I Get to Speak French for a Few Hours

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Day One Geneva to Milan

But now we're in Italy....and I can't yet speak Italian...frustration again!

We started this trip with a late taxi, but that has been the only problem...and we still got to the airport in plenty of time...Everyone we dealt with has been extra nice from the United ticket agent to the train conductors. We've had no one bother us or ask us for anything! Not even one taxi driver has approached us!

We were able to travel in business class from DC to Geneva, so that was quite wonderful...the seats moved to a completely flat position for sleeping, so we got some rest last night.

We arrived in Geneva around 8:00 am, and bought train tickets for Milan right in the airport. We had to change trains in the city center. In the second train we had a compartment to ourselves for almost all of the 4 and half hour trip.

The scenery was amazing: the train followed Lake Geneva for the first hour, with the Alps as a backdrop. There were Swiss chalets everywhere! Vineyards were terraced on nearly vertical mountainsides. Castles appeared on promontories and villages were tucked in between mountains. Mansions bordered the lake. The train next followed the Rhone River starting at Montreux, and shortly we began to go through tunnels, under the Alps. Sometimes we would emerge from a tunnel for few seconds, glimpse the mountains, and be plunged back into darkness again.

We crossed the border into Italy about halfway through the trip. The buildings became less ornate....and we passed through an old abandoned village. We followed Lake Maggiore for awhile, where we saw islands with villages built right to to the edge of the water.

As we got closer to Milano, the farms and villages changed to light and then heavier industrial areas, punctuated by blocks of apartment buildings.

We arrived at the Mussolini era train station around 3:30. The station has immense ceilings and is full of fascist symbolism. We walked from the station to our hotel through a beautiful section of town with rows of brick and stucco buildings with little balconies over the streets.

Hotels are expensive here. There is no way around this fact. We are staying in a room with a sink and bidet. The shared shower and toilet are down the hall. The room is spotless, but bare bones, with a floor to ceiling window overlooking an apartment building’s courtyard. For this we are paying $93.00.…which would bring luxury in most places we’ve traveled.

We slept from around 6:00pm til 5:00am. We will go to the Duomo (Cathedral) a bit later and then probably head east by train.

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Photos

New and old in Switzerland
You can see a part of an old church between the apartment buildings.

This is what $93 gets you in Milan...
The room was very comfortable though....Hotel Sole.

View from our window
It rained all night...a thunder storm passed through at some point too....it has stopped now, but it is wet and cold outside....

Comments

[Patricia johnson]

The Bedit
Is this your husbands first trip to Europe? On my first trip to Europe my first opinon of the Bedit was a bit of confussion untill we got to Roma and my Italien friend and her mother and Grandma gave us a demo on the use of what the Bedit was for. I argued with my b-friend at the time all the way thru Europe over the Bedit. Have you thought about staying at the youth hostels.? My friend and her husband do that when they travel in Europe..

[Perry]

Beautiful
The train ride sounds wonderful.