19-Apr-2011 Tirano and Milan, Italy

Buon Giorno!!!  



1:12 p.m... time of arrival at Tirano.  The next train to Milan would depart at 3:10 p.m. We had plenty of time, so we walked to a nearby restaurant to have lunch.  The weather was perfect! 



Santuario della Madonna di Tirano



 After lunch, we just walked around the plaza next to Tirano station, had a gelato and took a few photos of the surroundings.

The lady at the Information Office showed me the way to the platform going to Milan.  I ran after Mon who was already on his way towards the wrong platform.  A man showed us where to get our ticket validated. 

We still have time, so we went to the toilet first.. "Wehhhh! Squat. :(".   The train arrived... and we suddenly missed the comfort of Switzerland trains.  "Well, c'mon, don't be so fussy!"   

 The view was awesome but I guess, riding a train, for 2 consecutive days, made us 'feeling bored' at some stage.  We thought, we'd still prefer driving.

We hopped off at Milano Centrale... We had around 5 hours to see Milan before our next train trip to Rome.  I saw a direction saying ‘Deposito Baglagli’.  We left our big luggage there for 4 Euro per  bag for 4 hours. 

I sent a message to Joy (a relative) previous night... just thought would be a good idea to catch up even just for a coffee.  Mon tried to look for places with WIFI to check if Joy sent a reply to my message; while I walked outside the station and had a look for a map of Milan.  There were rude, nasty guys on the street, harassing me while I was walking... I was a bit scared but I just ignored them and proceeded to the nearest newspaper stand where I managed to buy a map.

Meantime, Mon was unsuccessful in finding a spot with WIFI.   Back to the station, we asked a lady on how to get to Duomo showing her the map.  The said lady happened to be a Filipina and she helped us buying a retun METRO train ticket going to Duomo and back to Milano Centrale station.

Duomo di Milano is the cathedral church of Milan in Lombardy, dedicated to Santa Maria Nascente.  It is an extra-ordinary example of Italian Gothic art and it took nearly six centuries to complete.  The construction of the Duomo, started in 1386, was the work of various Italian, French and German artists.  Not sure what is the ranking now but it is considered as one of those largest cathedrals in the world, the second church by size after St Peter's in Rome (at the time of writing).   Outside were heaps of tourists taking photos and some locals offering pellets to tourists to feed the doves. 

Galleria Vittorio Emmanuelle II is a glass-domed arcade and is in the form of a cross... very elegant.  One of the entrance is from the plaza in front of the Duomo.   The construction started in 1865 and completed in 1877.  It's said that its builder Giuseppe Mengoni died when the work was almost finished, falling from a scaffolding...too bad!!!  They should dedicate a section of the building in memory of him, I thought.  We just walked around and went out through another exit and kept on strolling, stopping over at one time to buy a souvenir.

We walked all the way down to La Fontana di  Piazza Castello (Castle Square fountain), took a photo with Il Castello Sforzesco (the castle in Milan) as the background.

It was a good walk.. It's getting dark.. the street was so busy with cozy restaurants with waiters outside, inviting tourists to dine... Still heaps of people at the Duomo with street sellers offering flying-glow-in-the-dark-kids toys.    

We took the train back to Milano Centrale.  We still had 2 to 3 hours before the next trip, so just decided to have pizza for dinner at the station.  Mon encountered a funny experience.  In Australia, we normally walked in a cafe.  If you order latte, they'll give you a coffe made with espesso and milk.   Well, Mon did order 'latte' at Milan.  He was asked twice in Italian... if he really wanted just 'latte'.  And with confidence, he said 'yes'.   When he got his order, he told me.. 'How come 'latte' in Italy was white.. It tasted like milk!'... (well, this incident didn't finish here.. just wait for my next blog...)  

At 11:20pm, we boarded the night train from Milano Centrale to Roma Termini... Our expected arrival was 7:27 am.

"Oh, Mum! This is really cool... Just like in Harry Potter movie!", Justin uttered.  

'Would recommend for travellers.  'Just paid Eur169 and we'd say that we definitely saved time and was cheaper as well, rather than staying a night at Milan and travel the whole day, the following day to Rome.

