Although we loved Italy, the lone act of leaving the country was beautiful; we drove through the Alps to get to Switzerland.

An Alp at sunset in Switzerland.

We arrived in the evening and were welcomed with such hospitality by a nice older couple.  They had their own pizza making bar set up for us and their own pizza oven on their patio.  The best part was the way they explained all of the toppings:

Start with tomato sauce and then cheese.  Then we have onions, peppers, olives and tomatoes.  We also have ham, and for the vegetarians: shrimp!

Pizza making party!

 

My favorite part of the entire country though was their massive amount of grapevines.  They basically put France and the Napa Valley to shame, combined.

I love vineyards not for wine, but for delicious grapes!!

The next day we went to the city of Lausanne.  We got a bit of free time and Burke and I fed the birds by the Notre Dame (of Lausanne, naturally) Cathedral, followed by an unending tour of it.  That night we went to Geneva and had dinner with some friends of our group.  They made us some amazing Indian food and felt the need to unceasingly bless us with superfluous gifts until the minute we left.  During the evening, Burke and I were able to slip away and get some time on a pier jutting into Lake Geneva.

It wasn't actually daylight or summer when we were there, but it was indeed this lake.

The next day we went to Geneva again and toured the city and in the evening we went to Lausanne once more before heading on to Germany.

This was at a mall/ refueling stop for us somewhere along the drive. They had way too much fun.

I took this photo of our friend John in Lausanne.

Lausanne

Lake Geneva Fountain

(Note: The first photo in this post was taken by Nicholas Baker and the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th were taken by Alison.