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

[Cousin Orville]

Day 6 Zermatt to Lucerne Part 2



Sorry it’s been a while. I’ve settled into the new office and back from a number of quick trips to Austin, Vegas, WDW and Georgia for Thanksgiving! Of course I had high expectations to finish my trip report on those trips, but it didn’t happen. Quick shout out to Karen C, Karen P and Chandra! Karen and Karen and I met up earlier in the week I was at WDW and I bumped into Chandra at a D23 event later in the week. It was like a mini reunion.



And on with the show…



We arrived in Lucerne in the afternoon. Our hotel was the Schweizerhof - very fancy. It looks over the lake and we all had lakefront rooms. Apparently, it was voted as one of the top hotels in Switzerland. A fancy dinner at the hotel was planned for the evening. So for now, it was off to see a bit of the city.

The hotel is very conveniently located next to the downtown shopping district so it was an easy walk. There you’ll see the famous old bridge of Lucerne and countless watch, chocolate, and stores selling Swiss Army Knives.

I had to sport a tee shirt of my new favorite city, Zermatt. Ah Lucerne is nice, but I miss Zermatt.

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The bridge in all it’s glory. Unfortunately, though built hundreds of yrs ago, it was mostly destroyed by fire in 1993. Much of what you see has been rebuilt. But it is gorgeous.

Many of the buildings have painted murals on the front. It was fun trying to guess what their meaning was. The next morning we did have an official walking tour and that explained some of them.

They had an entire store of Swiss Army Knives. I didn’t buy one as I don’t know how or why I would ever use one, but I have to admit they’re pretty cool! This one is one of the originals.

The requisite view from the room. All the rooms had a musical theme. Ours had 2 opera stars - Pavarotti and Jose Carreras

It was a nice room, although perhaps wasted on me as I’m not a huge opera or sports fan.



We freshened up after our walk and down to dinner we went. The guides had you pick times to eat, but pretty much everyone chose the same time and we had the restaurant almost to ourselves.

Fun times with good friends…



Dinner was interesting. I think many people including me were expecting the worst having been well versed with Mary’s trip report of the same ABD. Suffice it to say, Mary did not have a great experience here. Well it was actually ok for us. I don’t think it deserves high praise, but it was ok.

I thought the Schweizerhof’s “SH” logo was funny as it looked like a $ on every plate.

After dinner a group of us decided to head across the lake to a bar recommended to us at one of the shops we did serious damage at. So off we went:

Our beautiful hotel across the river if not oddly colored by lights…

So it was about this time that most of the group was far ahead of us. Will and I took our time taking pictures as we went. Then suddenly we started feeling a couple of rain drops. Then a few more. We walked faster… Then it poured and we ran! We made it to a bus station across the bridge and checked our phones. Apparently everyone else walked calmly back at the first drop of rain. They were back at the hotel at the bar under a front porch. Nice and warm and dry. We were not…. So we made a run for it. Across the river and back down the street stopping from time to time under trees. Finally made it to the group table just in time to put our drink orders in… Good times.

I can’t remember what I ate that night. I can’t remember the names or dates of the churches and buildings we saw while walking around Lucerne earlier in the day. But I can remember running through the rain on our way back to hang out with good friends. As they say, it was the best of times.

 

[christannj]

Yes it was the best of times....thanks for starting this back up...not a day goes by that I don't think of that trip and miss all of "my family"

Chris

 

[met19]

A great summary of the day - I couldn't do it the justice you did. The photos of course are excellent. The hotel was def luxe. And we did some serious damage shopping.

I remember our mad dash through the rain- it was so strong it was raining almost sideways. A great group of friends to finish out the post!

I miss the trip- must go back....working on photos in lightroom and creating a shadowbox for both Italy and Switzerland.

 

[met19]

Yes it was the best of times....thanks for starting this back up...not a day goes by that I don't think of that trip and miss all of "my family"

Chris

I love that we were typing our reply at the same time

 

[bamagoofy]

It was great seeing you again. I can't wait until China.

Chandra

 

[Cousin Orville]

A great summary of the day - I couldn't do it the justice you did. The photos of course are excellent. The hotel was def luxe. And we did some serious damage shopping.

I remember our mad dash through the rain- it was so strong it was raining almost sideways. A great group of friends to finish out the post!

I miss the trip- must go back....working on photos in lightroom and creating a shadowbox for both Italy and Switzerland.