We booked a 3-bed compartment at Trenitalia...  Inside were triple deck beds, power points, cup board with small basin for brushing your teeth, washing your face or whatever, 3 bottled water, 3 croissants and 3 face/hand towels. Better than spending a night on the plane.   On the train, with bed, we're able to get a good sleep.   Wake up call at 7 a.m.  

More photos:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1947981892143.112429.1020438581

19-Apr-2011 Bernina Express Tour, Switzerland

Had breakfast and took the first bus in the morning going to St Moritz train station.  The bus was full of skiers.  They got off at the second stop.  From the bus, we could see the beautiful mirror lake of St Moritz. 

At the station, we went to SBB office to check if we could leave our luggage to them and possibly pick them up after 4 days at Zurich airport.  We were relieved that we're able to do it (in just CHF10 per luggage).  Problem solved!  This way, we didn't have to carry everything all the way to Italy.  We handed over 2 big luggage with mostly dirty clothes in it and souvenirs.  We bought a ticket from Tirano to Milan and off we go.

We're trying to figure out where to go.  We nearly missed the Bernina Express, as we're initially waiting at the wrong platform.  Luckily, Mon walked around and discovered that there's another platform where we're supposed to wait.  We were just in time when Mon found it.

Bernina Express tour is a ‘must see’ if you’re taking a train tour at Switzerland.  It's a half day tour from Chur to Tirano, travelling across 196 bridges and through 55 tunnels (at the time of writing); and climb the mountains were glaciers lie.  We actually thought that we found more glaciers through this tour than the Glacier Express tour that we just had.



Must be thinking what awaits us in Italy....



Route:  ST Moritz - Celerina Staz - Punt Muragi Staz - Pontresina - Surovas - Morteratsch - Bernina Suot - Bernina Diavolezza -  Bernina Lagalb - Ozpizio Bernina - Alp Grum - Cavaglia - Cadera - Privilasco - Poschiavo - Li Curt - Le Prese - Miralago - Brusio - Compascio - Compocologno - TIRANO

We went out of Switzerland, without confirmed itinerary yet for the next few days... We'll see how it goes :-)

More photos:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1944393002423.112258.1020438581

18-Apr-2011 Glacier Express Tour, Switzerland

Bellerive Hotel.  Two of my credit cards were not working.  The guy at the reception tried to ring somebody to get some help as he was suspecting that it was not really my cards causing the problem but their Eftpos terminal.  We had a train to catch, hence, I told him if he could take cash in Australian dollars.   He said, 'Yes!'... as he would be in Sydney and Great Barrier reef next month. It was in my favour as Australian currency is really strong at the moment.  

I asked about the transport back to the station.  He led us to the back door of the hotel where the Bellerive electric car was parked.  And so I said… “ so you’re the receptionist and the driver at the same time J”.  I was curious about the car... He told us that the car was recharged for the whole night and that would be ready for use the following day.

We’re just in time for our next trip – The Glacier Express, the "world's slowest express train".   It's ironic, is it? Slowest and Express. 

The Glacier express departs daily from Zermatt at 10:00 a.m.  arriving at St. Moritz at 5:58 p.m.

Route:  Zermatt -  St Niklaus  -  Visp  -  Brig  -  Fiesch  -  Oberwald  -  Andermatt  -  Dissentis  -  Chur  -  Thusis  -  Tiefencastel  -  Filisur  -  Samedan  - Celerina  -  St Moritz  

The train travelled through the mountains, gorges, hundreds of bridges, overlooking falls, creeks, snow-capped mountains.  I reserved a 3-course-meal lunch for the 3 of us.  The mains seemed familiar... It tasted very much like our 'mechado' in the Philippines.

St Moritz. It was where the Olympics was held in 1928 and 1948. Took a bus from the station and walked 300 meters from the bus station to our Hotel, pulling all our luggage.  Whew!  That was not an easy walk.  We booked a hostel at St Moritz as I couldn't find any cheaper accommodation.  The place that we got were really for backpackers.  We managed to secure 2 rooms and private bath and toilet for ourselves.   We stayed on the third floor and with no lift (as expected).    So, Mon had to carry all our luggage through the stairs... poor Mon!

It is a sleepy town... very scenic but not as lively as Interlaken or Zermatt at night.  We went out and took a bus to look for something to eat.  We were lucky to find a pub, serving dinner.

