A wide panorama of a clear green lake with moored rowboats below a stone quay, people strolling along both sides, and mountains under a blue sky with white clouds. — Lake Annecy, rowboats moored below the quay.

Summer 2014 · Switzerland, France, Italy

Alps and Piazzas

Two weeks and six of us, from an ice cave under Mont Blanc and the clouds on Pilatus to pigeons on St. Mark's Square and the Sistine Chapel.

When: August 10–25, 2014
Route: Geneva → Cluses → Chamonix → Olten → Lucerne → Annecy → Venice → Florence → Rome → Yvoire
Length: 16 days, 15 nights

We spent two weeks of August in the Alps and Italy, six of us together. Home base was Cluses, in the Arve valley below Mont Blanc. From there we rode up to the ice cave at the Mer de Glace, crossed Switzerland by train to Geneva, Lucerne and the clouds on Pilatus, and spent a sunny afternoon by Lake Annecy.

Then a small plane carried us over the Alps to Venice, the train took us through Florence to Rome, and after the Vatican we flew back to Geneva for a last weekend on the lake and in the mountains.

Day 1Sunday, August 10

Wheels up for London

Worksheets came out on the tray tables as soon as we were in the air for London.

Two girls in purple jackets bend over printed worksheets on their tray tables in an airplane seat row, sunlight coming in from the window. — Matching purple jackets, printed worksheets.

Six of us were flying, and it was a long day ahead.

The practical bits A lunchtime United flight from San Francisco to London.

Day 2Monday, August 11

Cluses by afternoon

1Geneva 2Cluses

After a change of planes at Heathrow, the SWISS flight put us in Geneva before noon, and by afternoon we were across the border in Cluses.

The town sits in the Arve valley in Haute-Savoie, with wooded mountains all around, and it was our base for the Alps.

The practical bits Overnight on United to Heathrow, then SWISS on to Geneva.

Day 3Tuesday, August 12

Under Mont Blanc

3Chamonix

The line for the little red rack train up to Montenvers stretched out the door of the station in Chamonix, and we joined it in the middle of the morning. By noon all six of us were at the railing at the top, with the Mer de Glace winding down the valley below.

A large crowd waits outside a chalet-style station building whose sign reads Mer de Glace, with a dark forested mountainside behind it. — Chalet-style station, dark forest behind, and a sign reading Mer de Glace.

Four adults and two girls pose at a wooden railing in bright sun; behind them a gray glacier runs down a deep valley between jagged, snow-streaked peaks. — Six of us at the railing, and one very large glacier.

Then the ice cave, cut into the glacier and lit blue and green, with a carving glowing in the wall. By afternoon we were back in Cluses.

In a tunnel of rippled ice lit blue and green, an adult in a white cap holds a small girl up against the ice wall. — Held up against the rippled ice wall.

The practical bits Drove up the valley from Cluses to Chamonix; rack railway to Montenvers, where the ice cave is at the top.

Day 4Wednesday, August 13

Geneva by day, Olten by night

1Geneva 4Olten

In Geneva a street performer painted bronze from hat to shoes sat as still as a statue outside a restaurant advertising fondue and raclette. Later we were on the lakefront, with the Jet d'Eau going up behind us.

Three adults stand at a railing hung with flower boxes; behind them a tall fountain rises from the lake in front of the city skyline under puffy white clouds. — Flower boxes on the railing, the Jet d'Eau rising behind.

A girl in a lime T-shirt stands in front of a shop window full of wooden toys, cuckoo clocks, a toy chalet and a painted cow figure. — Cuckoo clocks, a toy chalet and a painted cow in a shop window.

That evening we crossed Switzerland by InterCity to Olten, for a long dinner at a Chinese restaurant near the main station.

The practical bits Geneva to Olten by InterCity. Switzerland was done in day trips by rail.

Day 5Thursday, August 14

Pilatus in the clouds

5Lucerne 1Geneva

The peaks on Pilatus kept going in and out of the cloud. We had come up in the steep red cogwheel train that crawls the rock face, and by early afternoon we were riding the red gondola down over pastures and forest toward Kriens, noses to the window.

Two older adults stand at a wide window; behind them green ridges and rocky peaks disappear into white cloud. — The big window near the top, ridges vanishing into white cloud.

Two girls, one in a knit hat, look out of a cable car window; the cable drops past a pylon and a red cabin over green pasture and forest toward a wide plain. — Knit hat on, the cable dropping past a pylon toward the plain.

After that, Lucerne under a heavy gray sky, and all six of us crossing the covered Chapel Bridge over the river.

