Per l'Italia! (To Italy!)

Getting out of Zurich was not without excitement. Our train tickets to Milano were for 11:10 a.m., so leaving the hostel at 10:00 a.m. seemed like it would be no problem. Dave went to return the rental car, while the boys and I walked to the train station to meet Lynne and Tyler and help them with their bags and their children.

There have been a few moments already when clear communication could have led to smoother travels. In this instance, Dave had the vast majority of the luggage with him in the rental when he left, while the boys and I had light loads (see the bridge pic). I thought, but didn't say, that we would take at least two more bags. I also left before getting the location of the actual regional train station. I knew from dinner the night before that the local and regional train stations were connected, but not where the actual platforms were for the regional train.

As a result, I spent about ten extra minutes underground waiting for information on where to meet everyone while Lynne and Tyler were trying to unload their car. Luckily, Dave had left early enough to return our rental that he was able to help when he got there... but Tyler left to return his rental car at about 10:40. It was going to be a close call, and now our child/adult/bag ratios were a bit off, being down one adult while trying to load the train.

We also noticed that there was some notice regarding our train posted on the board. Our train tickets were supposed to be express non-stop (first class, thanks to Tyler), but a problem with one of the trains meant that we would be switching trains two stops south. We tried to communicate all of this to Tyler while he was sprinting three blocks to catch the train and we were loading four children and 12 bags onto the train.

In the end, Tyler got his workout for the day and boarded the back end of the train with about three minutes to spare. We caught a visual of him two cars back when the whistle blew and were finally able to relax.

The train trip itself was a fantastic experience. We had good views of Lake Zurich leaving, and every time we entered a tunnel we would emerge to a breathtaking view of the Alps and the lakes. The kids enjoyed the view when they picked their heads up from their mobile devices.

The train was Tren Italia, and starting with the switching trains debacle (we made it more easily with Tyler's help), there were more things that made Lynne and Tyler comment that "We are headed to Italy now." The Wi-Fi wasn't working on the train, and when Tyler and Dave tried to purchase coffee and pop the cash register died each time the train went through a tunnel.

Quite a few kilometers before the Italian border, most of the town name and signage change to Italian. I didn't realize that Italian was mostly spoken in parts of Switzerland. The boys did show some excitement at FINALLY being in Italy. When we got to the train station in Milano, it was neat to hear everyone speaking in Italian. We didn't stay long there, getting our large rental van and heading out to Piemonte.