This morning Terris and Sandra left the house before I woke up to meet Uncle Terry at the airport. It would have been nice to see Uncle Terry but I’m sure he would have been tired and ready to sleep when he got back. We got up, Tavis made sandwiches, and we ate breakfast before saying goodbye to our home for the past 11 days. We have really appreciated the generosity of Terris and Sandra who opened their home to us. Switzerland is a beautiful country! Below outlines our commute to Italy.
- 7:36 – 7:48 bus from Krattigen to Spiez
- 8:05 – 9:12 train from Spiez to Domodossola
- 10:17 – 2:28 train from Domodosolla to Mestre, Venice
- 3:03 – 3:11 train from Mestre to Mira-Milano
When we left Krattigen, the weather was warm and dry. We stopped in Spiez to buy some soda that Sandra introduced us to yesterday. Then we made our way to the platform 3 to catch our train to Italy. Navigating the bus and trains in Switzerland with our luggage was easy because we knew exactly where to go and what to do with our luggage. When we arrived in Domodossola though, it was a different story.
As we arrived in Italy, it was pouring rain and the scenery was nothing like what we saw in Switzerland. It was more run down and dreary. In fairness, the weather may have had an impact on the setting. We collected our luggage and made our way to the train station. We tried to find a ticket agent who spoke English to see if we could buy a 24 hour bus pass for Venice ahead of time. It was not long before we discovered we could not purchase the pass until we arrived in Venice. We thought about wandering around Domodossola but the rain was coming down hard and we had all of our luggage. Instead we found a seat in the waiting area and waited 45 minutes before making our way back to platform 3 to catch our next train. As the train arrived we watched for car 4 and hopped on at the correct doors.
When we got onto the train we first discovered there was no room for our luggage as it was completely filled with everyone else’s luggage. Then we found that our reserved seats were not showing up as reserved and there were people sitting in the seas. We found a conductor who helped us find a place to put our luggage and moved some people (who had reserved seats in car 3) so we could all sit somewhat together. We didn’t have the nice table seats with 4 but atleast we were sitting 2×2. When the train arrived in Milan many people got off so Tavis was able to move our bags to the luggage rack and we grabbed a set of seats with a table. Unlike the trains in Switzerland, there really wasn’t much to see so we ended up playing on our devices and having a long game of rocket.
When we arrived in Mestre, the sun was shining and it was about 30 degrees out! We collected our bags and tried to find a ticket booth. We walked the wrong way initially but eventually made it into the station. It was so hot that we decided to go directly to our apartment so we could get rid of the bags and hopefully cool down. It took a while to figure out where to buy tickets because no one spoke English well. Thirty minutes (and 10 Euros) later we had tickets to the train station where Nadia (the person we rented our AirBNB from). It was literally an 8 minute ride to the next train station! The tickets were not nearly as easy to understand as in Switzerland. We didn’t know which train number or where the train was heading so we went to the platform at the correct time and asked someone after we got on.
At 3:11 we arrived in Mira-Mirano. Tavis called Nadia and her husband, Palo, arrived 5 minutes later with a VW minivan. I’m sure we looked tired and hot with seat dripping from our foreheads. We had to put the back seats down to fit all the luggage so I jumped into the back seat with the 3 kids and Tavis sat up front. It was a short 5 minute drive to the house. The house is large and the property is quite nice aswell. He pointed out his large garden and drove around behind the house. We walked in and tehre was a large stairway that led to an upstairs apartment. When we walked in to a wonderfully cool air-conditioned room we were pleasantly surprised. It was small but well decorated and had 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It also had a washing machine, stove, fridge, and microwave. He asked if we wanted any tomatoes as they had plenty. When he left we started unpacking and Tavis hung our wet bathingsuits and towels from lastnight on the line outside. When he came in he had a large basket of fresh tomatoes picked right out of the garden!
A few minutes later Nadia arrived and introduced herself. She asked about our travel arrangements when we leave and offered to lend us her old car to drive ourselves to the train station since they will not be home! She also offered her car to us so we could go purchase bus passes and groceries. How cool is that!!! Tavis and I left the kids at home and found ourselves driving to Dolo. We went to the place to get bus passes and it was packed! We waited 30 minutes to find out it was going to cost 100 Euros to purchase a 24 hour bus pass for Venice!!! We politely declined and figured we would we would be better off paying the 19 euros for a return trip to venice by train and walking the streets instead of taking transit. We then went to a market a few blocks away and bought groceries for dinner, breakfast, and snacks for only 22 euros!
When we got back Nadia asked about the bus passes and we told her it was too expensive. She was disappointed that they would charge us full price for the kids but informed us that the bus pass also includes the boats out to the islands such as Murano and Burano. We decided to make dinner and later tonight Nadia is going to come up and we are going to make a plan for tomorrow. As it turns out, we can purchase our bus pass online.
We are very pleased with our accommodations here in Italy so far. Our hosts are very kind and we look forward to tomorrow’s adventure.