A long covered wooden bridge hung with flower boxes crosses a river to an octagonal stone tower under a dark, cloudy sky. — The Water Tower at the end of the bridge, under a dark sky.

The practical bits Cogwheel railway up Pilatus, gondola down to Kriens, then on to Lucerne; back to Geneva that evening.

Day 6Friday, August 15

Macarons in Cluses

2Cluses

Macarons were a euro apiece in a pastry shop in Cluses, and the rest of the day was a quiet one.

A display case holds neat rows of macarons in orange, yellow, pink, brown, green and white, with small flavor labels and a price card reading Macaron Maison, 1.00 euro. — Orange, yellow, pink, green and brown, each row with its flavor label.

That evening we ate outdoors on a terrace, pots on the table and a mountain over the fence.

Day 7Saturday, August 16

Lake Annecy

6Annecy

We drove over to Annecy for the day, under a blue sky full of big white clouds.

In the afternoon we were down by the lake in the sun, the water clear and green below the stone quay.

Rowboats sat moored below the wall, people strolled along both sides of the water, and the mountains rose beyond.

Day 8Sunday, August 17

A propeller plane to Venice

7Venice

We flew out of Geneva at lunchtime on a small turboprop that crossed the high Alps in a clear sky, with snow and a long glacier spread out beneath the wing, and landed in Venice in the early afternoon.

Snow-covered Alpine peaks, ridges and a long glacier spread out below a plane window under a pale blue sky, with the tip of the wing at the top left. — Over the Goms valley in Switzerland, the wing tip in the corner.

By mid-afternoon we were on the Grand Canal, and toward evening there was time for a ride on one of the red marble lions beside St. Mark's.

A crowded water bus passes under the long, low arch of a modern steel-and-glass bridge over a green canal, with pastel palazzi in the sun behind. — A crowded water bus slides under the steel-and-glass Ponte della Costituzione.

Two girls sit astride a worn red marble lion statue on a stone square, the carved marble corner of a basilica and a brick bell tower behind them. — Red marble worn smooth, a brick bell tower behind.

The practical bits Darwin Airline, Geneva to Venice. Most of our luggage stayed in France; we packed only what we needed for five days in Italy. Two nights at the Comfort Hotel Diana.

Day 9Monday, August 18

Pigeons on St. Mark's

7Venice

Our one full day in Venice started early, with the arcade of the Doge's Palace still empty and the sky going pink over the lagoon.

A long colonnade of white stone columns and pointed arches in shadow, framing lamp posts on the waterfront and a pale pink dawn sky. — White columns, pointed arches, lamp posts and a pink sky beyond.

Later the pigeons on St. Mark's Square had company: red summer dresses chasing them across the paving stones, through the crowd.

In the evening there was a rest against the pillars of the same arcade, and after dark we were back on the square, where a café orchestra played under the lights to a crowd at the tables.

A woman and two smiling girls in red dresses sit against a pillar on a patterned stone floor, the columns of the arcade and a crowd running off into the distance. — Red dresses against a pillar, the crowd running off down the arcade.

A tall brick bell tower and long lit arcades frame a crowded square under a deep navy sky. — The campanile and the lit arcades against a navy sky.

Looking back, Venice stands out: a very unique and very picturesque city.

The practical bits The Comfort Hotel Diana: good location, breakfast and internet.

Day 10Tuesday, August 19

Three cities in a day

7Venice 8Florence 9Rome

Three cities in one day, with Florence in the middle. That morning we walked out through the glass front of Santa Lucia station in Venice, headed for the early train to Florence.

People with bags walk in silhouette through a station hall with a glass front; the buildings along a canal glow in daylight outside. — Silhouettes and rolling bags, the canal glowing outside the glass.

We left the bags at the station and saw what we could in an afternoon: Piazza della Signoria, the courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio, and Michelangelo's David at the Accademia.

A woman and a girl in a flowered dress sit on a stone ledge beside a bronze relief at the foot of a statue's plinth, tourists standing above them. — A rest beneath a bronze relief on the statue's plinth.

Two girls in summer dresses stand on a striped floor; far behind them a white marble statue of a standing nude figure rises under a domed, skylit alcove, surrounded by visitors. — David, small and white at the end of the hall under his skylight.

By evening we were on the train again, for Rome.

The practical bits Early train Venice to Florence, bags left at the station, evening train on to Rome. Three nights at the Comfort Hotel Bolivar.

Day 11Wednesday, August 20

Pantheon to Colosseum

9Rome

The morning went to the Pantheon: the tall granite portico outside, then the curved coffered walls and the great dome within.