I bet the shadowbox will look great. We'll do a shadowbox with our pins and some small items like tickets, currency, etc. I also do a big photobook after my trip. I haven't started on either of those yet, but I'll get them done.

 

[Cousin Orville]

Day 7 Lucerne

Today is out last full day in Switzerland. The view out onto the lake was beautiful. After breakfast, we headed out on a walking tour around the city.

So, if you're looking for that $100,000 watch you can't find anywhere else, try Bucherer. After the tour we stopped inside and it's a department store of watches. It starts with the most unbelievably expensive watches on the first floor and gets less expensive as you go up. I think they had Swatch watches on one of the upper floors. It was interesting to look around for 5-10min.

There were many stores like this with a variety of Swiss Army Knives and Swiss clocks.

This used to be a jewelers shop...

Lucerne's a lovely town, at least the historic downtown area where we were. It doesn't have the Swiss charm that Zermatt has in spades, but there are great details around the shops and streets.

Here was the bus station we sheltered under from the rain last night.

After the walking tour we took a cruise across the lake. It was a beautiful day and very relaxing.

In the town of Vitznau we walked around a bit and had lunch. Not life changing, but it was a nice relaxing afternoon. And it was a nice lunch.

From there we sailed back to Lucerne getting off the ship 1 or 2 stops early and walking the rest of the way. The whole day was like a relaxing Sunday in the park. Sailed a bit, walked a bit, had a nice lunch and wine. It was an enjoyable day. No big ticket items to be seen here in Lucerne.

As the day wraps up and we meet for the last time we were met by Summer Rose and Miki.

For dinner we ate at the Old Swiss House, which was another restaurant strongly recommended to us by the same shopkeeper who recommended the bar we missed due to rain.

The food and entertainment were wonderful. It was an emotional evening enjoying our last time together as a group.

As the evening comes to a close, it was time to gather for one last drink together. It was a wonderful. Wouldn't trade it for anything.

The Northern Italy/Switzerland ABD is kind of a sleeper ABD. It doesn't seem to get a lot of traction on the boards. There's not that many departures. So, apparently it's overshadowed a bit by Viva Italia, London/Paris, and really most of the European ABD's. I would recommend looking into this one. It has some of the best natural scenery I've seen on any ABD from the Lakes of Italy to the Alps of Switzerland. It's absolutely magnificent. The food was fabulous. I would certainly put it at the top of the list of ABDs I've done in Europe.

It was a unique ABD for us as we went with the DIS. Kevin Klose and the DIS did a marvelous job organizing this ABD, and truly it's been one of my favorite ABD's I've done. To my fellow travel mates, Kate and I hope we have a chance to travel together again sometime soon. You all made this trip a blast and so memorable.

I'm not completely done. Kate and I are flying down to Milan so there will be a couple of posts sharing our adventure there, but for now arrivederci!

 

[met19]

The Northern Italy/Switzerland ABD is kind of a sleeper ABD. It doesn't seem to get a lot of traction on the boards. There's not that many departures. So, apparently it's overshadowed a bit by Viva Italia, London/Paris, and really most of the European ABD's. I would recommend looking into this one. It has some of the best natural scenery I've seen on any ABD from the Lakes of Italy to the Alps of Switzerland. It's absolutely magnificent. The food was fabulous. I would certainly put it at the top of the list of ABDs I've done in Europe.

It was a unique ABD for us as we went with the DIS. Kevin Klose and the DIS did a marvelous job organizing this ABD, and truly it's been one of my favorite ABD's I've done. To my fellow travel mates, Kate and I hope we have a chance to travel together again sometime soon. You all made this trip a blast and so memorable.

I'm not completely done. Kate and I are flying down to Milan so there will be a couple of posts sharing our adventure there, but for now arrivederci!

I loved this trip. Filled with great scenery and people. It def convinced me to travel with ABD. I agree- Kevin did a fabulous job. The ABD guides- Summer Rose and Miki kept things moving, and were filled with fun facts and overall just great peeps.

I liked Milan- glad I started their and moved on the the ABD and finished in Rome. I thought The Last Supper was very moving fresco.

 

[Cousin Orville]

Post Day 1 Milan



This morning was bittersweet as the end of Adventures always are. Most guests had left earlier for flights back home or to Rome. A few other guests were staying in Switzerland for a couple more days. Kate and I were heading to Milan to spend 2 nights.



