5/15/2024 - Wednesday

We arrived in Zurich at around 11am.  The line to go through passport control was the longest one I had ever seen in any airport.  Fortunately it moved pretty fast, and we were through and at baggage claim in short order.

We took an Uber to the Central Plaza Hotel, our first stop.  The hotel sounds like it should be a grand hotel, but in reality we found it to be rather small compared to our expectations.

But the location of the Central Plaza Hotel is very convenient.  It's located in the northern part of the old city.  Zurich's main shopping street is within walking distance, as is the central train station.

We took a tram ride down towards the lake, and visited some shops in the area on our first day.  Being jet lagged that was all we were up for that day.

The road trip starts tomorrow...

5/16/2024 - Thursday

The next day was our visit to the Lindt Chocolate Factory.  If you like chocolate, this is a must place to visit.  It is not in the city center, so it is a bit complicated to get to.  In the end, after trying to get there by train and bus, we called Uber to take us.  

We had a ticket to enter at 1pm, so we had an hour to wait until it was our time to enter.  We were delighted to find a cafe at the facility that served lunch, so that turned out perfect.  

Upon entering the factory, or a better description would be museum, we were given audio devices that explained each exhibit.  There was a thorough explanation of the history of chocolate, particularly its history in Switzerland.

Later, at the airport... Ryusuke-san and Mitsuko-san arrived late this afternoon. It was dusk by the time we left the airport in our BMW X3/M rental car.  Getting to Lucerne was not very difficult, even in the rain.  We found our hotel, the Hotel Balm, easily enough.  It was around 9pm when we arrived, so we called it a day.

5/17/2024 - Friday

We had breakfast at the hotel, which I had forgotten was included.  What a great breakfast!  They cook your eggs to order, and the breads, cheese, meats, and everything else was top notch.  A pleasant surprise.

Today we focused on seeing the old city of Lucerne.  Sonia at the hotel front desk gave us some great info on getting around.  She even gave us each a Lucerne Visitor Card so we could ride the buses and trams free.  We took the #24 bus to Schwanenplatz, and from there took a rather circular route around the city to the north of the Reuss River.

We immediately made our way towards the Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke).  A covered bridge built in the 12th century, the Chapel Bridge is probably the most well known landmark in the city.  It burned down in a fire in 1993, and was totally rebuilt in 1994.  The water tower situated next to the bridge was built 30 years before the bridge, and survived the fire.

After walking the path along the river for awhile, we decided to cross back over to the other side via the Chapel Bridge's sister bridge - the Spreuer Bridge (Spreuerbrücke).  Built many years after the Chapel Bridge in the 15th century, the Spreuer Bridge is shorter but is the original.  As we walked across the bridge, we noticed a number of simple paintings in the ceiling areas that depicted a theme of death.  Then towards the second half of the bridge we came upon a shrine of St. Mary. 

We made our way up the hill towards Zyt Tower (Zytturm) which is an ancient clock built into a ancient city wall tower overlooking the lake.  The origins of the clock tower date back to 1403.  There are nine other clocks inside the tower that were collected over the years.  Climbing up to the top of the clock tower took some effort for folks like us in our latter years, but we made it. The view from the top is worth the climb!

Lastly, we summoned up enough energy to walk over to Lion Monument (Löwendenkmal). Carved in a large sandstone wall in 1821, the lion is laying wounded atop battle ornaments with very mournful look on his face.  The statue commemorates the Swiss Guards who gave their lives to protect King Louis XVI of France during the French Revolution when revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris. This event effectively ended the monarchy in France, and ushered in a new era of republicanism.

5/18/2024 - Saturday

Today we went on a mountain trek to Mount Rigi.  We decided to do the typical route.  Going, we took a boat ride to Vitznau, followed by a cable car to the top of Rigi.  The views on the way up were special, and when we got to the top, well, it was almost like the awe that we felt when we saw the Grand Canyon for the first time. The top of the mountain is Rigi Kulm station - the last stop.

When you go to the very top, you can see two distinct views.  One was of the Alps mountain range with green pastures below.  The other was a vast valley of green with homes scattered here and there.  

On the way back, we took the cable car down to Rigi Kaltbad-First, and then a gondola down to Weggis (Luftseilbahn).  The gondola ride was horrible, with a hundred people crammed inside so only the people near the windows could see the view.  Fortunately it only lasted 15 minutes. From there you need to walk to the pier where you will pick up the boat back to Lucerne.

