Stresa, Piedmont, Italy Thursday, August 30, 2012

Bye Switzerland

Today is basically just a travel day to get situated in Italy. We left Montreux at 0838 and the express trained whisked us to the town of Iselle di Trasqueria on the Italian border. We were supposed to go to Domodossola originally and then change trains there to go to Locarno Switzerland. From Locarno we will take a boat on Lake Maggiore to the town of Stresa, Italy where we will spend two nights. While checking the schedule the other day, I discovered they are doing some track maintenance so we have to get off at Iselle and they will bus us to Domodossola. At least we will not be surprised by this as we were in Germany.
The bus transfer is smooth even though it was about a 5 block walk to where the buses were waiting.

Hello Italia

It starts to rain pretty hard as we approach Domodossola. We get on the train to Locarno and when the ticket guy comes, he says there is a 2SF per person surcharge for the new panoramico train. I think it is a Mafia money scheme but everyone is paying so we pay too. The windows are indeed big, but the view is partially blocked by the rain and low lying clouds. We still see a lot of old villages and homes as we slowly chug a long a gorge. Arriving in Locarno, we find the boat dock and buy our tickets to Stresa. The boat leaves in 3 and a half hours at 4:30.
Since it is raining, our plans of walking the town a little and exploring the lakefront of Locarno isn’t panning out. We spend 16.40 SF at a cafeteria type eatery for two pasta dishes which are very good. That leaves us with a whopping 1.25 SF to get rid of or carry home. Not sure what we will find in the grocery store for 1.25 but we will try to buy something. If the Italian connection train had not taken 4 SF from us, we could have had dessert or one large glass of beer.

Vino Too

At least we are out of the rain and now I am caught up on all the blogs up until today. I am sure the boat ride will be uneventful and hopefully pretty even with some rain. We will report from Italy tomorrow and then will be without WIFI until at least September 8th. Arriverderci and Ciao!
Update: Stresa: Great Vibe, quaint square where we ate dinner, eat reasonably priced food, overall good feel. We are definitely not in Switzerland anymore!!!
CNC

Viaggiare e Vivere – To Travel is to Live

Expenses
73.40SF- 2 boat tickets to Stresa
16.40SF- 2 filling pasta bowls at Manora
70E- hotel Stresa Affittacamere- Back to Euros
21.80E- 2 dinners, grilled vegetables,half liter wine

Miles Walked- 2.3 Miles