We arrived in Milan in the early afternoon and checked in out our hotel - Park Hyatt. It was a gorgeous hotel which was very centrally located. Highly recommended. We spent the afternoon walking around the city mostly around the Galleria and fashion centers.

Dinner tonight was at VUN at the Park Hyatt. Wonderful dinner. You could choose between the Milanese Menu and the Journey Through Italy menu. We did the Journey. It started in Naples with a lemon dish. Great Restaurant.

 

[Cousin Orville]

Post Day 2 Milan





So this morning we we're heading to see the Last Supper with a private guide. This weekend just outside Milan was Formula 1, so Ferrari had a big event going on in the Galleria with some of their cars on display. It was very cool.

We arrived early to the church housing the Last Supper, so we stopped off for some all important breakfast gelato.

In front of the Santa Maria della Grazie where the Last Supper is was a larger gathering of police and official people there for a ceremony.

The Last Supper was very impressive. It really was the main reason we wanted to spend a couple of days in Milan before flying back and it did not disappoint. The private tour continued on for another 1.5 hrs. It was fine and informative, but honestly she could have just pointed us in direction of Brera and said have at it and I would have been just as happy.

We finished the tour in Milan Cathedral which was very impressive.

I believe this Saint was skinned alive? So that’s his skin that he is wearing. Looks like something out of Westworld.

And finally we made it over to Brera to hang out, eat and shop a little. This was recommended to me by other guests and I agree. Brera is the place to be in Milan.

Enjoying pizza with prosciutto crudo and white wine with loved ones - worth the trip to Italy alone.

Tonight we ate dinner at Spazio. Unfortunately I didn’t take pictures there. It was much more casual but delicious. Sadly I was notified by TripIt that our flight out of Milan was cancelled. I called United and was able to pick up a new flight the same day through Munich. We wouldn’t be sitting next to each other (and unfortunately on the flight no one wanted to move) but at least we were flying home on time. It didn’t spoil our dinner. If anything we were thankful we could find another flight. But I forgot to take any pictures.

After dinner walked around and enjoyed the evening while trying to avoid those guys that come up to you trying to sell pieces of junk. Kate ended the evening by spinning her heal around the Bull’s parts in the Galleria for good luck and ensuring our return one day to Milan.

We flew out the next morning. It was a wonderful trip, but it was great to be heading home. Thanks for your patience in this very extended and paced trip report. Gavin and I will be back in the summer for our trip to South Africa and Kate and I will be heading on the DIS exclusive China trip. I’ve heard nothing but great things about South Africa, but I’m particularly excited about the China trip. I did the China trip 2.5 yrs ago and it was incredible. This one has been rearranged and customized to focus on the Disney Parks.



Meanwhile our family is heading out on the refurbished Disney Wonder in 2 days. As much as I love these ABD’s, it will be nice just to relax on the ship for a few days.



Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all my friends out there! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!

 

[guinea pig]

Thank You so much for all your trip reports!!! I am sure they are a bother to do but we all certainly appreciate your time and effort in writing them for us . They are a joy to read!

 

[christannj]

Thanks for doing the report and giving us a chance to relive this wonderful trip. I'm already starting the movement to nominate you as the "historian" for the China trip. Have a wonderful holiday with your family. There is nothing more relaxing than a cruise. If you ever consider expanding your family, I'm willing to be adopted...you guys have too much fun

 

[bamagoofy]

I second the motion to have Kevin as official historian for the China trip

I guess it is time to actually start really looking at flights for the trip.

 

[met19]

That Last Supper photo is gorgeous. I keep looking at photos that I took too. When we went thru the Galleria- we also saw a photo shoot- it must be a common occurrence.

FYI for people planning on Milan travel- you can go up on the roof of Milan's Duomo. While interesting, the main sights are inside including the St. Bartholemew statue (above) and the stained glass windows. If planning a trip to the Last Supper, go with a guide- and do your homework first. If you buy a ticket direct it allows a 15 min view of the Last Supper. Some guides have 15 min and some have 30. I highly recommend the additional time as its such a moving painting.

I agree with christannj, this photo thread brought back amazing and special memories. Hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah and a lovely holiday season.

 

[cmcgardner]

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)!!

