Dalmatian Coast cruising without a dog in sight

[Pushka]

Enjoyable day on the bus. Not crowded at all and traffic didn’t impede us at all. The rain of last night gave way to a mix of heavy cloud, bright sun and heat, rinse and repeat. And just now around 5pm a torrential downpour. It’s sunny again by 6pm.

Milan is interesting but 2 days is enough. Of course Duomo is wonderful and second only to Rome in size.

And of course the fabulous Victor Emmanuel building.







This guy was such a performer. Playing Midnight from Cats while we watched. And yes I gave him 2 Euro but sadly I seemed to be the only one.

 

[Pushka]

Inside VE building was wonderful. Not too crowded but busy. Even the Police looked very spiffy.

 

[Pushka]

Looking towards Sforza Fort. I enjoyed the Borgias and their ongoing battle with the Duchy of Milan. Memorable scenes.



On the bus and hard to get a good picture. It’s in 2 parts. It’s the symbol of Milan. It’s a giant threaded



Sewing needle. Fashion provides the majority of Italy’s income. Apparently.

 

[Pushka]

We walked towards the Fortress and spent some time in the gardens.








Turtles everywhere.



Tomorrow we are off on the train via Lake Como to then connect to the Swiss train to St Moritz. We are spending the night there but leaving most of the luggage in the hotel here. Weather in Milan tomorrow sounds wet. In St Moritz - cold but only showers. We will see.

 

[ellen10]

Hoping for good weather for you in Switzerland.

 

[RooFlyer]

I've always wondered about the attraction of Milan, so thanks for those pics and notes. I've twice used the ring road to avoid it!

 

[Pushka]

Just at the end of an excellent day. Milan this morning was wet so pleased to leave. We caught the 8.20am train from Milan to Tirano (2.5 hours) and which passes by the stunning Lake Como. The quality is a bit rubbish as the train windows were filthy. Plus lots of tunnels and obstacles. Sadly I did not see George Clooney.

 

[Pushka]

More Lake Como.

 

[Pushka]

More Lake Como. I need to warn you poor lot. I’ve taken a lot of photos today. Stunning scenery.

 

[Pushka]

Almost to Tirano









And we are there.



The next burst will have to wait until after dinner. I have to sell my first grandchild in order to pay for the food tonight.

 

[Pushka]

Ok. I’ll post in the mistakes thread as well. We purchased the cheapest tickets in second class. We showed the tickets at the RB gates and the lady said to move to the furthest away carriages so we did that. The seats were wonderful. And the whole journey until Diavolezza (2 hours in) we had the whole carriage to ourselves so we could cross over depending on where the view was. The windows were spotless. The conductor came by after we crossed from Italy to Switzerland. He was nice and I said I think we are in the right seats. He smiled and said ‘We will see’. He checked our passports and said we were fine. (We had dragon lady on the trip from Milan).

Well, if this was second class then what is First class like?




The views were wonderful. We passed from village to green to snow line to just above the snow line as we went.

Passing right through villages.

 

[Pushka]

Green. Lower areas.











The Bernini pass is the UNESCO heritage list.

 

[ellen10]

Great photos bringing back lovely memories. We picked up that train to Tirano in Varenna.
We travelled in first class on the Bernina Express for our trip which was great as the windows went into the ceiling for great panorama views and the carriage was light loaded so we like you did the switching from side to side. Fortunately we bought the tickets through a Swiss rail pass and only had to pay for the reserved seats.

Such beautiful countryside thanks for sharing.

 

[Pushka]

Great photos bringing back lovely memories. We picked up that train to Tirano in Varenna.
We travelled in first class on the Bernina Express for our trip which was great as the windows went into the ceiling for great panorama views and the carriage was light loaded so we like you did the switching from side to side. Fortunately we bought the tickets through a Swiss rail pass and only had to pay for the reserved seats.

Such beautiful countryside thanks for sharing.

The panoramic windows are in the express BEX train which we are doing today. We saw them as they passed us back to Tirano. Hoping for a light load too.

The well known viaduct bridges.

 

[Pushka]

Climbing into the snow areas.

 

[Pushka]

We decided to go up the chairlift at Diavolezza even though the weather wasn’t great. We would then catch the next train an hour or so later.

The start of the chairlift where this .....



Turned to this .....



Snow fall.



We were told we had to walk through snow to get to the restaurant. Not sure why he told us that because we didn’t as we later found out. It was slippery as all heck, downhill and we were all carrying back packs. sadis_ perhaps. We had some Hungarian soup which was nice and waited it out for the trip back. It cleared a little.





The train arrived shortly after and we were off to the final stop of St Moritz.

 

[Pushka]

St Moritz is beautiful. Chocolate box stuff. We walked up a really steep area to the hotel, me almost dying. Later found out there was a series of escalators. Checked in. The hotel is described as minimalist. It is. But not in price. So, no mini bar, no fridge, no tea making facilities, liquid soap for hair and body, bed, desk, cupboard and that’s it. We’d already upped the room size when we saw the room we first booked.



Off for a quick walk before dinner to the lake.

 

[Pushka]

One of the three escalators we could have used had there been any signage at the railway. And had not read of this on TA either.



Dinner last night was fish and chips. Yummy and reasonably priced. Looking at other meals around us and people’s reactions to their orders, it was a good move.



View from our room.

 

[ellen10]

Wow that snow looks cold. We were there in September so not a lot of snow about. Don't you love those viaducts! The Bernina Express was on my bucket list. We went all the way through to Chur.

 

[Pushka]

Wow that snow looks cold. We were there in September so not a lot of snow about. Don't you love those viaducts! The Bernina Express was on my bucket list. We went all the way through to Chur.

It really wasn’t that cold as it wasn’t windy. We had jackets but didn’t wear gloves. I had to wear my Norwegian beanie though from last year, just because I could. I got hot though. And after that walk to the hotel we were really hot!

This mornings hotel room view.



Off for a walk around the lake. Takes about an hour. Our train leaves in around 6 hours.

Excellent included breakfast this morning and well hidden warm, soft boiled eggs that were the best so far.