I've been having trouble getting my photos together from our last big trip. I tend to put off blogging about a trip until the photos are organized and posted to picasaweb.
We took an amazing trip in June for *two* weeks to northern Italy and southeastern France. The trip was also Sarah's birthday present. She said she wanted to be hiking on her birthday. So I planned and planned, and optimized the plan, reworked the plan, added to the plan, and finally we were able to go. The best pics on this trip are Cinque Terre and Chamonix.
We started in Milan, not because we were dying to see Milan, but because that's where I could get decently priced Easyjet tickets. We had a low key day there, we toured the cathedral, walked around the city, and not much else.
A few Milan pics at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/suzypics/Milan
Then we took the train down to Cinque Terre. It's a National park on the Italian seashore consisting of 5 tiny villages built on cliffs over the water, with the area crisscrossed by hiking paths. It's where pesto was invented, and the food was very nice. We had a great room in Riomaggiore, with a sea view terrace with a dead on view of the town's little port. The first day we hiked waaay up to a small church with a huge panoramic view over the coast. The hard part was actually the descent, huge steps down and down and down. Unending steps. Both of us had quivering legs by the time we reached the bottom (we were also hurrying because we were hungry). I spent one day doing nothing but watching the ocean and hanging out on the terrace. The last day there we did the classic Cinque Terre hike, where you hike between all 5 villages. We refueled on some of the the best pizza I've ever had in Vernazza (pesto pizza). One night I also tried fresh lemon marionated anchovies, really incredible. The only downside to Cinque Terre is how many college age Americans were there. It has lost much of its Italian charm compared to our first visit to Cinque Terre 11 years ago.
Cinque Terre pics at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/suzypics/CinqueTerre
After filling up on pesto and fresh fish, we took the train to Aosta, an area in the Piedmont. Aosta is off the tourist track, and it's close to what I really wanted to see, Etroubles. Etroubles is the tiny tiny French speaking Italian village in the St. Bernard pass where my great grandfather was born. We stayed down the hill in Aosta, and unfortunately Sarah didn't do much else. She got a stomach virus of some sort. So I went to Etroubles on a rainy day and checked it out. I had an amazing lunch there. The specialty in the region is meats grilled on hot stone. So I had pork loin, pork chop. chicken, beef steak, sweet spicy sausage, and grilled veggies all on a hot stone. It took a while, but I ate the entire thing, it was really good. I wandered around the town taking pictures as it drizzled. It was deserted because it's between skiing and hiking season. It was the first time in my life I've seen my last name on a street, a memorial, and a wagon. Etroubles is also on the "Via Romea Francigena", a 10th century pilgrimage route from France to Rome. It is also the pass that Napolean took when he led the Italian Army to kick the Austrians out of Italy. The region also has castles dotted on top of hills, we saw a bunch on the bus ride to Chamonix.
A few Valle d'Aosta pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/suzypics/ValleDAosta
We next hit Chamonix Mont Blanc, and settled into our nice Interhome apartment for a week. Sarah was feeling better, but still not 100% after the stomach flu, so we eased into the hiking. By far our favorite hike was Lac Blanc. We took the ski lift part way up, and then hiked across beautiful spring flower encrusted green tundra to a slushy lake. Fantastic views back across the valley of snow capped mountains and glaciers pushing down the mountain. It was an amazing experience. We really enjoyed the town, it was cheaper than Zermatt, was 'familiar' French, and it was early season which meant not a lot of people.
Chamonix pics at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/suzypics/Chamonix
Our last stop was Annecy. It's on a *HUGE* crystal clear lake. We spent a half day cycling around the lake. We had crepes in a memorable setting that night, warm summer day sitting outside on a stone patio by a cute fountain, listening to a harp player.
Annecy pics at
http://picasaweb.google.com/suzypics/Annecy
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