The Allure of Northern Italy and Switzerland

We choose central locations to park ourselves for at least a month, so we get the best opportunity to travel around the region and see as many places as possible.  This can be with trains, buses or the occasional car rental when needed.  Since we had been to the usual tourist traps during our short visits in our working life like Venice, Florence, and Rome, we decided to find an apartment in Milan, Northern Italy.  Milan is a beautiful city which is associated with Fashion and Furniture and Food.  This is true.  We were in Milan during the Fashion week, however, we were told that it was necessary to be in the business to attend the fashion shows.  You can imagine our disappointment. We were hoping to experience one show if possible. But it was not to be, fashion was not on our cards this time.  During our stay, we visited the Sforza Castle and of course, the main Duomo is a tourist stop.  We saw historic buildings, however, my favorite was Milano Centrale train station.  Just a very unique building inside out.  We also went to see Da Vinci's "last supper".  A bit of a disappointment, I must say as the staff ushered us out of there in 15 minutes and did not give us a chance to admire this historic painting.  They have only 15-minute slots and you have to be there on time to enter.  We had booked online well in advance as the tickets are sold out usually weeks in advance.  But one gets only 15 minutes to view.

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Anyone who goes to Milan must go and visit the Navigli area of Milan.  Locals gather late evening to meet friends, have a drink or dinner by the canals.  Life in this region does not buzz till after  9 -9.30pm and goes on late into the night.  Various cafes offer specials with all you can eat menus.  People watching is a wonderful pass time in this area as you can see the melting pot of people wandering around.  We visited this area twice during our stay and found it entertaining.  We saw historic building but I must say that I think the Milan Centrale train station is a work of art.  We went to the Sforza Castle which was built in the 15th century.  Now houses many museums.

Milan and the surrounding cities are interesting.  We went to Pavia and Bergamo.   Both cities are steeped in history.  Pavia has one of Europe's oldest universities.   Columbus studied here.  We would have never known this had we not traveled here.  Bergamo's old town is set up high on a hill.  The cobbled streets are lined with local bakeries where you get their local cake called "Polenta".  It looks like regular polenta, but nothing like it.  Yellow fondant covered with sugar crystals and the center filled with sweet cream and topped with a marzipan chocolate bird.  This delicious treat is a must to try in Bergamo.  It will definitely satisfy the sweet tooth!

An impromptu decision took us to meet some friends who live in Dietikon near Zurich.  We decided to rent a car and drive through the Swiss Alps.   It was a good decision as we drove through the Alps the scenery is spectacular and went through many tunnels.  What came as a surprise was the "Gotthard Tunnel". One of the longest tunnels under the mountains 16.9 km's long.  It was fascinating to drive through this tunnel where the temperature rose to 35 degrees. It was hot.  A bit claustrophobic for me, as it took a long time to get through it.  Just heard on the news that the train tunnel opened last week, 59 km's long!  Both the tunnels are a fantastic engineering feat!

On our return journey, we stopped at Lake Lucerne, Lake Lugano ( half the lake is in Italy the other half in Switzerland).  A very serene and quiet lake.  Very residential with lots of apartments and housing around the lake.  Some very lucky people live in this spectacular region. http://globezing.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/20160912_160707.mp4

It is here that we met a couple that was traveling in their motor home from Paris to the South of Italy. They were Canadian's from Quebec.  What they told us was that they had bought the motor home and they travel in it for 6 months every year.  They store it in a motor home yard in Paris or this year they were planning on storing it in Southern Italy.  Then they go back to Canada for a few months.  When they resume travel in Europe next year, they will pick up the motor home and travel north on a different route and park it back in Paris for the following year.  So we felt there are so many others like us traveling in different ways to achieve the same end results, with a twist to the experience.

We returned the rental car the next day when we came back "home" to Milan.  It is so easily said that we came back home as we did consider the apartment our home and that we were living like the local Italians during our stay in Milan. Shopping in local farmers markets and grocery stores and creating Italian cuisine at home.