Northern Italy & Switzerland 2016 - Finished with Post Nights in Milan

[WDWmom08]

This may sound like a stupid question but did you book the pre-days through Disney or on your own?

 

[Cousin Orville]

This may sound like a stupid question but did you book the pre-days through Disney or on your own?

I booked them on my own. You can only book the same hotel the ABD starts or ends at through Disney. But even when its the same hotel, I always ask by Dreams agent, Kevin, what the price is through Disney. Typically it's cheaper to book those nights on your own also.

 

[Cousin Orville]

repeat post

 

[calypso726]

YAY!!!! I love your trip reports. Wow, what a stunning beginning to your adventure. Looking forward to reading more and seeing your amazing photos! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Calfan]

We need to see a picture of the shoes Kate bought at David's!!

 

[disneyphx]

Looking forward to reading this and getting excited for our trip next summer!
We stayed in Tremezzo a couple of years ago - at La Darsena, which has a fabulous restaurant. Would love to go back there too!

 

[bamagoofy]

We are sitting at the hotel bar on the last night of the trip. It has been great meeting Kevin and Kate and everyone else on the trip. I really enjoyed the this trip and recommend it to everyone. The days in Zermatt were beyond amazing. Keep tuned for Kevin's pictures on the Matterhorn.

 

[met19]

I highly recommend this trip- great people, guides and scenery. Bamagoofy summed it up well. #post45

 

[Cousin Orville]

We need to see a picture of the shoes Kate bought at David's!!

Waiting for a flight to Milan. I'll try to remember to post a picture. In the meantime, she bought some shoes in Zermatt as well so here are those:

 

[Cousin Orville]

We are sitting at the hotel bar on the last night of the trip. It has been great meeting Kevin and Kate and everyone else on the trip. I really enjoyed the this trip and recommend it to everyone. The days in Zermatt were beyond amazing. Keep tuned for Kevin's pictures on the Matterhorn.

I highly recommend this trip- great people, guides and scenery. Bamagoofy summed it up well. #post45

It was great traveling around with you guys. I'll echo what they said as well. This was a spectacular ABD. I'll continue to run through the trip day by day, but I'll say it now that this has been my favorite ABD. There's a lot of factors that go into that. A lot of it was our group which was a DIS organized group. I've always had wonderful ABD groups, but this one was particularly special. Case in point, many of us just hung out after all the evening's activities were over. We were very close, even for an ABD group. The guides were amazing. More to say about that later. And the food, scenery, and everything about the ABD were absolutely incredible. Of course there will be more to discuss as the days go on. It's a wonderful, beautiful trip. Sadly, several aspects about it are about to change next year including 2 of the hotels which is a big mistake.

 

[tgeorge]

Uh oh, as predicted, the choice between this and the Amalfi trip is going to be difficult! I'll be interested in reading about your trip and also trying to determine if the upcoming changes will make an impact on my decision. Glad everyone had a fantastic trip!

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

It was great traveling around with you guys. I'll echo what they said as well. This was a spectacular ABD. I'll continue to run through the trip day by day, but I'll say it now that this has been my favorite ABD. There's a lot of factors that go into that. A lot of it was our group which was a DIS organized group. I've always had wonderful ABD groups, but this one was particularly special. Case in point, many of us just hung out after all the evening's activities were over. We were very close, even for an ABD group. The guides were amazing. More to say about that later. And the food, scenery, and everything about the ABD were absolutely incredible. Of course there will be more to discuss as the days go on. It's a wonderful, beautiful trip. Sadly, several aspects about it are about to change next year including 2 of the hotels which is a big mistake.

Wow, this is a big statement! Can't wait to read more about the trip, and I'm sure it will be added to my list!

 

[cmcgardner]

We did this trip a couple of years ago and were blown away. It was our first ABD and it was incredible. We had a great group and I can't wait to go back to Switzerland one day. My husband has even said he would do this specific trip again (if we wanted to take the kids). We are on the Amalfi Coast ABD in a few weeks and I hope it is amazing but Italy/Switzerland will be hard to beat.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

LOVE the shoes Kate bought in Zermatt.

I am looking forward to reading the rest of your TR. ITA with you about changing the hotels in Zermatt and Lucerne. IMHO they should change the hotel in Stresa and keep the other two. Someone got it mixed up.

The scenery during the trip was truly incredible. I am looking forward to going back to Switzerland next year before we start our Rhine River cruise. I think we'll take the train from Zurich to Lucerne, then another train from Lucerne to Basel. I really enjoyed our time in Lucerne.

