Bernina Express

We have loved being in Italy, despite it being so hot! I wish we could spend all summer exploring Italy, but there is still so much more to see. Today we go to Switzerland via train. Our first train starts at the beautiful train station in Milan, which looks more like a high-end shopping center than a train station, to Tirano, a small, quaint town in the north of Italy. When we got off the train in Tirano, the temperature had already dropped significantly. It felt so refreshing! Here we had our last gelato in Italy, and even JonPaul got some this time.

We then switched to the Bernina Express, a special panoramic train that takes the route from Italy through the Alps to get to Chur, Switzerland. You can see the windows go up to curve above the ceiling a bit so the visibility of the scenery is great. The kids drew and wrote in their journals while we took this long train ride. I think everyone needed a break from walking all day, and this long train ride was a good way to relax after many days of being on the go.

We saw some beautiful scenery of small towns and farms during the trip. It was hard to do anything but just look out at the scenery that we were passing. Although the kids got a little bored, they behaved very well and stayed entertained by their journals and drawing pads.

In the Alps we saw beautiful lakes, tall mountains, and even snow! Willow is so excited to see the ‘snowy mountains’, and was happy to get a first glimpse today.

We changed trains in Chur to get to Zurich. We got into Zurich pretty late, and our sim cards that we bought in Italy didn’t work here. So we had to buy sim cards number three for the phones. The phone situation has become more difficult and frustrating than we ever expected. We finally got to our place around 9:30 and had to get straight to bed.

Our hotel was a little outside of the city, but it was great. Every place we have stayed has been so unique, and most (except Venice) have been really great. Our place in Zurich was no different. We had one room with a double bed and two bunk beds. The kids loved it! There was a communal kitchen in the lobby for guests too. It was a nice place to stay for a few nights.