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Published: September 26th 2009
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Lake Luzern
Really foggy, I wish we could have seen more of the mountains but hopefully Lake Como or wherever we go in Italy will be better. It has been an intersting and busy couple of days. Friday we got up and checked out of our hotel in Luzern, then we went to the train station and dropped off our bags. We took a boat ride around Lake Luzern to a little town called Weggis. It was really nice but the fog cut down on the views for sure. We could barely see the mountains at all. Weggis was pretty cool but there wasn't much going on. It's sort of a resort town so very quiet. There was a cable car to the top of a mountain but since it was so cloudy we skipped it.
We left for Milan in the afternoon. The clouds cleared up for the most part in the south of Switzerland and the view was pretty awesome. There were waterfalls that were many hundreds of feet tall and deep valleys with rivers flowing through them, very cool.
It was pretty much impossible to take pictures because of the glare from the train windows, though. The ride through the Lake Como area was so awesome that we have decided to spend Sunday there as a day trip from Milan.
Now for the
Houses in Weggis
Nice little resort town on the lake terrible "adventure" of Friday night: We got into Milan around 8 and made it to our hotel that we had booked though Expedia without much incident. When we got there they told us we didn't have a room, though. Long story short we discovered after 2 cab rides through the city (one terrifying with almost 2 accidents, both expensive)
we discovered finally when our second cabbie figured out that our hotel is in a suberb outside of Milan called Desio. Expedia didn't make it clear and the hotel had the same name as the one that we went to in Milan so it could have been avoided but it's not entirely our fault.
We ended up going back to the first hotel in Milan and just staying there. It was more expensive and we were paying for 2 hotel rooms for one night but after 3 hours (seriously) of running around Milan, we were over it (I was at least).
So that was by far the craziest thing that has happened so far. We are staying in Desio for the rest of the time here. It isn't too inconvenient. Hopefully that will be the worst thing that happens to
us, and we figure something like that was pretty inevitable over 16 days and 7 or 8 hotels.
We spent all day Saturday in Milan, which was great. We went in the Duomo and on the roof, and also into the Sforzesco Castle. The Duomo is unbelieveable. It is the 4th largest church in Europe and the gothic architecture is cool.
We also went to a cemetery that was different from anything I have ever seen. It was obviously where the influential families in Milan have burried their dead since the 1800's. The tombstones and vaults are beautiful sculptures and there are dozens of basically small cathedrals
That the families built to bury their dead in. Most had alters and stained glass and everything. We had a great lunch on the street, Veronika had some kinf of fettucini pasta and I had an awesome pizza. I discovered my new favorite thing that Italy has: lemon slushies.
It's almost impossible to get a cold drink around here, and forget about ice. I've gotten pretty sick of lukewarm water so the frozen drink is amazing!
We went to the high fashion distict this afternoon. We went onto a street that
Chapel
By far the smallest chapel I have ever seen, it had like 3 pews on each side of the isle is like Rodeo Drive on steriods. Every designer I have ever heard of and dozens more had a store there. The window displays were crazy and I felt like a bum compared to all the people who belonged on the runway.
We saw dresses that were multiple thousands of euros and accessories that were just as high. The cars were awesome too. I saw a Maseratti, a Lamborghini, a Bentley Continental GT AND a Flying Spur, an Audi R8 (my second one this trip), and more Mercedes and Porches than you would believe.
We are at the hotel now. We got a great deal on Expedia since it was last minute and it is outside of Milan (which we know now). But it is one of the nicest ones yet. We got a great deal on our hotel in Venice through a last minute booking too.
We have been blown away by the people in Italy so far. They are so friendly and helpful and almost everyone speaks at least some english. We asked for help a lot of times trying to find the hotel last night and every time people were willling to help as much as they
could. One guy even called the cab company on his own phone and waited until the cab showed up for us so he could talk to the cabbie and explain what was going on.
All in all, it has been a great experience so far. As long as the trains and hotels go smoothly from now on we will be good.
I can't believe the trip is almost halfway over. It has been an amazing experience so far and I can't wait to see the rest.
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Mama'-that's Italian!
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in spite of all that planning!
Sorry to hear of your misadventure the first night in Milan. Like you, I hope that's the last one for this trip. Sounds like you guys are taking the right attitude, though; just roll with it. Good to hear that the Italians are helpful and bilingual! I REALLY hope the fog lifts from here on out. That must have been frustrating. I just peeked at the next few days weather for that area, and I think what I'm seeing looks pretty great. Have always heard that Lake Como is beautiful. Hope it turns out to be a great day. Thanks for keeping us posted. Lots of fun to read and even SEE your adventures! Love you!!!!! P.S. You were missed at the wedding last night. Lots of people asking about you. REALLY rainy, which was unfortunate, because it was at a gorgeous club with what I would guess are gorgeous long views and also lots of pretty places where I'm sure they had planned to take pictures. But it was a happy time, and I know that Beaver is quite ready for his week at the beach!