CrossCountry Bob goes to Italy

Travel breaks the routines of life, stimulates the senses and gives the brain a workout (a necessity for CrossCountry Bob as he is well over the senior threshold).  The route to Italy for CrossCountry Bob and Paintin’ Peggie is through Switzerland, a place CrossCountry Bob has always wanted to visit.

A smooth direct flight from Vancouver, landing in Zurich at 11 a.m. local time. Off to a good start, what could go wrong?

Well, Switzerland is expensive and a taxi from the airport works out to approximately $100 Canadian, so take the express train for 7 franc ($15) instead. Brilliant plan. Tickets purchased from ticket machine, down the escalator to the trains. Hmm…looks like the wrong track. Up and over and down…ahh…looks good. Board the train. First stop in ten minutes. Sign says “Interlaken” and so we stay on the train. And on the train goes, and on some more. No stop. Finally, CrossCountry Bo asked a young lady that seemed to know where she was.  “Oh”, she says. “This train is nonstop to Bern.  Be there in an hour.” Noticing the look on the jet lagged face of CrossCountry Bob,  this helpful young lady pulled out her phone and brought up the Swiss train app and showed CrossCountry Bob how to return from Bern. 

OK. Off at the Bern station, up and over from platform 6 to platform 2 (maybe 2 minutes until departure, move it!)…down the stairs to the train, race (limp in the case of CrossCountry Bob with the bad knees waiting for knee replacements), to the last door open with the conductor standing by…and…we were on… an hour return journey, feeling happy about that.

Bern seemed like a pleasant small city (as determined only by looking out a train window), so it was perhaps not fair for CrossCountry Bob to decide that from now on the “Bern Way” as used by CrossCountry Bob will mean the dumb way, the slow way, the check Google maps before way. Follow along with CrossCountry Bob as he traverses Italy and see if the “Bern Way” crops up again. Place no bets, please. The odds are lopsided 🙂

Zurich: sedate and civilized.  A good example of how public transport can work – efficient, clean and frequent.  In fact, it was so efficient that although it poured all day in Zurich, CrossCountry Bob and Paintin’ Peggie still enjoyed seeing the city.  None of the traffic chaos of Paris or Rome.  Our travel companion, David, even thought he could live there comfortably and that is saying something for a lifelong Kelowna resident.

After Zurich, it was over the Alps by train – the Bernina Express.  CrossCountry Bob was hoping for a spectacular train ride and the Bernina Express delivered. CrossCountry Bob will let the pictures do the talking after noting that the trains in Switzerland arrive on time, leave on time and are pleasant to ride. Zurich to Chur, leave 7:07 (yup), arrive Chur 8:22 (yup).

Cross the platform to the waiting Bernina Express, scheduled for departure at 8:28.

Now, settle into a nice window seat and wait. 8:28, the Bernina Express starts to move. CrossCountry Bob is impressed.

The Bernina Express line terminates in Tirano, Italy. Will the smooth journey continue or will the Italian reputation for a little less organization assert itself. “Se dipende, as the Italians say.

It seems part of the rail line to Milan (our final destination for the day) is out. Landslide, accident, construction?? Se dipende.

In any event, a bus must be taken to the other side of the track outage where the train awaits (we hope). One bus and enough passengers for two. Another bus coming says the conductor but few listen and push onto the bus. We squeeze on. An hour on the bus and we arrive at a train station. No one says go here, there or anywhere, so CrossCountry Bob follows a couple speaking Italian. Sure enough, they lead the way to the right train platform and after the other passengers gradually board (“si, si, Milano”, says a train employee at last, encouraging everyone aboard). All set, the train departs for Milan.

Stay tuned for Milan. Big, vibrant and full of Italians!