Our weekend in Switzerland with the Maninis marked our halfway point in our adventure. Four and a half weeks and 5 countries of traveling behind us and four and a half weeks in Italy to go. We have a few impressions in no particular order:
- It is hard not to eat too much when you are on vacation... suggestion: walk more and eat less.
- Rick Steves' tour books are detailed, accurate and helpful.
- Trains and buses in southern Europe run on time and are comfortable.
- We like the concept of Spain's tapas with small portions of many tastes, but the quality is hit or miss.
- Provence's bistros generally serve very good food.
- Provence has many upscale restaurants which are usually great.
- The French smoke a lot (seems like a national pasttime) including in restaurants, so we tended to eat outside where at least it was a little better.
- The Italian's obey the no smoking law in restaurants, so we tend to eat inside. They still smoke a lot at the tables outside.
- We have good weather karma.
- With now having spent about equal time in Spain, France and Italy, we can say they each have different tastes in food and culture. It's hard to put in words, but it really has been a varied vacation so far. The food in France is the fanciest and perhaps best tasting, but we missed our salads and veggies. In Spain we had a few very good meals at upscale restaurants when we splurged, but generally the food was a bit salty and dry for our tastes. Italy remains as we remember it. The food is generally simple, varied and great tasting.
We have updated the previous posts with additional details.
No comments:
Post a Comment