Milan Recap & Trip to Bern

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Part 1 - I am writing this portion on the train from Milan to Bern. We are in the foothills of the Alps, passing unbelievabally beautiful snow-covered mountain peaks, towns, streams and lakes. Lago Mageiore is a stunning lake surrounded by mountains that stretches from Italy to Switzerland. There is no way to describe the beauty of the water and the villas on the coast.

Have to mention a wonderful Swiss couple and their 7 month old daughter who rode with us most of the way to Bern. Dad used to work in neuroscience, and we had a great discussion on state of the art in modeling brain functions. Another serendipitous moment.

Wanted to update on Milan. It was hot, hot, hot! Had another minor moment of nervousness when we found no one at the hostel to check us in, but a couple that arrived shortly after us called, and soon we were off-loaded in our room. We were off to explore Milan.
I have to say that at first I was not so impressed with Milan. It was much more urban and just felt like another big city...til we found the center of town. The church at the Duomo was overwhelming in its scale, history, and beauty. From there we saw a daVinci exhibition that included his paintings. To me, the really cool part were the pages from his codex, which included sketches of his futuristic machines and human anatomy. Seeing that in person was awe-inspiring. We visited the Grand Palace, Napoleon's arch, and city park. At this point I am out of superlatives. Everything was extraordinary and fun!

About 2100 we headed for dinner in a neighborhood off the main drag. After walking some time. we gave up on the recommended restaurant and picked one that looked good. Everyone knew everyone else, menus were in Italian, and no English was spoken -- it was the perfect place! Andrew and I had a four-course dinner of bread, greens, shrimp, mussels & pasta, and fried calamari. Everything was delicious! We stayed on to help the locals cheer for the Italian team in the European football championship, but, alas, Barcelona won. The metro was closed -- almost 2300 -- so we made the long trek back through crowds of very well dressed 20-somethings headed to the clubs. Great fun to watch!

Serendipty struck again when we discovered Milan was hosting the World's Fair. Although we did not visit the fair itself, we did see all of the decorations and a plaza for the participating countries.

Part of this trip is remaining open to new things, and the hostel experience was new. Andrew and I had our own room, but all else was shared. No one really spoke to anyone else. The showers thus far have proven challenging. Their small size and hand held head left me feeling like I was using a Water Wiggle in a phone booth. Getting dry with my 12" x 14" chamois towel was a challenge unto itself, but they hold an incredible amount of water, and I managed to get dry. Growth experience achieved.

While writing this we have entered the Swiss Alps. Half dozen towns that look like a post card, and we caught a brief glimpse of the Matterhorn. Already so different from Italy. More from Bern later.

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