5/19/2024 - Sunday

Today was a travel day for the most part.  We took off from the hotel at around 10:30 or so for Menaggio, which is a town right on Lake Como.  It is one of the three towns that form a triangle of ferry routes; the other two being Bellagio and Varenna.  Well, things did not go according to plan.  We got stuck in a massive traffic jam as we were passing through the tunnels that bore through the Alps.  There were a couple of tunnels that were undergoing construction, which closed off one lane of the two lane highway in both directions.  It took us a couple of hours to get past that bottleneck. 

Because we lost so much time, we decided to go directly to the town of Como instead.  There, we took in some of the sights around the lake, and had a nice dinner.  Afterward, another hour or so later, we arrived at our hotel on the northeast section of Milan - the AC Hotel Milan Sesto.  

5/20/2024 - Monday

Our first of two full days in Milan.  We headed for the M1 subway station, which was a five minute walk from the hotel.  Buying tickets turned out to be an adventure.  Unlike Switzerland, where buying transit tickets is more like a suggestion, here in Italy they actually have ticket gates and ticket machines and the headaches that come alone with them for foreigners.

As we stood puzzled trying to understand how to buy tickets in front of a ticket machine, to our rescue came a somewhat scraggly gentleman that proceeded to help us buy tickets.  He spoke no English, but with my broad knowledge of about 15 Italian words, we were able to get the tickets bought.  And as I expected, the good Samaritan wanted to be tipped for his efforts.  Oh well...

Anyway, we hopped on the subway and got off at Duomo station about 20 minutes later.  We emerged from underground literally right next to the Duomo.  There was a line of people waiting to get in that seemed to go for miles.  Then it became apparent that we needed to buy tickets!  Who knew?  So I grabbed my new iPhone 13, found the Duomo website, and bought tickets for the Duomo Museum for today, and Combo Lift tickets for tomorrow.  The Combo Lift tickets include entrance to the Duomo, an elevator ride up to the terraces, and the museum too (which we would not need because I bought them for today).

The museum houses a great collection of artifacts, statues, and spires that were at one time in the past part of the Duomo.  This is a must see for religious history lovers, particularly as it relates to Catholicism in Italy.

After the museum we walked over to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a covered mall built in the 19th century.  Many of the most famous Italian fashion houses have a store here, such as Prada and Armani.  We had lunch at one of the restaurants in the mall.  

Later after lunch we walked up to the Brera section of Milan, which is known as a shopping district according to Toyoko's guide book.  On the way we stopped into a men's clothing store because I forgot to pack the shirts I intended to bring on the trip. We were greeted by a rather aggressive saleslady, and a half hour later we got out of there with a new shirt at a price higher than any other shirt I have even owned.  The saleslady tried very hard to get us to buy two shirts, but we were able to escape before she locked the doors!

After that we made our way to Brera.  There were quite a few shops to explore, and we did a bit of that.  We eventually came upon the Santa Maria del Carmine Church, a 15th century baroque church that, upon entry, was hard to see clearly because it was a bit too dark.  

We were getting tired so it was time to get back to the hotel and get some rest.  

5/21/2024 - Tuesday

Today our prime directive was to explore the Duomo cathedral.  Recall that we bought tickets online yesterday for the complete package of entry passes.  We had an 11:30 reservation for entry to the Duomo terraces that our Combo Lift tickets included, so we headed straight for the entrance.  We reached a small elevator that could only hold maybe 8 people in total (including the elevator operator).  The line was short because this ticket is a bit expensive.  Well, we got off the elevator, a few steps away you are on the rooftop.  Quite a unique experience indeed, seeing views of the church in ways most people do not get to see.  

There were two levels of terraces, and to get to the second level there was no elevator, so you need to climb a rather steep staircase to get there.  At the second level you can see more of the surrounding city of Milan.  

After we were done with the terraces we proceeded down the steps to the church interior.  There was no elevator down, so there are quite a lot of steps to go down to get to the bottom.  But, you are rewarded by the vastness of the Duomo's interior when you get there.  I did not recall the Duomo in Florence being this big.  The columns holding it all up are like 8 feet thick.  

After the Duomo we returned to the mall for a delicious lunch at the galleria.

Afterward, we hopped on the M1 subway at Duomo, and switched to the M2 at Cardorna, and proceeded to PTA Genova. There we explored the Naviglio section of Milan, which is situated alongside a canal.  There are lots of restaurants there, as well as antique shops and small artist galaries.  We walked the canal, had some gelato, and then made one final stop at the Blues Canal watering hole for drinks.   

That was pretty much it for today.  Tomorrow we move on to Verona and Bolzano.