Verona to Zurich to Samui: a slight temperature change

We left Verona in the same conditions as the day before, miserable, seriously overcast (to the point where my phone had no reception to get an Uber or make a call) and bloody freezing!

Because of this, we decided to walk to the Verona Porta Nuova Station to catch our train to Milan, then a, somewhat, connecting train to Zurich. The trip was just over an hour and thankfully the train wasn't an InterCity.

Backstory: InterCity trains are probably the bottom of the barrel in the train hierarchy. Very basic and have no room for suitcase storage; from Milan to Genoa we basically had to have our cases on our laps or sit on them, thankfully there was a spare seat that I could share with my 25kg case. Make sure you check what type of train you're on, or pay some more money and get a better ticket, which still didn't help us between Milan & Genoa. There are 3 or 4 different train providers, Italo are excellent (especially 1st Class), Trenitalia is Government owned, some are fantastic, except the InterCity.

I digress! We sped through the Italian countryside and finally got a glimpse of Lake Garda, where we were meant to go yesterday but were thwarted by the weather; next time.

We made it to Milan and headed outside the front entry as I had read last week that there was an art installation there. I'd noticed some scaffold being installed when we stayed the night there 3 weeks ago, but now it was complete.

"Milan’s Stazione Centrale appears to have a brand new tunnel punching through its public plaza – a dazzling optical illusion created by French artist JR.

The trompe l’oeil artwork is called La Nascita (The Birth) and takes over the Piazza Duca D’Aosta, a huge public square abutting the train station’s 50-m-tall facade.

The artwork pays homage to Italy’s golden age of railway travel and the completion of the Alpine Simplon Tunnel in 1906, connecting Switzerland and Italy, which turned Milan into a major transport hub.

JR’s previous installations in Rome also evoked the idea of a chasm or hole. This time, he’s drawn on the idea of tunnelling through the mountains – and the station building – to create the artwork, using many layers of paper images to create a sense of depth.

He told the Art Newspaper: ‘It is the first time I do something like this with many layers. The building is pretty intimidating, I rarely work on buildings that are this big. It took me a while to really work out how to get through that station.’" Source: Art Newspaper/Apple News.

Well that was obviously a PR agents 5 minutes of thought for the day. Having done a lot of music publicity back in the 90's, I find it, the Press Release, proof that their 'imagination bypass operation' was a complete success.

The installation is impressive but the expectation was higher given the article in Apple News. The other artwork, a massive Apple with the bite repaired, was excellent and made the walk outside worthwhile. That and helping the Asian lady find the Hop On, Hop Off Bus Stop.

We headed back inside the station and found a position to play "what platform is my train leaving from", a popular game played in railways stations across Europe. Everyone gathers by large LED screens and stares at them waiting for their train number to appear, in between ads for various products, and when it does, there's a stampede to the relevant platform. The second half of the game is just as much fun; though I think I've previously mentioned it. It's "Which end of the train will my carriage be", but seems to be more fun in Italy where I'm sure the railway staff LED screen operators like to have a little bit of sport and put the opposite on the screens to what is actually happening and then wait for people, like your humble scribe, to have to run the length of the platform to get to the right carriage; hours of hilarity to be had by all.

Just to help paint the picture, there is no numerical arrangement with the carriage numbers; they might (but very rarely) be in order, or, in the case of our Milan to Zurich train, start at 20 and go to 32 then the next is 1 through to 11. I think the Italians are having a ball watching on CCTV from a dark bunker somewhere, might even be in Rome, and high-fiving each other every time a train arrives and the ensuing 5-10 minutes of carnage before it departs again.

On we get, with a few harsh words every 10 metres to other travellers, get taken to the wrong carriage by my directionally challenged wife, then backtrack to the appropriate one to settle in for the next four and a half hours of tunnels and scenery, in comfort I must say.

The train headed out, looking for the Swiss border and the tunnel that is mentioned above, again, an incredible feat of human endurance and engineering.

Again, the scenery is breathtaking, only in reverse from 3 & 1/2 weeks ago, until we come out of a long tunnel on the Swiss end and everything goes up a level. Snow everywhere, village roofs covered, we check the temperature, it's -3 and snowing. Absolutely beautiful, just like Saturday in the Dolomites snowing (I'm sure I've mentioned I've only been in snow twice & once was Mount Baw Baw, the other time in Verbier with James Turner).

We pull into Zurich station around 6pm, walk across the river (via a bridge) to our hotel, the Central Plaza, where Mandy decides that the last night Schnitzel is just too good to pass up. Eat, sleep and get up again, this time to go to the airport, checked in and off we go, all afternoon and night to Bangkok. A quick shuffle off to Bangkok Airways and we're off to Koh Samui & our second home, Chaba Cabana, where we are met, very surprisingly, by the owner Kuhn Thanet, big hugs all round as we haven't seen him since my 60th birthday at Chaba when he decided to hand deliver mangoes from Bangkok & an amazing gold edged tea set as gifts. At least he had less security with him this time, it was lovely to see him. He may be nudging 80 but he's looking good, except for an eye & an ear not working.

Later in the day we met his wife and 2 sons, Cho-goon & Ong-sa, 9 & 6 years old respectively, lovely young rascals & they've been endearing themselves to Mandy since.

Jenny arrived last night around 9pm & it's glorious today, around 34 degrees at the moment & will get to around 40 today, tomorrow and every day until we leave, but, thankfully, a sea breeze today to take the edge off. This time of year it's usually starting to taper off with visitors to the island as it becomes stupidly hot in May & June. Unfortunately, it hasn't rained since we left in January and now the military are trying to seed the clouds as the drought effects are becoming quite severe.

So this is the last post for this trip & I'll finish with some thoughts & impressions from the last month.

Switzerland is expensive, Zurich is beautiful, Mandy loves it and we'll be back in 18 months or 2 years. We have to go to Jungfraujoch anyway having missed out this trip.

Italy is dirty; we have noticed this before when we've been there. Rome & Milan particularly, Genoa, Bologna, Rimini & Verona were a lot cleaner, I suppose it has to do with managing the size of a city/town.

It is also a lot cheaper, and gets cheaper as you go away from the bigger cities.

The air-conditioning laws are ridiculous & need to be sorted out for AirBNB or Stayz residences, or similar, or people will go to hotels, with air-conditioning.

Genoa & Chique Terra were great, and beautiful. The thousands of daily visitors can't be wrong.

Bologna, beautiful, stay in centre and you only need a couple of days.

Rimini, the surprise package, different, would be amazingly unbearable in summer but perfect for our stay, a cross between very old and new & everything in between, and close to San Marino, which is incredible, and steep.

Verona was beautiful but unfortunately the weather impeded our stay, will have to go back the year after next.

Bressanone & The Dolomites, OUTSTANDING, worth every cent we paid & will return.

The Italian train system if fantastic, just don't get an InterCity train with luggage. Pay the extra and get First Class or Business Class.

We (well I'm) planning our next sojourn to Europe, potentially merging the trip we were meant to have to Munich, Prague & Austria last year but couldn't because of my holiday stay in hospital, then taking a detour through the Dolomites to see Verona properly & back to Zurich.

Thank you all for following our trip, reading my rantings, and making comments, whether appropriate or inappropriate throughout the last month. There will be more posts from Callala, Bali, New Zealand and then Alaska, going back there next May & June, right up into the Arctic Circle this time, and wherever Mandy can manage to squeeze a holiday in, depending on Boots of course.