I apologize for the delay but I wanted to come back and give my two cents about the 2 trips. If I had to pick between the two trips, I would go with the trip to Italy and Switzerland. Both trips are amazing and I loved all of the guides on both trips. We did have better weather on our Alpine Magic but the weather was not a huge issue on our Amalfi trip. And I loved Florence. But at the end of the day, I just don't think you can beat the natural beauty of Northern Italy and Switzerland. I am still dreaming of a return trip.

 

[alldiz]

Thanks for the amazing trip report with the most fabulous pics!!!
I see you mentioned this is not a popular ABD and yet this is most likely the one I will take. I love
amazing scenery!!
Unfortunately not till 2019 or (2020 DD HS graduation). 2017 Brings a Europe Cruise in Spring(Princess) and July. 1st Disneyland and Aulani, NCL cruise around Islands. 2018 My DD sweet 16 with her friends at WDW, and possibly Alaska cruise(before Glaciers melt) ;-)
I have been reading ABD trips for years and I can't wait till it becomes a reality.

Few questions.
1. How much extra in transportation costs for you to stay in Lake Como prior. (Airport to hotel, hotel to Stresa)
2. Do you think it would have been worth it to stay in Stesa before and explore more there.
3. Cancelled flight....OMG. Did airline contact you? Does this happen often??
4. Do they have kids menu. My DD14 is the worst eater and will I be able to get her plain pasta, chicken, fries, etc. Ketchup?

MY Delta flight for the princess cruise in Spring...NY to Rome then Barcelona to NY changed flight times and even flight number. I was not notified and would not have known if not stalking airline price. Is this a common occurrence?

Lastly is there any ABD that you think is the best value?
Thanks
Kerri

 

[sayhello]

MY Delta flight for the princess cruise in Spring...NY to Rome then Barcelona to NY changed flight times and even flight number. I was not notified and would not have known if not stalking airline price. Is this a common occurrence?

It is for Delta. They do that ALL THE TIME. It's the main reason I try never to fly with Delta unless they are absolutely, hands down the only reasonable alternative. I've had flight times, flight numbers, plane type, pretty much any aspect of a flight they could change ahead of time changed. I even had a direct flight from Ohio to California (that I paid quite a bit extra for to get the nonstop) changed to a flight through Atlanta that added six hours to my travel time. I get *so* paranoid when I travel with Delta, and am constantly checking my reservation if I'm flying with them.

That said, I've only rarely seen it happen with other airlines, and they normally notify you. It does happen occassionally, but it's not an everyday occurrence like it is with Delta.

Sayhello

 

[OKW Lover]

2. Do you think it would have been worth it to stay in Stesa before and explore more there.

We were on this trip with Kevin (who is a great travel companion!) and we would say no. Stresa was nice but I think the universal feeling of the group was that we could have done with one less night in Stresa and one more night in Zermatt.

 

[alldiz]

It is for Delta. They do that ALL THE TIME. It's the main reason I try never to fly with Delta unless they are absolutely, hands down the only reasonable alternative. I've had flight times, flight numbers, plane type, pretty much any aspect of a flight they could change ahead of time changed. I even had a direct flight from Ohio to California (that I paid quite a bit extra for to get the nonstop) changed to a flight through Atlanta that added six hours to my travel time. I get *so* paranoid when I travel with Delta, and am constantly checking my reservation if I'm flying with them.

That said, I've only rarely seen it happen with other airlines, and they normally notify you. It does happen occassionally, but it's not an everyday occurrence like it is with Delta.

Sayhello

Yikes!! We flew Delta last 2 summers to Europe thankfully no problems so far. Maybe because peak summer season. But my upcoming April trip is Easter/ Passover break in NY so thought would be peak; the price has increased a huge amount from when I 1st booked. Honestly the travel times are a little better for me but I don't like the change without knowing. I haven't called them yet actually to complain about not receiving email about change, that is unacceptable!

We were on this trip with Kevin (who is a great travel companion!) and we would say no. Stresa was nice but I think the universal feeling of the group was that we could have done with one less night in Stresa and one more night in Zermatt.

Was it 2 nights in Zermatt or just 1. 1 completely not enough....3 enough to really fell the vibe kinda lol never enough time
Kerri

 

[OKW Lover]

Was it 2 nights in Zermatt or just 1. 1 completely not enough....3 enough to really fell the vibe kinda lol never enough time

We had 2 nights in Zermatt. Would have liked another just to spend it exploring the various mountain tramways/lifts/etc to take in more of the beautiful mountain scenery.