It was freezing cold, I would say.  On the way back to the hotel, we realized that we already missed the bus. Rather than waiting for another hour, feeling cold at the bus stop, we had decided to just walk.  It was a fair bit of walk,  passing by a mirror lake and a cathedral...

Excerpt from Justin's essay -  "We woke up and had breakfast.  After that, we had a walk.  Then me and my Mum went back to the hotel and packed, while Dad went to Money Changer to buy Euros.  We went to train station to catch the Glacier Express.  The view was fantastic!.  We had 3-course meal--- First was salad.  For mains, we had beef, rice, carrots.  For dessert, we had cake that tasted like coffee.  The lunch was very yummy."

Photos:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1942303630190.112188.1020438581

17-Apr-2011 - Matternhorn, Zermatt, Switzerland

Before coming here, I was imagining this place as some kind of a ghost town... Well, I was wrong!

'Arrived Zermatt just before sunset.   Zermatt is a small mountain village encircled by mountains... Mountains with height higher than Jungfraojoch at Jungfrao Region.  So, yes... Jungfraojoch is not really the 'Top of Europe' after all.

What amazed us, the moment we stepped out of the train, was the fact that we couldn't see a single 'ordinary car'.  The so-called electric cars were waiting at the train station.  One of the drivers direct us to go on the other side where hotel transports were waiting.  

 "Bellerive Hotel?", uttered by one of the drivers to Mon.  The driver helped us with our luggage and took us to our hotel... This car-free village was full of life with heaps of people walking, chatting in the street.  "I think I'm gonna love this place!"   It was indeed a right decision to come here, rather than to stay for another night at Geneva. 

We arrived at the hotel.. It was not far from the station.  I was kind of 'thinking' if we would need to pay the driver but the hotel staff settled the bill.  The hotel was a right choice as well.. It was fantastic!!! We couldn't ask for more.  It's a pity, we didn't have time to enjoy all the facilities.

Justin loved the ambience in our room and was contented to just stay there watching DVD by himself rather than join me and Ramon for a walk.  I was a bit uncomfortable with the idea at first, leaving him in the hotel by himself ... but he insisted and it seemed safe anyway.  So we finally agreed.

Mon and I walked from the hotel, until we reached the station.  It was already around 9pm when we came back to the hotel.



St Mauritius, Old Stone
Catholic Church



We walked along the promenade, down the main street up to the Zermatt station.  I thought it was 'romantic' with just me and Mon ("without Justin") walking .  We recalled how we originally planned to go to Europe for our honeymoon, but for some reason, we weren't able to do so. 

It was already dark and a number of people were still on the street...  group of friends, family with kids, couples... they all mixed happily, walking in the main street.  Bar and restaurants were still open.

While walking, we saw the Mt Matterhorn – the face of the famous Swiss chocolate, Toblerone.  There was no Mt Tobler, as opposed to what Mon initially thought.  The picture of the alps in Toblerone was actually inspired by Mt Matterhorn at Zermatt... We googled it.  It's confirmed! 


Walked for more than an hour... bought a strawberry crepe in one of the 'take away' shop and dinner at McDonalds.  Justin was still busy watching TV when we arrived.

More Photos:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1940286299758.112103.1020438581

17-Apr-2011 Geneva, Switzerland

15-Apr.  We rang the hotel at Geneva to inquire if we could cancel the second day of our booking.  We were told that they can't, as we booked it through an agent (via hotelclub.net) and we had to cancel it through them.  We contacted the customer support of hotelclub.net but told us that it's non-refundable.  So no choice - we'll just use it then.

16-Apr.  Arrived Geneva just before dark.  I'd say, we're not so pleased with the Hotel that we booked.  It's old, near a busy highway, room is not comfortable and didn't look like what was shown in the photo, didn't feel secured to leave things in the room.... but the guy at the reception was quite accommodating and helpful.  So, I guess, it's not too bad after all.  He even offered us to open the breakfast earlier (as in 4:00ish a.m.) for us, when I told him that we need to take the first train in the morning going to Zermatt.

