17th September Zurich to Milan

** And that familiar feeling is hitting again as I packed my bags last night, woke way too early this morning, handed back my key but this time I am taking a tram down to the city, to the Zürich hbf (train station). For the first time in 8/9 weeks it was actually cold this morning. Below 8⁰ when I left at 8ish. It had been raining on & off since my last Day in Prague and hasn't really let up. 

** Not too sure how I did it, but for the first time I am doing a long distance train ride with a reserved seat. Such a lovely feeling to not have to rush and push and be pushed as the doors open so that I get somewhere to sit, and without someone else asking me/ telling me to move. Yesterday, coming back from Bern the double decker train was so full that I ended up sitting on a small round table, surrounded by near new army kit bags & chatting to a group of new army recruits on their first weekend break, one was even half Australian. Problem for me was that it was a double decker train on a 100 klm trip travelling between 100 and 250kph. Being so high up caused the train to sway and that affected my ears and nausea started to set in, and no sea sick pills in sight.

*" Just a note of apology. Yesterday I was so busy getting to and returning from Bern that the images may have been running late. If you did not see the images from Bern, go to yesterday 's post and have a look at what Einstein would have seen whilst walking the streets 117 years ago.

** As I was walking to the tram stop I saw something really cute. Imagine you are on your way out for a meal at a friend's house and a block away you realise you did not buy anything to walk in with. Vending plant machine to the rescue. And for only 20 Swiss francs, about $35 , 

** I'm now used to having to pay for the use of toilets in Europe, either coins or via PayPass, but Zurich definately takes the cake for cost. In Spain it cost me €0.6 to sit for 5 minutes but in Zurich it cost €2. That's about AU$3. So not only does it cost a lot to eat here, it also costs a lot to expel it.

** Images of the Alps and alpine villages & towns will be uploaded as soon as I get to my hotel in Milan in a few hours time. The quality of the images is somewhat low as I am forced to shoot through a window where there is so much reflection from the stop lights inside of the carriage. That aside the view of the Swiss mountains is breathtaking. Basically if my trip stopped here I would have no complaints.

The southern Swiss Alps

** Not too long now. Once I get to Como I will have crossed the border and will be in Italy, and then onto Milan to see if my wait of 47 years has been worth while 

Now here is the mind playing games. As kids we are taught to recognise Italy by the foot kicking Sicily

 

However I can now also see one pair of running legs that is Lake Como. It does remind me of Bronze Age drawings of stylised egs  & torso of 3000 to 5000 year old soldiers

Talking about Lake Como

** I am at my hotel and it is the weirdest accommodation to date. The room is a nice size but .......... the walls, bright orange. Could have been worse though, like bright green! 😃

Secondly I thought this was a shared bathroom set up but she proudly showed me the shower and sink in my room. There's also an iron, portable ironing board, fridge, microwave, safe, double bed, table & chair, cups and saucers, and little kettle. The shower appears to be computer controlled with multiple jets coming out of the back. Btw, no instructions as to how to operate it. Have I left anything out, don't think so .............. But what about the toilet☹️ ? Well that's shared. I would rather have had a private toilet and a shared shower. However, because I'm on my own I can handle it, no problem. My hotel in Zurich had shared everything, including the fact that I could hear every moan and groan from the toilet all the time, day or night. This one seems like a breeze.