Switzerland, Tuscany and Bavaria Summer Vacation

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On even years our summers were dominated by home leave back in the States. Odd years we spent our summers exploring Europe. Two years earlier, from 10 -25 August 1991, we had visited Berlin and Dresden in former East Germany; Prague, Czech Republic; Bratislava, Slovakia; and Budapest, Hungary just before the end of the Soviet Union.

The last time we had been south to Switzerland and Italy was the Spring of 1989, before Will was born and the girls were too young to remember the vacation. Now that he was almost four, the kids were now old enough to understand and enjoy their travels. My Canadian colleague at NATO recommended a villa in Tuscany that he and his wife and many from his delegation had stayed at on previous vacations. So we booked an apartment in the villa for a week.



24 July 1993 Saturday. We drove to one of our favorite places in Europe; Steckelburg, Switzerland at the end of the Lauterbrunnen Valley south of Interlaken in the heart of the Bernese Oberland. We often came here for long weekends when living in Stuttgart, Germany from 1980 to 1984. We arrived in time for dinner at our gasthof, and after took a little walk before turning in. The kids loved the feather comforters/duvets.



25 July 1993 Sunday. We took the cog railway from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen and then on to Kleine Scheidegg, at the base of the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau Mountains. It was a beautiful day, and of course by now all the snow had melted in contrast to the previous visit in 1989.

We could not restrain the kids who were off and running down the mountain trail; and off the trail to pick flowers and make other discoveries. Linda and I merely strolled, and stopped to watch the kids having fun. This time no one needed to be carried the last couple of kilometers of this 8 kilometer hike down to Wengen. Once there we walked around the town and window shopped, and had lunch. Then we caught the cog railway down to Lauterbrunnen.

We then drove through Interlaken and along the southern shore of Lake Brienz and over some passes to get to the autobahn that now went under the Alps at Andermatt and comes out in Airolo. From there it was smooth sailing to Lake Como and southward around Milan down to the Italian Riviera. We checked into a hotel in Rapallo, with a balcony and great views along the Italian coast line.



26 July 1993 Monday. We drove along the coast to Camp Darby, near Pisa, where we bought gas coupons and groceries at the commisary, and then had lunch. We then took the backroads south of Florence across the hills of Tuscany to the town of Figline Val d'Arno, where we checked into our apartment in the Villa Norcenni.

The villa is a large house and associated barns and out buildings all converted to about a dozen apartments. It has a swimming pool for the apartment guests. Down the hill a ways the villa also has a camp ground and several large pools and other recreational activities for the campers.

We got settled and then drove into town to complete our grocery shopping for Italian produce and pasta which we would need for most of our dinners for the week. We returned "home" and made gnocci with pesto sauce which turned out to be the kids favorite pasta dish.



27 - 31 July 1993 Tuesday through Saturday. We spent the week swimming in either our pool or the camp ground pools, went horseback riding, and toured Tuscany and Umbria.

The temperatures were quite hot, so we didn't go into Florence, which would have been a sweltering madhouse of tourists. Instead we visited the hilltop towns such as San Gimignano, and took a major day trip to Assissi to see St Francis's home town and cathedral.

As I said before, we spent most of the time at our pool trying to cool off, although the kids attention was diverted by the villa's kittens. A German girl of about ten took a liking to Will and they played together a lot at the pool. Tamara told her older sister that she would go to hell because she wasn't wearing a top...not sure where she got that idea as topless bathing is routine in Europe. Anyway we were rather embarassed. The kids also went horseback riding; with much fear to overcome on Will's part, but helped by an Italian cowgirl.



1 August 1993 Sunday. We took the autoroute north, bypassing Florence, Bologna, and Modena, arriving at Sirmione on the southern shore of Lake Garda. This is another of our favorite places in Europe. We stop here everytime we pass through northern Italy. As described in previous entries, the town lies on a peninsula that juts up into the lake. Halfway up, there is a moat and castle that creates an "island of the northern end. Behind the castle wall is a quaint town with cobblestone streets and fashionable stores and great restaurants. We got a pass to drive into the town and checked into our hotel on the lake shore. Then we walked to the northern end of the peninsula and explored the ruins of the Roman palace. We ate as soon as restauranrs opened at 6 pm, and were quickly served so were done before our kids could disturb the meals of any other customers.



2 August 1993 Monday. We continued north over the Brenner Pass into Austria and spent an hour or so walking around Innsbruck before continuing to Garmisch and then the NATO School in Oberammergau where we had reserved an apartment for the week. We had dinner at the NATO Officers Club.



3 - 7 August 1993 Tuesday through Saturday. As with Italy, we spent the week swimming at the Oberammergau city pool, and touring the countryside. The weather wasn't as hot as Italy, so we didn't need the pool to cool off; just to have fun. The large pool is indoor/outdoor, and in the winter you can swim under the glass wall into the heated outdoor pool and let the snow fall on your head and shoulders while the rest of you is warm. It also has waterslides and hot tubs and kids pools and everything a child could want.

As for touring, we visited Garmish and saw Jurrasic Park, which really scarred the kids, but they wanted to see it again! We went to the top of the Zugspitz via cable car and returned via the cog railway. We toured King Ludwig II's Linderhof Castle which was his hunting lodge. We drove the Alpine Route to Salzberg, where we toured the "Sound of Music" sights, and to Berchtesgaden for a tour of the salt mines deep under the mountains.



8 August 1993 Sunday. We drove directly back to our home in Overijse.

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