My Parents' European Adventure: Switzerland

Day 17: Early train to Switzerland.

This morning we leave Milan. This was just an overnight stop to rest and break up the train ride. I should mention that Katie and Aaron helped me get started a few months ago with a plan (including a google spreadsheet), air travel, Hotels (Booking.com), and trains using an app called Omio which is working very well. She picked that one because it worked in multiple countries. The planned schedule and actual tickets are in the app, just display the ticket at the barcode scanner at the station and to the attendant onboard. No problem.

I’ve never used my phone for buying things till now, it’s easier than finding a credit card that I hide so well. I just double tap the fingerprint and hold it by the handheld card scanner that every merchant or waitress has on them. By the way, no tipping in Italy. Almost never handle cash even for small items like ice cream (which is not so popular as everyone eats “gelato” which is good, but it’s not ice cream.)

Grandma's can backpack too

The station in Milan is huge. This travel didn’t turn out so well…

The early start to the train station at 6:30 for a 7:30 departure went well enough. The hotel prepared us a breakfast bag to go and it wasn’t busy at the McDonald’s in the terminal, but I didn’t like what I saw on the departure billboard. There was my train number at the right time but the destination city and associated towns were not correct. I was confused and concerned. There was no one to talk to. I wanted to call Katie but it was 1:30 am her time. Deb talked to a security woman and showed her the ticket, she smiled and nodded. That was enough to encourage us to board that train as it was leaving. But I remained concerned so I messaged Jessie in Rome. She happened to have the day off and would work on this. 

So we’re on this train and it’s leaving Milan and I am still not sure where we’re going or how we can get to our next connecting train. Jessie finds out that there is repair being made on this line. It’s the right direction but it ends shortly outside of Milan.  This problem was communicated but only in Italian, not English, that a bus would be waiting to take us to the next town to pick up another train. That bus and train info was still unknown. 

Meanwhile, Deb is talking with other passengers, and we find others are in the same situation. (BTW, this is a nice train, double-decker, but toilets suck and no outlets to charge your phones). We get off when the train stops and it’s clear we should exit, follow the crowd and there is a bus. 

Meanwhile, Jessie finds out that even if we make the train connection at the planned transfer that there are problems with our next train and it may or may not be there. 

We get off the bus and follow the crowd not knowing which train or platform is correct, we all make the same mistakes (each mistake costs you time and in Deb’s case, also pain as it involves up 2 flights of stairs and down with all our packs and her knee isn’t doing so well). We eventually got on the connecting train heading to our next transfer. 

At the transfer station our next train should be on platform 3. No train. 

Jessie said it was unknown if we should look for a bus or train. The crowd moves up and down the platform unsure what to do. Then a train arrives and everyone boards. This is encouraging but my ticket only says destination, nothing about the connections in between and the end point of this train is not where we are going! The attendant comes by to scan our ticket, she confirms this is the correct train and which station to get off at but recommends waiting for a later train as it will go all the way with no further connections! Yeah!

So we wait for the next train that the attendant recommended. This is a beautiful train with big clean windows and a lot of mountains to look at. But now I am concerned about my problem with my ears and the altitude so I am monitoring my Altitude app: 400 ft, 900, 1,400 ok.  Then 2,000,  4,000. 6,000 is not ok. I feel ok, I just need to watch if we start to descend. 

About that time my phone runs out of power. I put it down and watch the scenery as there are no charging plugs and I lost my spare battery along the way on the trip. 

Also my phone stopped communicating when we crossed the border to Switzerland a while back. I had accidently bought an Italy-only eSIM but did then purchase a different one that should work in Switzerland but it seems something is wrong with making the switch.

There’s another complication, there is a hotel driver waiting for us at the destination train station and I promised to let than know if the time changes. For the last hour I knew we would be at least an hour late and have been trying to message the hotel unsuccessfully. Now with my phone dead, along with it, is all the contact info via booking.com messages.  Katie is awake now and somehow finds the hotel and calls and gets the pickup changed to the new time.  

The driver was there when we arrived and took us straight to our apartment and had the keys! No need to check in or do any paperwork. All is good, it’s sunny and warm and beautiful, and almost worth the effort. 

Day 18, 19, 20: Zermatt, Switzerland 

Zermatt is saddled in a valley at 5,200ft, just northeast of the Matterhorn peak. We are staying in an apartment that is run by a hotel. The apartment is ¼ mile from the hotel (and also only 2 blocks from the train station it turns out). This a very nice ground floor apartment with a full patio. If you want a view of the Matterhorn you would pay double for half the room. I’m guessing all these places are very nice. This is expensive, there are no cheap ways to enjoy Switzerland. It’s gotta cost them a pretty penny to get materials, supplies and people up here (like having helicopters deliver building materials all the time). Expect to pay $30 per person minimum for dine out, and the grocery store is just as bad. There are plenty of people from around the world willing to pay for it too. 

Poor Deb, is always in front of my camera, she’s a good sport! Below is an example of what they call a car. All electric horseless carriages, all the hotels have them. 

This stream is basically the runoff from the mountains at the head of this valley including the Matterhorn. It is the color of grey that I associate with mixing cement. The last time Deb and I were in Switzerland we weren’t far from here to the north in Lauterbrunnen and we were amazed that the creeks were all a beautiful turquoise that we thought was the melting glaciers. Not here. Of course that was August. 

Zermatt

We rode ‘The Matterhorn Express’ cable car up to the first junction. We would have loved to go higher but that was all clouds and this was a safe altitude for me. If you zoom in, the valley below is where we stayed, Zermatt. 

The Matterhorn, this is the only shot I took of it because clouds and rain plagued most of our time here. That first day was sunny and I was exploring Zermatt when I rounded a bend, and boom! There it was bigger than life. I didn’t realize that would be my only chance to see it.

The Matterhorn

Day 21, 22: Geneva, Switzerland

We left early Monday morning for the train to Visp which would take about an hour. There we hop another train to Geneva which would take another 3 hours. 

When we arrived in Geneva, our hotel was just a few blocks from the train as planned, but the surprise was that they didn’t expect us until tomorrow!! After checking my schedule and reservations I realized they were right. The staff went to work to fix it, and within minutes we were in an “upgraded” room at no additional cost! These people are very hospitable. 

It is a very nice room, and we had entertainment. They are taking these 2 buildings down by hand, Deb enjoys keeping a check on the progress. It really didn’t bother us at all. 

In Room Entertainment

We ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant next door, it was excellent. I want to go back tonight too. 

Katie arranged a tour for us in a Tuk-Tuk. The weather was not good at all, but this guy went all out for us to enjoy the city.  The great thing about this is he picks you up at your door and he takes you everywhere, right up to the scene he wants to show you. Up sidewalks, into parks, past the barricades. We had a lap blanket to keep warm and he would roll down the sides if the wind was too strong. He would tell stories behind the scenes with a bit of humor. He knew the best place for pictures too!

Katie wanted us to see the United Nations Palace here and got us a reservation, which were hard to come by. We didn’t go because I couldn’t fill out an online form and provide a picture that met requirements. Sorry Kate!

I have to say that the first 18 days of this trip we had warm sunny weather. Our luck ran out the second day in Switzerland and it’s been difficult to keep up the activity. We both would rather be home now. Maybe we reached our limit. Maybe some sunshine and warmth in Paris will perk us up?