This morning, we packed up and left the Interlaken Airbnb for the last time. We were out of the house at 10, destined for the Interlaken West train station.
Susan and Laura were taking the 11:05 train back to Zurich. Sabrina and I considered sitting at a cafe by the train station for a few hours, as we we intended to take the 1:30 train to Milan.
Instead, we decided to get on the train with Susan and Laura, ride a few stops with them, and get off in Spiez. (We had to switch trains in Spiez, anyway, and Interlaken was crowded and hot.)
The view from the train station confirmed that we made the right choice about where to kill a few hours. It was almost noon by then, so we found a restaurant with outdoor seating and a great view, and enjoyed a long lunch.
By 1 PM, the weather had cleared up, and the view from our table became even better.
The train to Milan was crowded. Possibly even "full". We had reserved seats, thankfully, but compared to the train rides we'd had all week, it was 2.5 hours of misery.
A significant part of the trip was in (very long) rail tunnels, understandably. It's difficult to get a train over the Alps, I imagine. I believe we passed through the (12+ mile long) Simplon Tunnel.
Occasionally, the view changed to sloping farmland, hazy mountains, or the odd bridge over a river.
Not wanting to buck the stereotype, the train was late getting into Milan. We stepped onto the platform around 4:45 PM, into the very busy Milano Centrale railway station.
It took us a few minutes to find the right exit, and resign ourselves to carrying suitcases down the stairs, but we made it out into the piazza and headed in the direction of our hotel.
Along the way, we passed what I believe was a California-themed toast restaurant.
Mercifully, the hotel was only a few blocks from the train station, because it was in the mid 90s and sunny.
After ditching our bags and turning on the AC, the first thing we did was head up to the rooftop terrace for a refreshing adult beverage.
We weren't planning to spend much time in Milan, but everything we've read suggests that the one must-see attraction is the Milan Cathedral, colloquially referred to as the Duomo.
There wasn't enough time to get there before it closed today, so we tossed around the idea of going in the morning, instead. Our attempts to buy tickets online were futile, and we considered the possibility that we might spend the entire morning waiting in line for tickets, or waiting in line to get in.
To hedge against this hypothetical scenario, we decided to go see the outside of the cathedral before dinner. The hotel was right by a metro station, so it should be no problem, right?
We found a station, bought some 24-hour transit passes, and then realized we were in the suburban rail station, not the metro. The Milan metro is quite extensive, and all of the signs are in Italian ;-)
It took us awhile, but we eventually figured it out and got to the Duomo stop around 8 PM.
The piazza was packed with people and pigeons, as promised by our guidebook. I had never seen enough pigeons in one place to form an organized flock, but someone disturbed a group of them and hundreds of birds swarmed around the square.
After we grew tired of vendors hawking tourist crap at us in various languages we don't understand, we enjoyed a stroll through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (essentially a high-end shopping mall in a very fancy building).
Walking straight through the mall happened to send us vaguely in the right direction to get back to the hotel, so we wandered the streets of Milan for awhile, looking for a viable restaurant.
The area we chose to explore was mostly shut down for the night, and we eventually decided to head back to the area around our hotel, where we had seen plenty of dinner options earlier in the evening.
It was about 9 PM when we finally sat down at a pizzeria (L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele), between the metro station and the hotel. One of us was hangry, and the other ordered without reading very carefully ;-)
Either way, both pizzas were delicious.
It was almost 10 o'clock by the time we got back to the hotel.
As I mentioned, we're planning to go see the inside of the Duomo tomorrow. And possibly the rooftop, as well, depending on the logistics of that endeavor.
After that, we're going to pick up a rental car and head out into the countryside.
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