Our long awaited trip is over. I must say it was the best 3 weeks ever.
Flew into Zurich, train to Paris. Apartment in 2nd district. Fantastic!
Flight from Paris to Rome on Easyjet, and another apartment in Rome on Via del Babuino. The apartment had it's quirks, but we enjoyed the location and view.
Highlight of the trip was our week in Tuscany renting a villa. WOW- what a great place. The owner kept us well supplied with his home made olive oil and red wine. Nothing short of amazing.
Off to Como for a few days at a B&B. Train up to Zurich via Luzern, and a stay at Holiday Inn Express at the airport. I add this detail because Zurich is extremely expensive, and this hotel cost us $143 for the night for 4 of us, with a huge breakfast. It was brand new and clean and very pleasant. Bargain by Zurich standards!
What we took away from our trip:
-LOVED going with apartments. They were just great, and we prepared a few meals ourselves which was fun and really made us feel at home (and saved some money).
-We had the entire trip planed to the last detail, even buying our sightseeing tickets prior to going (louvre, Eiffel tower, vatican, coliseum, etc). The only thing we had to pay for was food and any incidentals. This helped not only with expense planning, but generally made the vacation stress free with no lines to purchase tickets!
-I was shocked at how little things cost us, aside from Switzerland. Coffee and croissants for 4 people was only 7 euros! We had some absolutely fantastic meals on this trip for good prices. Authentic local eateries. House wines were great! Also bought the Slow Food book from Italy, which was a goldmine of suggestions all over Italy.
-Switzerland. It is so expensive it really took the pleasure out of it for us. I think will take a miss on it next time.
If anyone wants specifics on any of our rentals, just message me. Oh, and we are already planning our next trip :)