Europe Musical Tour Part 2 – Switzerland, Italy, Austria, and Czech Republic. May 8 – 22, 2018.

Continued from Part 1 ...

Wednesday 5/16.  Our hotel is a short walk away from Milano Centrale, and from there we took the MXP Express to get to the airport.  There wasn’t much formalities as we were traveling Schengen countries.  As we were at the airport a bit early, we could use the Lufthansa lounge before flight departure. 

Flight OS508 to Vienna used a small commuter plane (Embraer 195 which seats over 100 people.)  I was a bit worried that our luggage wouldn’t fit in the overhead compartments; it did.  The flight was uneventual, and we got in on time.

Glimpses of snow covered mountains on our way from Milan to Vienna.

For Vienna we decided to buy a CAT ticket to town.  Another 19 euros made that into a 3-day transportation pass.  The hotel had one room for us when we showed up, and the other room was ready quite soon after that.  Imperial Riding School Renaissance is a short distance southeast of the city ring.  Even though there was construction along the major tram route we took, transportation didn’t prove to be a problem at all.

The Opera for tonight was Don Pasquale.  After which we spent some time taking night shots around the opera house.  When we ended up at the Musikverien, we noticed tomorrow there would be a concert by the Vienna Symphony, conducted by Manfred Honeck.  It isn’t quite the Vienna Philharmonic, but we decided to go nonetheless.

 Vienna State Opera.

Foyer.

 Curtain Call at conclusion of Don Pasquale.

Accommodations: Imperial Riding School Renaissance Vienna (3 nights.)

Thursday 5/17.  Staying at a Marriott property with Gold status allow us to have breakfast and snacks at the Club.  We took full advantage of this benefit throughout the trip, even though eggs, bacon and sausage every morning can be a bit monotonous.  In any case, for the next couple of days we would have a late breakfast and then do something during the day, followed by a musical event.

Today the Yangs visited the Museum of Art History, while Anne and I called on Leopold Museum.  The museum has a interesting collection of (mostly) Austrian art (impressionist onwards).  We spent about 90 minutes, and could only begin to appreciate the collection.

 Zoran Music spent time in a concentration camp due to his refusal to join the Nazi party.  A disturbing painting depicting what he saw while a prisoner.

We passed by the Attersee on a prior trip to the region.  There is a bust of Klimt in Unterrach.  This was painted by Klimt.

 Leopold Musuem: Klimt painting of Life and Death.

Interesting sculpture.  On the plate at the left is a cute portrait.

For (late) lunch we went to Figlmuller, the place for Schnitzels.  It was okay, but we told ourselves in the future two people can share one order, and perhaps try something else.  This was followed by a quick visit to St. Stephen’s Church.  This time no one was pickpocketed, although the church could still use some heavy cleanup work.

 A random old building in Old Town Vienna.  XDCXXII 1627.

The Vienna Symphony put out a great program of Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto and Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony.

Ceiling of Musikverein Great Hall.  The paintings are Apollo and the nine muses. These two muses are holding masks in their hands, not severed heads.

Friday 5/18.  The morning trip was to Beethoven Museum in Heiligenstadt, which lies just outside the Vienna ring.  Beethoven may or may not have visited the place in the early 1800s, but he did write a “Heiligenstadt Testament.”  Somewhat like “Washington slept here.”  In any case, it was somewhat informative, and it was a pleasant outing.

PHOTO: Beethoven House

Beethoven House.  While the composer did write a "Heilingenstadt Testament," it is unknown how much time he spent in the area, let alone at this location.

We found out Volksoper was performing Offenbach’s “Tales of Hoffman” and decided to get tickets for the show.  The experience was okay.  That the surtitles were in German only made the action a bit puzzling.  There were many empty seats.  Volksoper and Wiener Symphoniker are the young siblings, I guess.

 Volksper.  Evidently one of the current productions is The Wizard of Oz.

Curtain Call at conclusion of The Tales of Hoffmann.

Saturday 5/19.  We took the tram to the upper entrance of Belvedere, which is located close by, and walked down the garden.  We have been visited the museum twice before, but never the gardens.  Photos on the web show many colors and a neat layout, actuality today wasn’t nearly that pretty: the patterns are there, but we saw only green, and quite a few weeds.

