England--Switzerland--Italy
June 23 - July 14, 2004
Allison and I have been lucky enough to explore a number of places together, but, except for a trip to
England with a few days in Amsterdam, we hadn't had the chance to visit Europe as a couple.
It was high on our list. Each of us wanted to show the other some favorite places; mine tending to be in the north,
such as Norway and Copenhagen; hers mostly in the south, such as southern Spain and Greece. When my
English cousin Lucy planned her wedding to Nigel for the summer of 2004, it seemed like the perfect opportunity
to tack on a couple of weeks on the continent. Planning our trip, we were attracted by the thought of traveling
light by rail. We had each done the typical "Europe-on-a-shoestring-in-a-month" trip at least once in our high
school/college years, with great memories. By now our available-time-to-available-budget ratio had shrunk (mostly
on the time side, unfortunately), so we decided on a modified version: a little less hectic (more time in each of
fewer destinations), a little more comfortable (small hotels or pensiones, rather than hostels or campgrounds). Our
goal was to find a mixture of places that I had loved and wanted to share with Allison, places she had loved and
wanted to share with me, and places that neither of us had been; all the while trying to stay as much as possible off
the beaten path to avoid the throngs of tourists on the prowl during the high season. I think we did pretty well,
coming up with a really nice itinerary that turned into a really nice trip. One I could recommend to anyone wanting to
explore these wonderful areas, with an interest in seeing something a little bit different from the standard route.
England
Switzerland #1: Zurich to Ascona
Italy #1: Lago Maggiore: Cannobio & Borromeo Islands
Italy #2: The Cinque Terre
Italy #3: Venice & Lake Como
Switzerland #2: The Mountains
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Photos made using Leica M6TTL with 21/4 cv, 35/2 summicron, and 90/2.8 elmarit lenses and an Olympus Stylus Epic point-and-shoot. Lo-res Noritsu scans.
All images and text contained on these pages are © 2004 Aaron Sandler