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Published: September 22nd 2007
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We decided to catch a train into Italy from Lucern rather than going backwards to Zurich. This meant we had to change trains at a little place called Arth Goldau. While there was a timetabled connection of 4 minutes, we thought we would play it safe and catch the train before.
However we needn't have worried. Switzerland appears to have excellent timetabling with the local train getting in 4 minutes before the international train and departing another 4 minutes after (so stopping for 8 minutes). This gives plenty of time for people to change to and from the international train without holding it up.
After our short stay at Arth Goldau we jumped on board the international train where we had reserved seats. The train was very full unlike most other trains we had caught recently so you could see why the reservation was neccessary.
Because the train was so full we didn't try to eat on-board. Instead we slept/read in our seats (part of a 2 facing 2 set in a saloon carriage). Ross was excited to note several stations we passed that seemed to have lots of onlookers armed with cameras. It was like a steamrail
trip back in Victoria. At each of these stations (at least 3) there were steam engines present, which obviously attracted all the rail fans. It must have been some special rail day in Switzerland.
After crossing the border we arrived at Milan station where we had a wait of about 30 minutes before catching the local train to Bergamo where Ellen had organised a place to stay which was relatively near Monza (and not too expensive) where the Grand Prix is held.
Ross only had just enough time to take some quick video and photos of Milan Station (and also video a Milan tram) before it was time to depart. Milan station was very impressive with a grand arched entrance but was in the process of being restored with a lot of scaffolding around.
We had no idea what to expect of Bergamo as it was not described in Lonely Planet or Thomas Cook (the travel books we had). Eddie and Ellen kindly offerred to meet us at Bergamo station where we caught a bus back to the place where we were staying. We were pleasently surprised with Bergamo as it was much bigger than we expected
and had a substanital old town area which overlooked the new town below. Also the place we were staying at was very nice, one of the nicest we had stayed at so far. It was like our own unit with a common meals area which we shared with Ed and Ellen and separate bedrooms for each of us. That night (8th September) we headed up the funicular railway (another one!) to the old town where we had dinner and admired the impressive view below.
The next day it was off to Monza to watch the Grand Prix. We had worked out which trains to catch to get there (which were not listed in Thomas Cook as they were only local ones) but had not bothered working out anything to get back.
Once we got off at Monza Station with no idea how exactly to get the track other than to follow the masses, we were impressed to find shuttle buses lined up outside the station. We caught a packed shuttle bus to a large park area about 15 minutes from the station. When we got out of the bus, it seemed like we had to walk forever (about
45 minutes) just to find the entrance to the track. Once we got into the circuit we had huge trouble finding exactly where we could go with our general admission tickets where we could actually get a decent view of the circuit. Unlike Albert Park, Monza is a permanent racing curcuit and much of the area in the centre of the track is occupied by dense bushland. It took us until about an hour before the race started before we could actually find a space where we could see the track. Unfortunately there were no TV screens nearby, but we were on a bend so we did get a good view of the cars going past. We would say however that the event is definitely not staged as well as our race at Albert Park with only minimal signage around the circuit and a lack of detail in the maps which don't show the important things such as the location of toilets, eating areas or general admission areas.
The race itself was fairly uneventful with all but 2 cars finishing the race and Alonso basically leading from start to finish. Nevertheless it was a fun experience and we got to walk around on the actual track after the race was completed.
Getting back to Bergamo was more difficult as we didn't know when the trains left and the platform signs at the various stations we went to was quite poor to say the least. We had to change trains at a place called Carnate Usmate and it was really hard to know which train we had to catch from there as messages were read only in Italian and there were no signs on the platforms.
Eventually we got back to Bergamo and we decided to walk back up to the old town after dinner so we could take some photos (as we left the camera behind the night before). We were very lucky to see numerous firework displays occurring on the horizon from our great vantage point. We had no idea why they were occurring but when Ellen asked a passerby what they were all about, he said that "They are usual for Italy".
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