Had dinner at the Italian restaurant next to the entrance of the hotel.  The waiter didn't know how to speak  in English...I guess he could speak French and Italian....  But he was such a nice a guy… We managed to order what we want without too much difficulty and complemented with a really yummy dessert. Great dinner!   'Merci Merci'- the only word I remembered from him.

We were supposed to go out and have a night stroll at the city centre.  However, we were still worried if it would really be a good idea to stay at Geneva for another night.  We need to probably leave before 5am  to make sure we can be at Geneva station in time to catch the first train in the morning.  We would only have less than an hour to transfer to Glacier Express tour upon arrival at Zermatt. Very tight schedule, eh.

Finally, t'was already midnight when we made a decision to just book a hotel at Zermatt, and let go the second night at Geneva.  This way, we won't have to rush and wake up very early.  And we could make sure as well that we could catch Glacier Express early without any hassles.

 

17-Apr. Our plan was to get around Geneva first before taking a train to Zermatt.

Plan A: We left the hotel (we haven’t check out yet)  to drop our bags at Geneve. We had to make it before 9am, so we can just pick it up at Zermatt later in the evening once we arrive there.  But due to difficulties in finding a space to park the car, we’re not able to make it at 9am. 

Plan B: We went back to the hotel and took our luggage back to our room.  We drove to Geneva airport afterwards to return the car that we rented from Zurich a few days ago.   From the airport, we took the train going to Geneva main station.  We’ll be using our Swiss Pass for the first time. 

We took the tram but without a map, we’re not sure where was the tram heading to.  So we got off after the first stop and just walked instead.  We asked a middle-aged lady on the street on how to get to the Temple de Saint-Pierre… She could only speak French but managed to show us the way.  She told us to go straight and turn left from the Notre Dame Cathedral.   I told her,  'Merci! Merci! :-)

It was a really quick trip.  Hotel Bellevue at Zermatt sent me an email saying that we could ring him, once we arrived at the station. 

  



Temple de Saint-Pierre

(St Peter's Cathedral)

and its underground museum

showing the original temple

and tombs underground,

thousand of years ago.



Jet d'Eau (Water Jet Fountain)

One of the crowning symbols of Geneva,
a fountain of water
pumped 140m into the air.



Landmine Monument
- in memory of the victims
of landmines. It is said
that a statue of a human
with leg missing was
considered but was
found to be unsuitable.









Highlights:

Place du Bourg-de-Four
- the oldest city square
in the old town of Geneva

 

Brunswick Monument - a mausoleum at

Quai du Mont Blanc
modelled on the Scaliger
tombs in Verona (Italy),
was built for

Duke Karl II of Brunswick (1804-73)

who left his money to Geneva.

Palais des Nations

(... visited this place

a few days later, on 23/Apr)

.

 





.

  





After walking for a few hours, we took a taxi to the hotel… checked out and picked up our luggage.  We took the taxi again back to Geneve station and took the next available trip to Zermatt.  Hey, Taxi was not cheap, huh!!! 

P.S. Mon tried to assist the taxi driver in taking the luggage off the car boot... Funny how the driver kept on insisting to do it himself for the obvious reason that Mon might scratch his Mercedes Benz.  Mon was laughing recalling how careless he was, taking the luggage in and out of our rented Mercedes Benz. 

More Photos:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1933836058506.111687.1020438581





16-Apr-2011 Jungfraojoch "Top of Europe", The Swiss Mountain Experience

We had breakfast , checked out from Beau-site Hotel, then, drove to Grindelwald again.  For just CHF6.00, got a parking next to the station, that was good for 24 hours.  We bought a ticket to go to Jungfraojoch or what they called as 'Top of Europe'.  Were we really on top of Europe???

Highlights:

The train stopped at Kleine Scheidegg (2061m/6760 ft).   The place is at the foot of the Eiger North Wall.     It was a pity, we're running out of time.  Otherwise, we would have spent more time at Kleine Scheidegg to play and have fun.  Then, we transferred to another platform and took the train going up to Jungfraojoch. 

The train stopped on the following stations, giving passengers a time to get off and for around 5 minutes each time - to view the glaciers from the enclosed viewing platforms.

