Memorial day morning we took a water taxi out of Venice to the airport. At the airport, we waded through a frustrating clusterfuck (yep, more cursing in Italy) of late, disorganized, and rude employees at every point in our journey. We didn’t have a gate or the ability to even check in until an hour […]
Venice
After a four-hour train ride, we walked out of the train station to see a rain-clogged city of canals. We bought tickets in the rain (why are the ticket machines not inside the terminal?) for a public water taxi to our hotel. After checking in we walked down the narrow streets looking for dinner. We […]
When in Rome
After arriving at the main train station in Rome we went to a “tourist information booth” and were told what I can only imagine translates to: “Fuck off!” Welcome to Rome. Our friends who live in Italy (one born there) admitted the country has an antagonistic attitude toward tourists. Can’t live with them (tourists are everywhere […]
Florence
In Florence, we checked in and headed to the duomo where we ascended the 400+ steps for a breezy view of the city. We then ambled toward the Ponte Vecchio, stopping for dinner along the way (ossobuco, risotto, and very good d’asti). Before we reached the river we picked up gelato and ate it as […]
Milan
We woke at 6am on Monday to catch the early trains to Milan. After checking into our hotel we set out on foot to explore the city. First, we visited the inside and roof of the duomo. Then we walked to the Scala Opera Museum but decided not to buy a ticket as the theater […]
Lauterbrunnen Valley
On Thursday morning we took the train to Lauterbrunnen, Tolkien’s original inspiration for Rivendell, remembered from his travels as a young man before the first world war. When we arrived in Lauterbrunnen it was raining, but by the time we checked in and had lunch it had turned into fog and mist. Here is the […]
Zermatt
Although St. Moritz is known for being a posh pristine mountain town for playboys to show off expensive ski boots, Zermatt is only famous for the rugged peak of the Matterhorn. Since summer season was still officially a week away, our hotel was underbooked and gave us a free upgrade to a room that could […]
Glacier Express
When we boarded the Glacier Express panorama train in St. Moritz we shared the car with only one other couple. This made the first few hours an enjoyable experience of gliding down from the “Top of the World” while jumping from side to side shooting hundreds of photos pressed against the high windows. When we […]
St. Moritz
We left Zurich in the early afternoon on a train that straddled the brilliant teal Zurichsee for about thirty kilometers before heading further south to Chur and then landing in St. Moritz. We learned that about a third of the journey (between Chur and St. Moritz) is part of the Glacier Express. We arrived in […]
Zurich
On Friday, May 13th, Sam and I embarked on a 23-day European vacation. We ubered to LAX and flew over eleven hours on Swiss Air to Zurich, landing around 4pm local time on Saturday. The Zurich airport is quite small but tidy and neat, like an airport built by Ikea. We took an easy train into […]