Day 15 * A Train or Two to Tuscany * 3/6/08

This was on the itinerary as possibly the most difficult for travelling, with two connections in Switzerland and two in Italy.
We began with breakfast with the Friebe’s and said good-bye to Paul, Margrit and Susann, and the Coopers and went back to the hotel to do the last minute packing. Kathrin and Philippe (brother) came down and collected us and took us to the station at Frauenfeld so that was one connection less to worry about - there is only 2–3 minutes between the Wängi train and the train to Zurich.
So there we were, ready to go and only these last good-byes, with heaps of photos. It has been wonderful seeing Kathrin again as this mature young married woman, full of confidence, and while we were sad to finally be leaving , we were glad to have been with them all for this wonderful wedding. Meeting her husband Philippe has also been nice and we have been able to make the odd joke about having two sets of in-laws.
One good thing about going by train is that when it arrives you’ve got to get on and it goes, so with final hugs and waves we were Zurich bound.
Then after three days of travel on Swiss trains we finally got our Eurrail pass stamped by a conductor. It means we’ve officially got 4 days of travel left and only three to do it all in.
Zurich station was cruisey as we had time to be able to buy some fruit and stuff, get films at an exorbitant price and buy a Swiss Army knife so we could slice the sausage and cheese onto the sandwiches Margrit had prepared for us. We boarded our train, the Cis Alpino, for Milano and were off, having carefully packed our Swiss map so that we ended up writing down station names in order to remember which way we went.
Not long after Zug we were in mountain country and started climbing through the Alps. It was a natural version of the baroque church experience of going “Wow look at that”, except we were facing each other and got two different perspectives of the scenery. Speedy trains don’t help your photography skills and I’ve already deleted several blurs from the card. The we were in the Gotthard where the train wends its way past Wässen three times going through these amazingly long tunnels, and each time the town is further below you, on the right, the left, the right, with the church standing out as a constant feature.
Then down into Logorno and this amazing picture postcard setting of city, lake and mountains. All through that part of the trip the waterfalls had been bringing down the spring melt, and at one point saw where the road went through a tunnel with the waterfall going over the top of the tunnel.
The train stopped at Chiasso for passport control. A young man from Christchurch in the seat in front was asked what he was doing, why he was travelling and whether he had anything to declare. The a Swiss couple who had left stuff next to him and sat elsewhere in the carriage, got a the full shake down, getting their rights read, and then they came to us, took one look at us and passed on, so I’m not sure what we’ve got that everyone else hasn’t - all we want is a stamp in our passport!
Then we were out of the mountains and onto the industrial strip of the north going down into Milano. Got off the train and started looking for the next one. There are two sets of timetables - the permanent paper ones in glass cases and the ones on the main board. I managed to have us heading each time today in the direction of the theoretical platform, rather than where the train was actually leaving from. It didn’t matter that much as we had plenty of time for the interchange. Then off to Firenze.
First class in Italy seems to be used by everyone, whereas on the Swiss trains there always seemed to be room in first class. This train seemed to have lots of business types on it all pulling out their laptops, doing the Internet and chatting on their mobiles. The scenery reminded me a bit of the American mid-West with everything flat and no distant landmarks , except that the houses looked a very much lot older. The very elegant lady opposite us gave us little bits of help and as we came into Bologna she pointed out the great church of St Luca which sits on a hill overlooking the city, and she clearly thought we should know something about her home city. She bade us farewell and it was on our way again. Finally people started making moves to get off so I went to rescue the bags from the luggage space. I looked out the window to see we were going to get off in a huge downpour that had caught everyone by surprise.
Denise had got out another door so she didn’t have to struggle through the carriage, but where I was, the door refused to open so I had to go through to the next carriage. But there we were, and the signage seemed a bit limited so we asked a platform assistant who told us which train to look for – paper vs electronic Again! We bought a sandwich and muffin and found our connection, climbed on and off we went waiting expectantly for the Tuscan countryside to appear. It wasn’t the rain that stopped the view but the amazingly long tunnels, 2 or 3, from which the train emerged almost at Figline Valdarno. Got off the train and followed the crowds and got a txt from Katy saying she was held up in traffic. As we were standing in a car park we presumed that is where she’d come, but after a little while thought she could be on the other side by the station. As I went through the tunnel to check I got a txt to that effect.
A quick drive through the town & countryside and we were at Katy and Grant’s place in Ponte Agli Stolle with little Sofia doing her “impress the visitors” tricks. She is a darling.
An evening meal and off to bed a bit travel weary but happy.