The Belvedere.  It was a bit surprising that the grounds looked like it could use some detailed landscaping work.  It wasn't nearly as nice as what one sees in many photographs.

Late check out is one of the benefits of Marriott Gold Elite, so we left the hotel at 2 pm.  Our train at 3:10 pm to Prague left Vienna Central Station on time, and we are now a little over an hour into the 4 hour journey.  The train – at least the car we are in – is surprisingly empty; the other intercity trains we took were more crowded.

One word to be said about the transportation systems in Zurich, Milan, and Vienna: they were simply easy to use, and mostly based on trust.  Other than for trips to the airport, we were not inspected once for possession of valid tickets.  We might have seen inspectors one time for the many local trips we took.

Turns out when the train got to the Czech Republic more passengers would come on, but there were still empty seats to be found throughout the journey.

The station was a bit overwhelming for first time visitors.  We followed a sign for CDTaxis and initially didn’t see any.  One soon pulled up, the driver spoke good English, and we were off.  He charged us 30 euros for the 15-minute journey to the hotel, which was fine with us.

Our hotel is small, with 22 rooms, some “apartments” (more like suites).  It was about 8 pm when we checked in, so we went to dinner at Santini Gardens, a place down the road and recommended by the hotel front desk.  The food was good, and cost about US$60 for the four of us (we only had a main couse each).

 A street near our hotel.  It is located near the American Embassy, cars have to be searched before they are allowed to drive into the area.

Plaque located at the hotel describing its historical significance.

After dinner we took a short walk to Charles Bridge.

 Our first dinner was at this restaurant down the street from the hotel.

First view of the Charles Bridge, a 15-minute walk from our hotel.

Accommodations: Appia Hotel, Prague (3 nights.)

Sunday 5/20.  Breakfast at Appia is served in the attic framed by rafters that may date back a few hundred years.  The hotel is built on a historic site.

Our first order of business was to head down to the tram station and buy day passes: it took a few tries but we were ultimately successful.  We then took the tram, transferred to a metro (subway) to get to Karlina Music Theater to try to get tickets for Turnadot tomorrow evening.  The place was closed, and while having coffee at McDonalds’s nearby we decided to skip the opera as it would mean a late night Monday, and we would have to leave our hotel Tuesday morning at 4:30 am.

Our next stop was Republic Square where the Municipal Building was located.  Inside the large building is Smetana Hall which hosts concerts geared towards tourists.  We decided to go for the 1 hour concert this evening, more for experiencing the venue than for the actual performances.

 The Jewish Synagogue located in Old Town Prague.  There is also a Jewish quarter in the city, we didn't get to visit.

 Sale of cannabis products is evidently legal in Prague.  We saw many stores displays such as this.

 The not so pretty aspect of too much tourist traffic.  This was shot on the Charles Bridge.

 If one looks up, many sacred statues are erected along the bridge.  People seem to pay serious homage to them.

 Panoramic view of the Vtlava (Moldau) from the Charles Bridge.  The line in the river is a small drop in the water level.  There are channels on the sides for boats to navigate (not sure if through locks.)

We chance upon this Franz Kafka Monument while transferring between the tram and the subway.

We then followed the Royal Route/Coronation Way which led back to our hotel.  The Astronomical Clock unfortunately is under repair so we couldn’t see it.  There is a lot of talk about architecture in Prague, and how buildings designed from different periods blend together.  I simply do not know enough about architecture to appreciate it.

Before the concert we went to have dinner at Nordsee (they are everywhere) at the Palladium Shopping Center.

 Smetana Hall located in the Municipal Building.  Curtain call after the one-hour concert by the Prague Music Orchestra.

Elaborate interior of Smetana Hall.

Monday 5/21.  Late breakfast as usual this morning.  The Prague Castle is a 10-minute uphill walk from our hotel, we chose to walk downhill and take the tram up.  First stop was the Royal Garden; it was mostly green this time of the year, not too many flowers in bloom yet.  Both the garden and the castle grounds are free to visit, but the line for tickets to visit special exhibits, including the inside ot St. Vitus Cathedral, was very long.  While we were waiting, Anne wanted to see if there were books she could pick up at the bookstore, and found out with cash she could get tickets at that register.  That saved considerable time.  The Cathedral, however, had a long line of people waiting to get in, so we saw some of the other exhibits first.  Prague has a lot of history behind it, starting with Slavs in the sixth century (not sure I remember this right), and the cathedral was first built in the 10^th century.  The current one was finished in the 1340s, and bears a lot of similarities to the Notre Dame in Paris (built about the same time), including the use of flying buttresses.  When we circled back to the Cathedral, the lines were still long, so we skipped it.  The Yangs wanted to head back to the hotel, so we parted ways.

