Ciao Switzerland

We caught the earliest train out of Lauterbrunnen in order to catch all our connections for Varenna. Some of the trains were standing room only on our way to Italy, but they made sure to pack everyone in there. We had reserved seats crossing the border and actually had to boot some sneaky folks out of our spot. The Milan train station is beautiful, but I felt a bit intimidated by the pickpocket/mugger signs every 10 feet, so I decided to keep everything of value hidden, which included my camera. We only had 20 minutes to get tickets and catch our train so we stayed at the station and tried to study a bit of Italian.


Early trains happen in the dark.


There is quite a substantial difference between the trains in Switzerland and the trains in Italy, I'd call the Italian ones rustic.



We ended up by ourselves in first class again, but this time we paid for it. Progress.



We made it in to Varenna around 2 and had a beautiful stroll...er hike through town. Varenna sits on the hillside so you're either climbing up or climbing down cobblestone (river rock) stairways between buildings. As luck would have it our hotel was on the opposite side of town from the train station and we chose the hillier route. We checked into our hotel a bit out of breath and sweaty from carrying our bags on or back, but I have a feeling they are used to seeing that a lot.


Varenna is a tiny town, with maybe 700 people in the off season, in full blown winter some hotels even shut their doors and restaurants reduce the hours. So far its the perfect place to do what I like to call "A whole lot of nothing." Most of the tourists here are British, followed by Americans, then equal parts German (could be Swiss) and Italian. So far I love all the ivy covered buildings (I know its not good for the buildings, but I love it). Here are some shots from our arrival:
































View from our room. Foggy and gray is the new sunny.