Review: Tour of Italy & Switzerland, Tuscany, St Moritz, Cinque Terre, Milan, Florence, Hiking, Cooking Class

Different things about each place held special memories. The fact that we even got to go - not everyone can do a trip like this. Bellagio is stunning.  The views are memorable, the cheese tasting was so much fun, hiking, the cooking class, listening to a great street singer in Florence, hearing by chance a choir practice in the evening in a church in Bellagio. Like Angels. 

 We started out in Milan, had a driver take us to Bellagio. The hotel was amazing. Amazing water view with balcony. Lots of steps and walking - be prepared for that. Easy to walk everywhere and take the Ferry. 

Took the Bernia Express train to St. Moritz Switzerland - St. Moritz nice for the few hours, pretty lake but very expensive. The train ride magnificent. I have always wanted to go to Switzerland so it would be fun to go back.

Then to Portovene - Cinque Terre towns - if you stay in Portovene you can take the boat right over to the villages. That is the way to go - away from the crowds - lovely. 

Then to Tuscany - had a driver take us to pick up a rental car (that part was not fun at the rental car company - the right hand did not know what they were doing at the airport) but it was nice having a car - we had another couple with us and figured things out as we went along. I had done research and asked our travel helper what we could reasonably do in the time period allowed. We hit about all of them. The cooking class amazing. We set that up ourselves - not to be missed. Cook and prepare a meal and then eat together. 

Five days in Tuscany and off to Florence. Do not drive in Florence. We took the rental car back as soon as we found our hotel. Too many pedestrians and people in the streets. Crazy. Florence great for the history and would have liked to see more of that but there wasn't enough time. Too many people in lines. Volterra wonderful, Siena, Pienza, Umbria.