Italy and Switzerland...with a 2 month old

I know what you are thinking! Going to Europe with a 2 month old, you are crazy! It can be a little crazy, but not as crazy as it seems. We have a one year old daughter, it definitely would have been a lot harder to be there with her as opposed to our  2 month old. The nice thing about such a young baby, is that they are fairly easy to take care of. They can't move much and if you're nursing (like me) you don't have to bring any food! It was pretty easy actually looking back at it!

I would definitely recommend bringing a comfortable baby carrier such as an Ergo Baby (their new infant carrier doesn't require an insert) and a Solly Baby Wrap. This way your baby is close to you at all times and you don't have to worry about lugging a stroller around. At times it would of been nice to have a stroller since wearing your baby all day long can get exhausting, but its better to leave it because there are a lot of places in Europe that aren't super stroller friendly. Some of the sidewalks are too narrow, some of the streets are cobble stone so your baby might turn into a milk shake if you had to walk too far! Lots of museums and other sites will not allow strollers inside and you have to risk leaving the stroller somewhere that it could potentially get lost or taken. 

Pictured- Solly Baby Wrap 

If you end up going with a friend or spouse, make sure to get a wrap or carrier that they can wear too so you can trade off. Its super helpful to trade off wearing the baby so you both can have resting time to enjoy the places you visit.

More on the baby! The thing that took up the most room for June would be the diapers. We decided to take enough diaper for June to last the entire two week trip. We probably could have found diapers to purchase in Europe, but we didn't want to risk getting there and have trouble finding diapers or the right size and June has REALLY sensitive skin. Baby clothes don't really take up that much room, especially if you are ok with your baby wearing the same thing more than once. I washed some of June's clothes in our hotel bathroom and let them hang dry. This turned out to be a good idea. It helped save space and it wasn't really too difficult to do! 

A Fawn Design Bag is great for travel! It makes it a little bit easier. With our backpack option you can be wearing your baby on your front, and have a good looking and functional diaper bag on your back. This way you do not have to sacrifice style for function. We were easily able to fit what June needed for the day in our bag as well as enough room for our stuff, like a light rain coat or a camera.

Pictured- Fawn Design Bag, in Plum (Coming back Fall 2017)

We like to go to Europe in the Fall, since its not as hot and a lot of the other travelers are back at work or school. We had fun bringing our new Olive and Plum colors and doing some photoshoots in each place we visited to help show that you can have a great looking travel bag for wherever you decide to go! Be sure to book your flights well in advance (at least 6 months before) to get the best deal!

Some airlines require you to take your baby out of your carrier or wrap during takeoff and landing. Be prepared to possibly take them out. When you check in you can ask about their bassinet. Some airlines (like Delta) offer a bassinet to use on the plane! Its great so you can get some sleep! If you flew throughout Europe those airlines usually require you put your baby in a little seatbelt that is hooked to yours haha! I am not sure if it would help much but it sure is cute and funny! 

We got off to a rough start to the trip. First, we took off from LA and had a very short layover and connecting flight in Minnesota. From there we would head to Rome. Unfortunately, we missed our connection! Nightmare! So we had to wait 3 hours and then fly from Minnesota to Amsterdam, then from Amsterdam to Rome. We ended up arriving to Rome several hours late and we missed our train to Florence! We ended up getting to Florence pretty late at night and missed half a day there, but we were so glad to finally be at our destination...believe me! But its so worth it! I would take some unfortunate events to be able to see and visit new places!

Always be prepared for anything! Have plenty of pjs and diapers for the plane! 

Italy and Switzerland were amazing! Our first stop was Florence, Italy. Its a small little city and you can get to a lot of the sites by walking. The Duomo was incredible and one of our favorite things to see in Florence! Another one of our favorite things was to visit a couple of the museums there. The Accademia, where Michelangelo's David is, was really great as well as the Uffizi with a lot of famous paintings. The Duomo museum was really great too! I would recommend getting a Firenze Card for your stay. It gets you into all the museums some other sites as well as lets you skip to the front of the line. That alone was worth it because some of the lines can get pretty long! We stayed at the Pendini Hotel that was close to the duomo and museums and was a great place to stay. Here was the view outside our hotel window.

Pendini Hotel

Pictured- Fawn Design Bag, in Olive (coming back Fall 2017). At the Duomo in Florence, Italy.

After Florence we headed north to Milan. Milan is a larger and more modern city than Florence but has some cool things to see! The Duomo in Milan is amazing! So much detail! Leonardo DaVinci lived in Milan so there are a lot of cool DaVinci things to see. The highlight for us was seeing his painting, The Last Supper. It was painted on a wall inside a church! It truly was amazing! Its pretty tough to get tickets but I would suggest getting tickets ahead of time or find a tour to take because they usually get tickets ahead of time so if you get on the tour you are guaranteed a ticket! June started to cry right as it was our turn to see The Last Supper so I ended up nursing her while looking at the painting, definitely a story we will tell her when she is older!

The Duomo of Milan, Italy

Train ride to Switzerland! June taking in the view!

After Milan we made our way up to Zermatt, Switzerland. This might have been our favorite place we visited. The Matterhorn there is truly an amazing thing to see! Zermatt is a small traditional Swiss town in the mountains. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been! We stayed at the Mont Cervin Palace which had a view of the Matterhorn out of window! So great! The best thing to do in Zermatt is hike up near the Matterhorn. Its also fun to relax and do some shopping!

From Zermatt we headed up to Lucerne. Lucerne is an awesome small Swiss town right on a lake! There are not any major attractions here but its nice to be able to walk around and really take in how pretty the city is and Switzerland in general! If you do find yourself in Switzerland, you definitely need to try the Swiss version of Mac n Cheese. It is so yummy! The noodles are a tad different, but they put chunks of potatoes and ham in it and then the cheese is of course, Swiss! So good! 

The old bridge in Lucerne is one of the more popular things to see and for good reason! It is a beautiful bridge that crosses from one side of the city to the other. I believe it was built around the 1400 or 1500's! There are also really cool paintings on the ceiling of the bridge. Some of the paintings were destroyed in a fire but there are still a lot of them to look at. I definitely recommend walking the bridge a few times if you are there!

Unfortunately, we had to cut our trip short and we didn't get to return to Rome and see all the sites like originally planned. We were super bummed but we'll just have to go back one day! Luckily, the flight home went great and June slept almost the entire flight which allowed me to catch a little sleep too!

I hope you enjoy this post and hopefully you find some useful info! Traveling can be a lot of work sometimes! Just remember the amazing memories you will make! And be sure to take lots of pictures!

Thank you for reading!

-Jenny