Day 4: Heidelberg to Stresa



Day 4: Wednesday 22nd May



After an earlier start we were soon on the ICE  train to Bern. We have noticed a couple of things when travelling on the trains. Firstly, don’t assume the platform you are standing on will be where your designated train arrives. We have had a couple of last minute dashes to an alternative one. Keep checking the departure screens!  Secondly we managed to alter a booked train on the app when I noticed there was one that would arrive an hour than the one we booked giving us more time to explore. 


It is remarkably quiet and comfortable in the Ist class compartments.



 Neil has complained people don’t chat to fellow travellers! He remarked; “It’s the journey not the destination that counts.”  I saw his eyes light up on our guided tour the other day when four Brazilians were part of the group. In no time he was practising his Portuguese.

Neil, trying to practice Portuguese with someone from Equador: ¿que?


The train to Domodossola was very busy and for the first time this trip we met and chatted with people during the journey; a Chinese woman and her family from New York and a couple of interrail home exchangers from Denmark. What a small world !





Our final train of the day was a local one for our stay tonight in beautiful Stresa on Lake Maggiore. A couple of stations before ours Neil helped a lady escape from the train. It was bizarre. The doors wouldn’t open. She had to literally jump onto the ground as there was no platform and then he had to wrestle  the case out after her while a fellow passenger and I struggled to hold the doors open. 


We eagerly anticipated walking by the lake and gazing out onto the island of Isola Bella that I last visited on my first European holiday in 1973. The cleaner at our Airbnb  told us that G7 was in town and that the whole area was a red zone. 

Gazing out on the island of Isola Bella


Then it started raining and Sunak called the election …….pass the red wine and homemade limoncello ( delicious) 😂


Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 22, 2024 at 10:23 PM

    an hour earlier - sorry, the English rteacher in me :o)

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMay 22, 2024 at 10:32 PM

    I wonder if the train door had to be activated. Our LRV is like that. The doors don't open unless you press a button (whether you're inside or outside) to activate it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousMay 26, 2024 at 10:11 AM

      The problem was by the time the lady had got her heavy bags in position to get them off the train, the driver was already pressing the button to close all the doors. I was frantically pressing the button to open them again whilst wedging myself between them and trying to help her off and pass down the bags.

      Delete
  3. David's 2022 WalkMay 24, 2024 at 7:41 PM

    Everyone will assume that the G7 is meeting there knowing that you will both be there. I hope you get to share some of your well honed economic theories with the big boys.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousMay 26, 2024 at 10:14 AM

      Was there any coverage of this G7 meeting in the UK? I don’t think anyone was listening anyway.

      Delete

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