Eigergletscher (2320m/7612ft),

Eigerwand (2865m/9400 ft),

Esimeer (3160m/10368ft)

The last stop ..... JUNGFRAOJOCH "Top of Europe" (3454m/11333ft).  We had underestimated the height… We felt slight difficulty in breathing after getting off the train.   Felt like our oxygen level had dropped a bit at the top… Temperature was around -7^oC... Not too bad.  Good that we came here when winter is almost over.

Mon had to sit down for a minute feeling dizzy but was able to regain his energy after drinking some water.  Justin was also not feeling well, and kept on asking if we could already take the train back.  I felt a bit of dizziness but not for long.  My big problem was my stomach... I had indigestion... had to run to the loo and boom! (Oops pardon me!) ... I shouldn't really have said it, should I?  Lucky I have a medicine with me.  Then Mon said, my fault, "I gave you coffee in the morning."  

Anyway, we managed to get over all these hassles as usual. 

We went to Ice Palace... entered a room carved with Ice… the walls, the floors, the ceiling, the hallways... feelin' like you're entering through an ice cave.  Well, i could say, it  was a cave... Later on, you'll see a collection of ice sculptures.  I could slide with my running shoes even without wheels.  Really cool! 

We went further up to the  Sphynx Terrace (3571 m).    I read a brochure later on saying that  we can see breathtaking views of France, Germany, and Italy from the Spyhnx... Hmmm, I should have paid attention.  

I saw in the TV inside the train, an area with lots of activities - snow disc and snow tube... also another one similar to flying fox ... and many more...  We missed this one... There's always next time...in other place maybe.  I promised Justin that Spyhnx would be the last one as he was really dying to come back...    

 It was worth a visit even for just a few hours.  Took the train down, enjoyed the views of the alpine mountains and back to the car.

The time had come where we had to say goodbye to Interlaken… we’ll surely miss this place.  We stopped over at McDonalds at Thun and headed to Geneva.


More Photos:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1930837303539.111545.1020438581

15-Apr-2011 Switzerland: Interlaken, Iseltwald and Grindelwald

View from Beau-site Hotel at Interlaken

“We should have stayed here for 2 nights instead of staying 2 nights at Luzern”, we thought the moment we arrived at Interlaken after a day trip at Berne.  The view of the Alps was even better here and lots of people / tourists walking even at night. 

We drove straight to Beau-site Hotel to check-in… Cool lift:-)  It's not grand or anything, it's just different.  The lift has a steel gate, not a sliding one though.  Yes, a gate that you had to manually open, just like opening an ordinary door of a bedroom.  Inside the lift was wall made up of tiles… just like the tiles in your bathroom…  Justin thought that the whole elevator thing was so cool that he even got out of the room by himself just to take a few photos of it in his iPhone.

I think if given a chance, we could stay here for a few days and we could come up of different things to do everyday.   There's a number of places if you're planning a day trip from here like going to Iseltwald, Beatenberg, Unterseen, Grindelwald and many more.  One could go cruisin', train tour to the mountains, cable cars, skiing etc.

Anyway, we only had a night and 1 day here, so we thought of  maximizing our time upon our arrival to drive around.  The sun was still up, we just checked in and back to the car.

Highlights:

View from Grindelwald

Drive from Interlaken to Grindelwald and further up to Pfiseragg.  We went to Grindelwald hoping to catch a cable car.  Unfortunately, they’re closed but it’s OK as the scenery along the way was worth a visit.  We passed by a number of waterfalls… the views of the Swiss Alps was everywhere… the river… and even the houses/accommodations in Grindelwald complemented the surroundings.  We saw the station of the train going to Jungfraojoch - got a copy of the timetable for the next day's trip.

View from Pfiseragg



Lake Brienz at Iseltwald



Located at the south bank of Lake Brienz is the Iseltwald in the Bernese Oberland.  We took some photos of the tranquil scenery at the lakeside.  



A creek connecting Lake Brienz
and Lake Thun

After our trip to Iseltwald, we went back to the hotel and parked our car.  Had a night walk around Interlaken where we had Chinese buffet dinner along the way.  A number of shops were already closed. Only a few were open but in spite of… it’s a lively touristy place with heaps of people, even children, walking around at night taking photos.  Restaurants and bars were still open.

Photos taken from Grindelwald and Iseltwald:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1928691769902.111433.1020438581

Photos taken from Interlaken:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1928730490870.111434.1020438581