Despite having to check out of our hotel at the surprising time of 10:30am (so glad I noticed, or they would’ve had to chase us out), this has been probably our most stress-free day yet. I had no idea checkout was so early when I booked our train at 1:37pm, so after we stowed our bags, we had plenty of time to relax before hitting the rails again.
Went back down to Bar Il Moro for their advertised breakfast and enjoyed their spectacular view once again. We both had eggs (Marsha’s scrambled, mine fried) bacon (which was more like prosciutto again), toast, and a tiny salad. We find that the longer we’re here, we both are hungry for American food again. But don’t get me wrong, most of the food here is amazing.
Afterwards we strolled one last time along the lakeshore and took more pictures. We’re really going to miss this place. I’m absolutely certain we’ll be back some day.
The hotel next door, The Hotel Villa Cipressi (same owners) has a garden on property. When we checked in, we were given free passes to go in. Since we still had a few hours before our train, this was the perfect opportunity. We took our time strolling down the trails and taking in all of its tranquil beauty. When we reached the Royal Bridge (which marked the edge of the garden), we realized where we were: right back at the garden bar of our own hotel. The tickets weren’t necessary at all. In fact, we’d almost wandered into it by accident on our very first night.
Afterwards, we picked up our luggage and made the hike back to the train station. We didn’t have to walk uphill as much going back, which was great, until we reached the final turn and from there it was uphill quite a bit. When we finally reached the parking lot, we realized that we’d left in such a hurry two days earlier, we hadn’t really paid any attention to our surroundings. We saw a building that looked like the train station (it wasn’t), then the real thing hidden behind a bunch of trees.
Despite taking our time since checkout, we were still an hour early. In fact, the 12:37 train to Milan was just pulling out. Had I known previously what I know now, we could have bought our tickets for an earlier time and had a six hour window in which to use them. Or just jumped aboard anyway, because no one ever checked our tickets.
Getting back to the station was a bit of a surprise. It’s really tiny, like an Italian Petticoat Junction. They had a nice little cafe, only two tracks, and helpful signs pointing the ways to Milan and Torino. No need to watch the departure board to figure out which track was ours.
At first we were the only ones waiting, but eventually a small crowd began to fill the platform. I overheard one Dad mention they were waiting for the same train we were. When one train (which had nothing to indicate to number) arrived close to our departure time, we immediately noticed that it was heading in the wrong direction. And that no one else made any attempt to board.
Our train finally arrived a good 10 minutes late, Marsha and I decided to play it smart. Remembering how crowded our train there was, and knowing that we were boarding in the middle of its route, we dashed right to one of the front cars while everyone else dashed left. Our chief concerns were not only finding seats, but finding a spot to stow our luggage.
We needn’t have worried. Our car was nearly empty, and only picked up a couple of more people on the entire run. I guess the train lines are are much less busy in the middle of the week. Even better, we had a giant window all to ourselves to get our last spectacular views of the lake as we left.
It seemed like no time before we were back at Milano Centrale, and this time we were happy to see the rest of the station. It’s absolutely beautiful and reminded me even more of Grand Central.
And when we stepped outside, we finally got our first views of Milan itself. Which didn’t look all that different from any other big city. We’d heard that Milan was more modern, which certainly seemed to be the case. Our hotel wasn’t too far, so we opted to walk it (thank goodness the heat has been subsiding). We passed by numerous stores and cafes that looked great, but could have been in any large city. I suspect that will change, though, as we venture out tomorrow.
Got checked into our hotel, the Westin Palace, just fine, which is great. But after we relaxed for a spell, we noticed that the AC wasn’t making the room any cooler (we ended up switching). We were ready to find something to eat, but first order of business was to do some laundry! I only had enough clean shirts for one more day, so it was do or die time! We considered doing it in the room, but did a quick Google search and found a self-serve laundromat a few blocks away.
This turned out to be a perfect solution and a great experience. The laundromat was tiny, and run by a sweet little older lady who didn’t speak much English (if any), but who knew exactly what we needed, so we just followed her lead. Plus there was a nice British woman who told us not to worry about the instructions (in three languages, which specifically mentioned coins and to get change) and just listen to the older woman. And an older gentleman who I first mistook for a customer (he rarely left his seat, while the older woman was all over the place), but was really good at pointing. The whole time we were there, the place was a constant flurry of people coming in to do their laundry or to pick it up.
In less than an hour, we had everything washed, dried, folded, packed up and ready to go. We’d calculated the cost (that sign was in English and Italian) and was pretty sure that it was enough. I asked her in Italian and had no idea what she mumbled back. But she took my 10 euros and brought the change I expected. So I immediately gave it back and told her to keep it (in Italian), which got me a wonderful smile.
After we dropped off our newly clean clothes (and got our room switched), we headed out for dinner. We’ve both been itching for a burger lately, so we did another quick Google search (plus Yelp). Didn’t find anything nearby, so we just hit the streets and headed back towards the train station.
We were torn between two restaurants, which both looked good: Metropolis and Nhero. We opted for Metropolis and were seated right away. When we tried to order though, the waiter explained that they were doing this happy hour thing where the food is free to if you keep ordering drinks. Sounded like a good deal, but not really what we wanted. So it was back to Nhero, which was an excellent choice. We shared a cheeseburger and pizza, and both were really good. And just what we’d been craving. And our waitress was very complimentary on my limited Italian.
Another language note: It’s proper to always greet people with “buongiorno” in the day and “buona sera” in the evening or at night. We’ve noticed a lot of people respond to buona sera with just “sera” (the equivalent of just saying “evening”). This is one of the many helpful details you pick up in country. Like when we went to France, and lots of people would say “merci, au revoir” like it was just one word. Madison and I still use that one at Epcot.
Afterwards, it was back to the room where we finally got to watch our Italy episodes of The Amazing Race. It was so cool seeing where we’d just been in Venice and Varenna, and where we were about to go in Milan.
Ciao!
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