Pics from Milan

As you can see we are bright eyed and busy-tailed ...after a restful night on the train (NOT!!!) we made the most of it - and eagerly looked forward to a good sleep in Venice :o)

Milan by Day

We arrived in Milan and were a little overwhelmed with all of the hustle and bustle. The station was much busier then Frankfort ...and with little sleep ...it made it a little confusing. We found a place to store our rucksacks for the day and booked our train to Venice for later that day.

As we were only there for the day, we opted to take one of the hop on / hop off tours around the city. It was a good choice and fit well into our level of energy. We didn't do much hopping off - and both Mel and Tish took power naps ...along the way.

We did eventually get off at one of the main thoroughfare - did some more window shopping ...and hunted for a bathroom. We then decided it was time to get something to eat and make our way back to the station for the next leg of our journey.

Mel was determined to eat local - and so we walked until we found a nice little Italian restaurant - featuring home made pasta. We filled ourselves and then made our way back to the station, hunted postcards for the kids, wrote them and then posted them off.

Back in the Milan train station - it was hot, crowded and no place to sit. We collected our rucksacks and discovered that our train was delayed (as was the one before it) ...so ...our train was jammed pack! So much so ..it was standing room only. Thankfully we had confirmed seats - as it's just over 3 hours to Venice - we did not envy those that had to stand the whole way.

PS ...we've got pictures to post of our day in Milan ...but can't seem to get it to work!

Day 3 - Milan....Here we come!

After a full day in Brussels, we headed to the train station to board a train to Frankfurt. First off, we had to activate our passes and book our seats on the Frankfurt train. Mel ran around looking for a postcards ....and then a place to post them.

In the meantime ...Tish & I headed to the ticket office to get sorted. We had assumed Mel would follow suit ...and when she was no where to be found - resorted to calling her on her cell phone. Eventually, we reconnected - and then waited for what seemed like eons ...to book our seat to Frankfurt. With little time to spare, we dashed to the platform and eagerly contemplated what the sleeper cars would be like.

We had booked a compartment on an overnight train for the Frankfurt to Milan leg of our trip. Of the three of us, only Norma seemed to have a fair idea of what we could expect. As soon as we boarded and saw our accommodations, Norma's eyebrows shot skyward and she immediately requested another room. Mel & Tish weathered the storm together in the allotted room. All things considered, it wasn't too bad. We had a private sink in our room and at the end of the car there was a bathroom with a shower. The water in the shower was surprisingly warm and save for having to hit the water button several times and the sometimes tumultuous rocking of the car, it wasn't all that bad.

Breakfast on the other hand ...was carbs on top of carbs ...with a little bit of spread! It was food ...and it came with the cost of the ticket ....so we made the most of it.

Day 2 - Brussels

Although the skies were not a brilliant blue - it was not grey enough to shadow the beauty that surrounds you in the city.

Musings from Tish....

"Poo, Poo Everywhere!"

Not entirely sure what I expected Brussels to be like, but the reality did not match the picture I had in my mind. That said, the city had an abundance of interesting architecture and attractive buildings. Looking out from our hotel room we were able to see lots of red-roofed houses interspersed with greenery.


Overall a relatively clean city, which brings me back to my first observation…poo! There was lots of dog poo scattered about which seemed a bit out of place. It would appear as though there are no requirements for dog owners/walkers to dispose of their animal’s droppings. It was on the sidewalks, next to the curbs and scattered around the trees. Perhaps it's all part of the city's sustainable development plan, but it's highly unlikely:)


On the positive side, those of you out there who are chocoholics would think you had died and gone to heaven! It seemed as if every street had a Godiva, Neuhaus, Guylain or other chocolate maker on it, and some of the creations were truly divine.

Norma's thoughts....

We left London with skies full of liquid sunshine - and mistakenly thought that once we crossed the channel ...that we'd have pure sunshine. Alas, such was not to be the case. Thankfully, it's a fairly easy city to navigate and we managed to find our way to the hotel. The Hilton was located in an area that was surrounded by designer's shops - we thought of the Mayfield sisters ...and knew that they'd be in their glory! Although ...the prices were nothing to be sneezed at - and we felt certain that window shopping was the closest we would get to purchasing.

We walked around the old part of the city as well as the areas surrounding the hotel. We didn't have a lot of time in the city - so opted to hop on one of the trolleys and rode it to the end of the line and back. It gave us a glimpse of the city ....and left me wanting to see more.

The good news is ...that's it is an easy trip from London - and definitely great for a weekend away.

Mel's thoughts

It's a pretty city - the chocolates were a definite hit! It's an easy city to walk and explore. Although we bought tickets for the trams/ subway - it didn't appear to be necessary as we were never asked for them. So ...it made touring of the city - quite reasonable.

Oh...finding stamps and a post office was fairly easy ...the challenge was finding postcards!

Packing Time ....Day of Departure - 9th July 2008

So, it's the night before our European Rail Adventure and we're only just starting to pack.

It's been a busy day, there was some confusion about whether or not Mel would actually arrive from Canada as the online flight tracker, indicated that she had missed the plane to London. It didn't help that the airline advised us that her bag had not made the flight either. So, Tish and I were chilling here at the house, trying to figure out whether or not she would actually make it in time for our booked journey to Brussels tomorrow. We were both relieved when the phone rang. Mel had taken an earlier flight and had made the original booking. She ended up catching a bus from Gatwick to Stansted and we collected her from there.

We spent the afternoon catching up and enjoyed a fabulous Indian curry tonight. We head out early in the morning - we catch a train from Braintree to London - transfer from Liverpool Street Station to St Pancreas Station to board the Eurostar to Brussels!

We'll post pictures and stories as we travel around Europe.

Day of Departure...9th July 2008

Here starts our journey, stuff all over the place, cramming them into our rucksacks. The first train shots - are from our trek into London on the Braintree to Liverpool Street Station. Then we made our way to St. Pancreas station to board the Eurostar train. Norma's not good going backwards on trains - so sat between cars (Tish was nice enough to join her there :o) ) and we ended up meeting some young men who were on the way to Antwerp. They had never heard of Bermuda ...and we did our best to explain where it was! PS ...if you click on the little pictures - they will enlarge to full size.