two days hiking one of the trails that connects all 5 villages. This is the second village (heading north), Manarola.

The hiking was hothothot! Not much of a breeze and stifling humidity, but some gelato in Corniglia (the third village) refreshed us.

Looking back from the trail onto Corniglia (right) and Manarola (left).

This was one of our favorite villages, Vernazza. It had charming towers and turrets, and a tunnel beneath the peninsula from the marina on the right of the peninsula to the cove on the left. We ended our first day here, with a nice cool swim and some down time at a cafe.

Arriving in Vernazza very hot and sweaty!

One of our favorite treats in Italy - focaccia! So soft and warm and yummy, with incredible flavor. Daniel also enjoyed many an espresso throughout our trip (often served in martini glasses like this...?).

Katie and our little Sweet Pea at 25.5 weeks.

The trail was beautiful, passing through vineyards carved into the steep hillsides and along the blue-green coast.

After we left Cinque Terre, we drove inland through Pisa, where it was only right to stop off for an hour to see an icon like the Leaning Tower. Here it is, midway through renovation (which, based on Tim and Chesney's photos from their 2004 visit, looks to be a 10-year plus project!). It stands beside the Pisa Cathedral.

There we discovered that, while they claim the tower leans because of an unsuitable, sandy foundation, Daniel is really the one to blame...

The next day we visited Siena, which is a city famous for its really great old, Gothic architecture. We also found it to be one of the steepest and tallest cities we've ever been in! Everything there made you crane your neck to see the top (buildings, hilltops), and/or huff and puff to climb up (streets, stairs). Here Katie stands in front of the Baptistry.

Siena's main square - the really cool, shell-shaped Piazza del Campo, which also houses the Torre del Mangia (that ridiculously tall tower) and Palazzo Pubblico (town hall).

Good thing the annual wild horse race (which runs around the Piazza del Campo) happened earlier this month, or Katie might not look so relaxed.

Daniel and the Torre del Mangia tower over the camera.

We visited the Chapel of St. Catherine of Siena, a Christian mystic and theologian of the 14th century. Katie studied her a bit in school, so it was neat to see where she grew up and ministered.

This lineup of red Vespas was for real. Sometimes we'd see a whole street lined only with Vespas (though they usually weren't matching like this).

Katie roots for this itty-bitty, three-wheeled pizza delivery truck to keep plugging, even though it looks small enough to run on batteries.

From Siena, we continued through Tuscany, into the Chianti Valley, where we stopped in the town of Greve for some wine tasting.

This enoteca (winery) was HUGE, with over a dozen wine-tasting stations, each station hosting some twenty wines (divided up by region, of course).

Then it was on to Florence! We accidentally ended up at this famous viewpoint as we were frustratedly trying to find our way through the city's one-way and closed-off streets to our hotel - a very happy accident indeed.

Katie had waited 15 years to see Florence's famous red-roofed Duomo, and was not disappointed!

Our hotel in Florence was very nice and ... a bit odd. This man met us each day when we got home - he was painted on our hotel room door. The long, all-black hallway was lined with similarly gilt-framed portrait-doors.

Then we entered our room, which ... um, felt stranger still. Thankfully the bed was comfortable even though we never made use of the bar at the foot of our bed, and were unable to figure out how to turn off all the many lights in the room the first night.

This was our PURPLE bathroom. It was very PURPLE. Please notice the PURPLE toilet and PURPLE bidet. Yes, all those little wall and floor tiles are PURPLE.

Our first night in Florence we discovered what we'd already been told, but weren't sure how true it was ... Italian restaurants do not open til at LEAST 7pm. We wandered into town, very hungry, at 6pm and found the streets dead and all the restaurants closed! Finally we found this great place, which let us sit on the patio (so we could rest our feet) and order drinks until they opened at 7pm. By the time we left, around 9pm, the streets were waking up and the restaurant was filling with people.

The famed medieval Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge). It used to be the bridge that all the butcher shops were on, and the butchers badly polluted the Arno River throwing their scraps into it. At some point, a mayor made himself popular by banishing the butchers and putting gold and jewelry shops in their place, which both cleaned up the river and upped the social rank of the clientele. Today it is notable for two reasons: it is still lined with shops, as most bridges used to be in medieval times; and it is also the only bridge in Florence not destroyed by the Nazis in WWII.

Giotto's Campanile (bell tower), beside the Duomo.

Unique graffiti in the stairway that leads to the top of the Duomo. (Brunelleschi was the revolutionary architect who designed the Duomo in the 12th century. At the time it was the largest dome in the world, and prior to Brunelleschi would have been completely impossible to make self-supporting according to the ideas of the day - humorously, this was only because they had forgotten what the Romans knew centuries earlier when constructing the Pantheon, but that's another story... one called Here's How Brilliant The Ancient Romans Were).

The outside of the Duomo, which really just means dome (many Italian cities have a duomo). The real name of the building is the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (Cathedral of St. Mary of the Flowers). But since Florence's duomo is so awesome and beautiful, most people just call it the Duomo.

Ah... dinner at Za-Za's! This was hands-down our best meal in Italy, recommended to us by the wonderful Redfords (thanks again guys!). Beyond-delicious menu, fun atmosphere, good prices...

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Recent photo comments

This staircase inside the Vatican Museum was built so that horses could go up and down them. (For 100 points, can you find Daniel in this shot?)

John Moore: If you look at the round "knob" in the bottom middle of the frame and then look straight down (at approx 11:00 o'clock) Daniel is standing with his right hand on the banister - looking up and across the amazing staircase...looks like he has a dark colored strap on his right shoulder..

Joe: Um... U sure that's him?

Barb Takahashi: Love this

Barb Takahashi: Great shot of your man, Katie!

The Baptistry and Piazza del Duomo at sunset.

Barb Takahashi: What an extraordinary photo, Daniel - great job!

Melissa Sturgeon: Thanks for the tour. It was awesome!

Michelle Petersen: Love it, Daniel! Hey, our place doesn't look so bad... It sounds like you guys had a great rest of the trip. So glad for you.

Nancy Peckham: Nate & MIchelle, It looks like your place is pretty roomy! Great to see a picture of you and your girls.

View all photo comments (24)

Video from our Trip

Dinner Music on the streets of Florence, Italy from Daniel Peckham on Vimeo.

I shot this video while we were eating dinner at Za Za's on the streets of Florence, Italy. These guys came by and played us a couple songs before heading off down the street for some more performing.