After getting a coffee at the bottom of the mountain, we proceeded to catch a 50-minute boatride on Prague Boats, with narration in many languages.  We knew most of the landmarks anyway, so the announcements quickly turned into background noise.

 An hour long boat ride gives one an overview of the town along the river.

 The famous "golden gate" at St. Vitus Cathedral of the Prague Castle. a mosaic from the 14th century depicting the last judgment.

 The apse and altar of St. Vitus Cathedral.

 The Prague Castle skyline is dominated by the cathedral which bears much similarity to Notre Dame of Paris.

We then headed back to the castle, and this time the line was much shorter.  Not having studied this cathedral in detail, it seemed like every other large cathedral we had seen.  Actually it looked quite similar to Notre Dame, and the styles are described by Wikipedia as Gothic and French Gothic.

Petrin Tower lays claim to be the tallest point in Prague, so we headed to Petrin Hill, which involved a ride on a funicular, covered by the day pass.  We were hoping Petrin Hill would give us a good view of Prague, but the walls and trees were in the way.  Instead of walking to the Tower, we decided to ride the funicular down to the intermediate stop where there were enough openings in the tree for a glimpse of Prague.

 Funicular to the Petrin Tower.

The view from Nebrozizek, an intermediate stop for the funicular, is better than from the top of the hill.

Anne wanted to go re-visit Republic Square, now that we knew the large black statue was that of Jan Hus, a religion reformer before Martin Luther.  Dinner was at the Czech Restaurant in the Palladium where we ordered the mixed grill which was enough to feed us.  We were not looking for fine dining in Prague, and I must say the two “good” dinners we had were just so-so.  Most of the restaurants were quite quiet, with the exception of the Chinese and Japanese, the latter offering all-you-can-eat for a fixed price.

 Our other two dinner in Prague were at restaurants in the Palladium, a shopping center next to the Municipal Building.  Nordsee is a chain that serves reasonable quality food at reasonable prices.

 One can also eat at a sit down restaurant.  Old Prague is one of many at the Palladium.

Mixed grill, dumplings, and roasted vegetables.

One unique feature of Prague is architectures from different periods meld together well, including a cubist building.  We dutifully went and looked at it before we headed back to the hotel.

 An architect student may find the blend of styles in the city amazing.  I note them, but don't appreciate them.  This building is named "Black Madonna" for obvious reasons.

 The Cubist building was built in the 1920s.

Cubist art for sale in the Cubist building.  The reflection is of the building across the square.

Tuesday 5/22.  Our flight from Prague was to leave at 6:50 am, so we woke up at 4 am to catch a pre-arranged taxi to the airport at 5.  The check-in process was easy enough that we had time to stop by a Priority Pass lounge to grab some breakfast before boarding.  The hotel had packed breakfasts for us, but they were carb-heavy.

At the Brussels airport our plane stopped right next to a United plane, but we had to walk down a ramp and board a bus to get to immigration before getting back to the United gate; the process took 25 minutes, including a 12-minute walk.

The flight on a 777 had a light economy plus section, I had a whole row, others had empty middle seats.  After watching a movie (Star Wars Episode VIII – The Last Jedi) I managed to get a couple of hours sleep.

Without checked luggage, and with Mobile Passport, Anne and I were out of immigration and customs in less than 10 minutes.  Since the Yangs and we were sharing a ride home, we had to wait for their luggage to show up; today it took forever (perhaps 45 minutes.)

After we got home, it was a quick shower, some repacking, and we were on our way to Lancaster, PA for a Hope event.  We wouldn’t be sleeping in our own bed tonight.

Europe Musical Tour Part 1 – Switzerland, Italy, Austria, and Czech Republic. May 8 – 15, 2018.