Enjoy your time in Milan. I hope Kate hits the tail end of sale season. Be sure to visit La Rinascente for some shopping pleasure. Afterwards have an apertif on the lovely rooftop where there are 3 nice restaurants to take in the view of the Duomo from. My favorite gelato of the trip was at a shop called Chocolat (link below) just outside of the Duomo square (by the McDonalds). Simply divine.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaur...views-Cioccolati_Italiani-Milan_Lombardy.html

Safe travels!

 

[tgeorge]

We did this trip a couple of years ago and were blown away. It was our first ABD and it was incredible. We had a great group and I can't wait to go back to Switzerland one day. My husband has even said he would do this specific trip again (if we wanted to take the kids). We are on the Amalfi Coast ABD in a few weeks and I hope it is amazing but Italy/Switzerland will be hard to beat.

If you would, after the Amalfi Coast trip, will you post your thoughts? I'm having a really hard time between this trip and the Amalfi trip. Any insight would be great (especially since you have done both)!!

 

[Cousin Orville]

Day 2 Stresa Part 1



We woke up to a beautiful day on Lake Maggiore. Today begins with a trip to Isola Bella. There are 3 islands you can visit. So, if you arrive early for your ABD, you could visit the other 2, but we opted to stay in town. We all boarded a small ferry boat and cruised over to the island.

Isla Bella was changed from a fishing village to a palace in the 1600’s by Borromeo family (thanks wikipedia). It’s still owned by the family today, but you can tour the downstairs, grotto, and gardens. The family still maintains their apartments on the 2nd floor. It’s a beautiful palace that, along with its gardens covers the length of the island. We were given a private tour of the palace. It was a palace like many others in Europe. It was lovely and I enjoyed walking through it, but the only area which was particularly unique was the grotto area. It was something out of Ariel’s Grotto in The Little Mermaid. The gardens were lovely as well. Afterwards was time for shopping. Kate shopped. I met up with others and chilled at a cafe. I love to shop, but there wasn’t anything particularly unique on the island.

Beautiful Murano glass chandelier.

The self-supported stairwell leading from the grotto back up to the main rooms.

Incredible tapestries depicting Christian allegories mostly.

And into the gardens. We didn’t go up this stairwell, but I thought it was cool

[

Just for the number of photos, I’ll break this up into 2 parts. Next up, more of Stresa…

 

[Cousin Orville]

Day 2 Stresa Part 2



Afterwards we sailed back to Stresa and went to a local wine shop. We were given the option to do gelato tasting or wine tasting or both. We chose just wine tasting. It was really fun. One of the better wine tastings I’ve done on an ABD. In addition to wine, the owner (who was amazing and hilarious!) shared with us various Italian olive oils, vinegars, spice blends and truffle oil dips. They were all delicious and I think just about everyone on the ABD bought lots of various things to bring home.

The little jar on the left is edible gold - a truffle mix. Awesome. And the room smelled like truffles after she served it up. Delicious!





Next up was lunch and the afternoon on our own. We met up with other DISers for lunch, shopped around for a bit, and then headed back to the room. I napped and Kate jogged up and down the lake, that overachiever.



For dinner we had a lunch up, up, waaay up atop a hillside farm. It was lovely and there were beautiful vistas overlooking the hills of the area and lake below. There were lots of switchbacks going up the hill. It was rustic and picturesque. Some of our group toured around the farm animals. The rest, including me, relaxed at some tables set up with Prosecco and appetizers overlooking the farm. The dinner was excellent. Particularly the pasta course. And there was plenty of wine to go around. It was one of many very good dinners on this ABD. One the way down the switchbacks, we interrupted a young couple who for some reason thought it would be a lovely spot to park the car in the middle of the road and sit and have a romantic moment. I think they were pretty irritated as the 4th ABD minivan pulled by, did their 3-point turn to get through the switchback and waved them on. Overall, it was a great dinner. Although the trip up and back got mixed reviews with our group, some felt it was worth it, while others would have preferred to find a spot in town.

Our guides, the now famous Summer Rose - left in black (after mentioning SR to my friend not on the ABD who knows her as well, he joked the ABD was worth twice the price) and the wonderful Miki - right in red - so awesome. Two of the best!



Sorry, no pics of the amorous couple… I’m sure they thought they picked the perfect quiet spot…









We were so tired when we got back, we didn’t go out to the roof top bar next door, but some did. Overall, a nice day.

 

[OKW Lover]

Enjoying re-living this trip with you Kevin!

 

[christannj]

You definitely were the person to do this trip report...I am enjoying your pictures and narrative and this can become the journal that I was too lazy to do on the trip.

 

[Cousin Orville]

You definitely were the person to do this trip report...I am enjoying your pictures and narrative and this can become the journal that I was too lazy to do on the trip.

Thanks! Stay tuned. Almost have Day 3 ready if the in flight WiFi will cooperate with photo uploads