Final thoughts from my European tour

I started writing this post on August 11 and then got crazy busy. Even though I never got to finish telling you about my fabulous Swiss and Italian experiences, I feel I should bring some closure to this topic. So, real quick, here are my highlights and lessons learned (If you are viewing this post alone, click here to see the accompanying photos. Those who have visited my main site can just scroll down.).

Switzerland

• Nothing beats hanging out with a group of Swiss people at a traditional Swiss farm on Swiss National Day (August 1).
• I swam in the Aare River and didn't drown!
• Fabi has the greatest apartment I've ever seen.
• Who knew that glaciers could be so cool, and not so cold temperature wise, in the summer?

Italy

• Cinque Terre is beautiful and some of the five towns that comprise Cinque Terre look like Guanajuato.*
• I got to see Tuscany!!! To relive the experience, I watched Stealing Beauty a few weeks ago.
• Verona is a whole lot bigger than I was expecting but fully worth the visit. Especially worth visiting because Fabi and I met a wonderful globe-spanning trio (a girl from Verona, a guy from South Africa, and a guy from... Mexico!) and had an awesome dinner of pizza and salad to honor my grandmother (some of the money that I used for my trip came from her).

Lessons Learned

• Swiss people are quite good looking... maybe even too good looking.
• Fanny packs and acid wash jeans are making a comeback. Noooooo!!!
• Touching things in Italy could get you killed.**

My European tour was amazing. Practically everyday was perfect and the few things that got us down a bit didn't keep us down for long. I am so glad that I got to visit Lana and Fabi in their home countries. I am so glad that I got to see another part of the world. Now I just have to find a job that will let me take trips like this one more often. :)

*Guanajuato is the town I lived in when I was in Mexico in 2002-2003.
**I touched a bed because I wanted to check for bed bugs at one hotel and the lady told me not to touch. I didn't understand her so I didn't stop and then she yelled at me. A day later, I was touching fruit in a market to find the best one. This is very normal in the U.S. but in Italy it results in looks of death. Luckily, Fabi was there to keep me in line.