Engagementmoon

Well, I’m growing up. Last Wednesday, I returned from a trip to Switzerland and Italy. I left with a girlfriend and came back with a fiancé!

Timothy Pate engagement Zurich

Brittany and I have been dating for nearly six years, and on May 24 I asked her to marry me at Grossmünsterplatz in Zürich, Switzerland.

I’ll save you the mushy details and share some of my favorite photos from our trip.

We started in Zürich, where the above photo was taken. The city was beautiful, and we loved meandering the little streets and popping in shops and cafés. The towers in the photo below are part of Grossmünster church, where I proposed.

From Zürich we traveled south by train through the Swiss Alps to Lugano. That scenic train ride was actually one of the highlights of the trip for me. It’s difficult to describe just how amazing those views were. This quick shot from the train doesn’t come close to doing the scenery justice, but hopefully it gives you an idea.

Lugano was a nice break from the city and was one of the less-touristy stops on our trip. The town sits on Lago di Lugano with mountains jutting up on all sides.

From Lugano when moved on to our first stop in Italy: Milan. I’d been to Milan previously, but I somehow neglected to visit the famous Milan Cathedral. We rectified that on this trip, and it was completely worth standing in long lines in the hot sun.

After Milan, we headed to the trip’s ultimate destination: Cinque Terre. I first visited Cinque Terre a few years back on a study abroad tour. Brittany had never been, but I’d spoken so highly (and tirelessly) about it that we had to go on this vacation.

We stayed in Riomaggiore — the southernmost of the five (cinque) towns. On the first day, we hiked the 11-mile trail through mountains and vineyards to visit all five towns, stumbling into Monterosso exhausted. The hike was just as rewarding as I remembered it to be.

We did some of our best eating and drinking in Cinque Terre as well. If you ever visit, Enoteca Dau Cila and Rio Bistrot in Riomaggiore are two of my favorite restaurants in the world.

After a few days in Cinque Terre and a bonus trip to Pisa, we returned north to Zürich to catch the plane home. It was an unforgettable trip, most of all because I asked this person to spend the rest of her life with me.