Italy/Switzerland, June 2000

Our 2000 European trip was from May 30 to June 13, 2000. We went to four general areas in Switzerland and Italy.

Switzerland

Switzerland in general was almost disturbingly well-ordered. It's like a gated community. But the people in general were very pleasant (except for the train conductors) and we had a marvelous time. As a tourist we felt like guests in a wealthy relative's home - welcome so long as we didn't break anything or create too big a nuicanse of ourselves.

Bellinzona and area
Grindelwald and area

Italy

Italy was dirty, crowded and smoky. The standard of living was clearly a lot lower, and although we were made welcome, there was definitely a feeling of being another cog in the tourist-industry machine.

Florence
Rome

Last modified: Fri Jun 23 16:21:55 Pacific Daylight Time 2000