Our first two stops on our backpacking journey were a blurrr to say the least. Due to exhaustion, jet lag, an unfortunate hostel stay, and homesickness
we were not able to give Ireland and London our 100% attention (I suppose they'll need a second visit...). However, we learned to give our next stops more time and adjusted our itinerary so this would be possible (sadly, we had to eliminate Barcelona and Amsterdam - but we added, Zermatt, Switzerland). Brugges, Belgium was a success. The pedestrian-friendly streets
and city walls reminded me of Jo and I's time in Dubrovnik. Out of pure luck we stumbled upon Brugge's twice-weekly open-air market in the city square. Every inch of this space was filled with cheese, sausages, chocolate and most of all, flowers. Northern Dutch country is the world's number one source of flowers - so, you can imagine how beautiful and plentiful the
flowers were at this market. From Brugges, we had a 4-hour layover in Paris - quickly visited the Eiffel tower and hopped back on the train to some random town we picked to stay in for a night in France (Limonges). The next day was followed with extreme efforts
to get out of France and into Switzerland. We were ready to finally see those Alps! (although we were extremely not prepared for the cold weather in Zermatt). We stayed 3 nights in Zermatt, a tiny, carless village tucked at the bottom of the famous Matterhorn (think Grinch's mountain - it's based on the Matterhorn). This town was breath of fresh air that Sondra and
I needed. We rested up and had enough time to truly enjoy where we were. Sandals are not made for hiking nor snow, so we rented coats and boots and took a train up into the snow-topped mountains. We packed a picnic and ate our meal in the snow by a lake. It was one of the most succesful days of our backpacking adventure. It was officially my first time hiking too-
something I look forward to trying again. After this period of R&R/hiking we made one last train ride to our final destination: Lugano, Switzerland.
Sounds like awesome time in the Swiss Alps -- great choice. It is so beautiful there. Your photos are wonderful, and make me realize that I'd like to go there too. Thanks for the blog entry. i love following along with your journey. Now go study hard! :-) Love you, Aunt Tam XOXO
ReplyDeleteBritt,
ReplyDeleteIlove ready your blog. The descriptions of where you were and how you girls are getting along are fun to read. This will be something to look back on someday - a chance of a lifetime. Love, mom