After breakfast we grabbed out belongings, checked out and caught a streetcar to Central Station. Our train wasn’t supposed to leave until later in the morning, but we were able to catch an earlier train to Mannheim. This allowed us to relax at the station rather than sprint to the next train. We bought several pretzels for Brandon and some drinks for us while waiting for our next train, an ICE.
The Swiss Alps come into view through the train window.
The ICE train took us 2 hours south to Basal, on the Swiss-French–German border. This was a very nice train. Very comfortable and clean. The trip was mostly through farmland then changed to rolling hills when we were near Basal. We had a 40 min layover in Basal, so we grabbed some sandwiches in the station and took them to the platform to eat. Our train was in the station, so we boarded it and ate our lunch.
This train took us from Basal to Brig Switzerland, another 2 hour journey. This train had older coach cars, but they were clean and comfortable. I was able to plug my laptop in and work on this blog. It was a very scenic journey, heading into the Swiss Alps and through quite a few tunnels, the longest one lasting almost 20 minutes.
We arrived in Brig at 4:40pm. Our next train didn’t leave until 5:20pm. We walked into the station to use the WC and get a drink, then headed up to platform 4 to wait for our train. At about 5:10pm our Trenitalia train pulled into the station. We boarded and found our seats. This train had us in a compartment with 3 other people.
Within a few kilometers of leaving Brig we entered into Italy and the Italian Alps – with many more tunnels and one very long one that lasted almost 25 minutes.
This last leg of our journey seemed like the longest. We were getting tired and the train was a little warm. We finally arrived in Milano Centrale Stazione around 7:30pm.
We gathered our bags and checked the schedules to see when the next train to Monza was scheduled. We could wait for 40min or take the Metro. We chose the Metro, hopping on the green line, then switching to the red line to Sesto San Giovanni. We caught the z221 bus to our street corner.
We were home, tired but not worn out, and ready to relax after a long day of travel.
We had a wonderful trip. Amsterdam is well worth a visit. It is probably not a place I would visit again, but it is definitely worth a one time visit. Bacharach and the Rhine River Valley were fantastic. I would go back to that area again if I had the chance. Heidelberg was interesting and full of history, once again a one time destination for me, but well worth it.
Time to start working on the details of our next adventure. We leave again in 2 1/2 weeks. This time we are doing a road trip through Switzerland, southern Germany, Austria and Slovenia.
14 Week Gelati Count: 93
14 Week Wine Bottle Count: 16
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