Artfully Ann's Adventures

May 28 – Tuesday – Train from Venice to Zurich, Switzerland

Our entire day was spent on the train from Venice, Italy to Zurich, Switzerland.  It is not a problem for us because we LOVE to ride trains.  We awoke early and had breakfast at the hotel.  This is with a sigh of relief.  As I said things are expensive here, our modest dinner last night was $150 dollars and that did not include any wine. (OK… John had an Italian beer.)  Yes, we are still recovering from being spoiled.

Grande Canal in front of train station

We had fun pulling our suitcases over a very large bridge.  This one had big stairs.  It crossed the Grande Canal.  On a normal morning or evening on the canal the boats, ferries and utility boats roar by so fast you would think it was the Los Angeles freeway.  The only trick is that there don’t seem to be any traffic rules.  It is like watching bumper boats.  It is great fun.  Between watching the boats and the people, John and I could spend all day just sitting in one spot being completely entertained.  What a great sport! 

Anyway, back to pulling the luggage.  The lift up was challenging but we both made it.  We took it in little chunks and things went fine.  The way down seemed easier, at least I thought so.  But, I had about five people stop and ask me if I needed any help, yet I was the one with the lighter load.  I guess I looked like one little old decrepit lady about to pass out.  Robust John was doing just fine.   I kept on telling people that I was fine; I wanted to say that I’d carried my bags over the Grand Canal in Venice.  I’m sure most people thought I was crazy, but then that wouldn't be the first time.

The train station was busy.  Luckily, we had checked everything out the day before.  We knew where to register our tickets.  John had purchased them on-line at home before we left on our trip.  He should have been a travel agent.  His planning worked like clockwork as usual.  Our first train took us to Milano, Italy.  We had about an hour and a half layover before catching our train to Zurich; lunch was a Burger King.  After ordering two number one meals, we were about thirty dollars poorer.  This may give you a reasonable bench mark on the cost of things here.

Milano, Italy train station.  Largest in Italy

From Milano, we caught the train to Zurich.  The train ride took about four hours.  We were lucky to get nice seats with good viewing windows.  The hills were green in northern Italy, and eventually we found ourselves in the valleys and hills of the Italian Alps.  We began to climb the mountains, and very soon  Italy became Switzerland.  We went through at least twenty tunnels before we arrived in Zurich.  One or two of the tunnels were about three miles long.

Lake Zurich with Alps in the background

The Swiss country side is beautiful.  Things look so clean and neat.  Everything is so very organized and orderly.  This feels so different from my experience in Italy, where things are crowded, haphazard and seemingly unplanned, and in very many places in a significant state of decay.  In Switzerland, everything seemingly works, runs on time, rings on time, opens and closes on time.  I love it!!!

We arrived in Zurich to find it rainy and cool.  For a moment, I thought we were home!  We ran between rain drops to a cab.  We found the most off beat cab driver I’ve ever had; he kept raving about tax laws, various countries, politics and companies that are not paying US taxes.  I guess the US is having some impact here – at least on wide-eyed and emotionally on-edge cabbies.  By the end of the trip, at least he had successfully driven us to the hotel and made sure we knew where the Swiss museum was.  It was an interesting introduction.
 

View from our room

Our hotel, Helmhaus Hotel at Schifflande 30, am Limmatqual, in Zurich is wonderful.  It is right on the edge of the old town and Lake Zurich, and within walking distance of almost everything.  We have a lot of exploring to do.  We will tell you more about that tomorrow.  It’s been a long day.  Stay tuned for more of the adventure.  Sleep tight!