A massive temple portico of tall granite columns under a triangular pediment inscribed M AGRIPPA, against a blue sky, with a crowd of tourists at its foot. — M AGRIPPA carved across the pediment.

A man in a white T-shirt holds hands with two small girls on a marble floor, the curved coffered walls and a gilded apse of a domed interior behind them. — Small hands, big dome.

Toward evening we walked from the Vittoriano down the Via dei Fori Imperiali to the Colosseum, its tiers of arches warm in the low light, with the crowds milling by the Arch of Constantine.

A man and two girls stand on cobblestones in front of the tiered arches of the Colosseum in warm evening light. — Warm evening light on the tiers of arches.

The practical bits That night we booked the Vatican Museums for the next day.

Day 12Thursday, August 21

The Vatican

9Rome

St. Peter's Square came first, with the obelisk in the middle and the colonnade around us, and by late morning we were inside the basilica, on colored marble under a dome that makes everyone look small.

A man in sunglasses and a backpack smiles at the camera on a wide paved square, with an obelisk and a curved colonnade behind him under a cloudy sky. — The obelisk and the curving colonnade under a cloudy sky.

An older man and woman stand with a small girl on a colored marble floor in a vast church nave, gilded arches and the canopy over the altar behind them. — Colored marble underfoot, the canopy over the altar behind.

Then the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, through tall carved doorways into long galleries with gilded, painted ceilings, crowded with visitors.

A woman holding a small girl stands in a tall carved wooden doorway that opens onto a long gallery with a gilded, painted ceiling, crowded with visitors. — Through a tall carved door, a gilded gallery beyond.

The practical bits Vatican Museums entry booked the night before, and a shuttle to the airport arranged for the next afternoon.

Day 13Friday, August 22

A last morning in Rome

9Rome

Early in the morning the white marble of the Vittoriano was catching the low sun over an empty square. By mid-morning we were up on the Capitoline Hill in our sun hats.

A wide panorama of a huge white marble monument with columns and bronze statues, lit by low sun, behind an iron railing and an empty paved square. — Bronze statues and columns along the top, an iron railing in front.

Two women in sun hats, one holding a small girl, stand on a cobbled square with another girl in orange; a palace with a double staircase is behind them. — Sun hats on the Capitoline, a palace with a double staircase behind.

Then the airport and the flight back over the Alps. Pen and paper came out at a low table in a sunlit departure hall while we waited, and by night we were in Geneva again.

A girl rests her chin on her arms, drawing with a pen on a sheet of paper at a low table in a sunlit departure hall while a woman walks past. — Chin on folded arms, drawing while we waited for the flight to Geneva.

The practical bits A shuttle from the Hotel Bolivar to Fiumicino in the afternoon (excellent, prompt service), then an evening easyJet flight to Geneva.

Day 14Saturday, August 23

Yvoire, on Lake Geneva

10Yvoire 2Cluses

We spent the afternoon at Yvoire, an old walled village on the French shore of Lake Geneva, with stone houses and towers above a little harbor full of sailboats. There was time to sit out on the stone jetty, looking across the lake.

A wide panorama of a small harbor: medieval stone houses and a church tower on the left, rowboats and sailboats on green water, and big clouds over the lake. — Medieval houses, a church tower and rowboats on green water.

Two girls and a woman sit on the rough stone blocks of a jetty beside moored sailboats, with gray-blue water and a far shore behind them. — Rough stone blocks, sailboats moored, the far shore hazy.

By evening we were back near Cluses, at a small lake in Thyez with the clouds reflected in it.

A small lake reflects white clouds, trees and wooded mountains; a sign on a post stands at the water's edge. — Clouds, trees and wooded mountains doubled in the water.

Day 15Sunday, August 24

Lac de Passy, under Mont Blanc

2Cluses

The morning was in Cluses, along the stone embankment of the milky green Arve.

A milky green river runs between a stone embankment and trees toward mountains under big white clouds. — Big white clouds over the mountains at the end of the embankment.

Then Lac de Passy, a clear lake up the valley with the Mont Blanc massif behind it, where the afternoon went to wading and swimming in the turquoise shallows.

Day 16Monday, August 25

Home by way of Washington

The goodbyes came in the hall at Geneva airport, and then it was a long day of airplanes: Geneva to Washington, customs at Dulles, and on to San Francisco.

A ride was waiting at the cell phone lot, with snacks and bottled water for everyone, and once we had the bags we were on our way home.

The practical bits United from Geneva by way of Washington Dulles, due in San Francisco late that evening.

The route