This trip, which Anne calls “The Magical Musical Tour of Europe by Joe C Sr” actually started with an idea by Chungshu.  As part of his European tour last year he got to visit many of the well-known opera houses in Europe.  Time constraints didn’t allow him to go inside these auditoria, and he wondered if a tour with the explicit goal of seeing operas in different cities mafr sense.  Since we have done a music tour of the Midwest a couple of years ago, and have visited several concert and opera sites in Europe during our various trips – and thus had some idea how the booking process went – I mused that as being possible.  One thing led to another, and what started as jokes evolved into serious planning in January.

We couldn’t start until May 8, as Anne’s teaching commitments lasted until May 7.  By then the opera seasons are ending and our choices thus limited.  Nonetheless, we managed to book 5 operas in three cities, and “waitlisted” for another one.

Since we were going to be in the area, we decided to tag on visits to Cinque Terre and Prague, spending a couple of days at each location.

The concept is easy enough, but the actual planning and execution turned out to be quite time-consuming, partly due to our inability to decide in some cases.  With language problems, booking train and opera tickets was a bit unwieldy, but most of the sites did have good English websites.  The first time we tried to book tickets with an opera house, my credit card was declined.  After fixing that with a phone call, all subsequent bookings didn’t present any problems.

Tuesday 5/8.  John Sun came by to pick us up after picking up the Yangs.  Security was easy, and we managed to spend some time in a United “pop-up” lounge (regular one under renovation.)  The plane was a 767, and the economy plus section was quite empty, so we each had a row of 2 or 3 seats.  Anne managed to sleep a couple of hours, the rest of us dozed off now and then.

Wednesday 5/9.  Plane landed early at around 7:40 am, and we were out at around 8 am.  We decided to buy a 72-hours Zurich Pass (at CHF 53 each), which in addition to free transportation (within certain zones) also offered free or discounted admission to various attractions. The best feature was we didn’t have to buy tickets for each trip.  We got to the hotel at around 9 am, one room was available, so we used it as a staging area before heading out to town.

For the morning we visited Grossmunster Church, an important location during the Reformation.  After that we walked to the University of Zurich, which is school for 25,000 students.  We then went to lakeside Lake Zurich, and had lunch of purchased sausages.  By then the other room was ready, so we went back to the hotel to catch some sleep.

 Arrival at Zurich Airport on 5/9/2018.

 Grossmunster Church which figured prominently in the Reformation.

 View of Zurich from the University.

 The usual water fowl looking for bread tossed by the lunch crowd at Lake Zurich.  There are some unusally colored ducks in their midst.

Lake Zurich at Night.

Dinner was simple middle eastern food from New Point (where we ate also during the last trip).

The opera we watched was Maria Stuarda, and it was about 10:30 pm when we were done.  After a short walk by the lakeside where CS took many pictures, we headed back to the hotel for the night.

 Zurich Opera.

 The opera house seats 1200, quite small compared to other international venues.  The balcony and boxes have notoriously poor views of the stage.

Curtain Call at end of Maria Stuarda.

Accommodations: Renaissance Zurich Tower Hotel (2 nights.)

Thursday 5/10.  One of the benefits of being a Marriott Gold member is free breakfast.  When we enquired at the restaurant this morning the staff there told us we could eat at the lounge.  It was a smallish room, but for this morning we were the only two people there. They have the usual hot and cold buffets and we took advantage.

We met up with the Yangs at 9 am.  Today is Ascension day, a public holiday.  We were a bit concerned that museums would be closed.  Turns out they were not.  The Zurich Card gave us free admission to the Swiss National Museum, which had a special exhibit called “Stil” (style) and other permanent exhibits showing Swiss “stuff.”  The Klimt-like poster for the Stil exhibit was actually a well-executed collage of a few paintings.  We had limited time so I didn’t get to explore what make the Swiss, Swiss, but managed to get that fondue was invented as a means to sell more cheese, and that there is a difference between Rennet and whey cheese.  We then took the tram to Kunsthaus, which we visited before, and spent about an hour there.  Here the Zurich card gave us a discount of CHF 5 (from 16 to 11).  The collections in this museum are worth spending time on.  I was wondering where all the Giacometti’s sculptures were, the staff there told me many were in storage as the museum is being renovated – I had thought I remembered wrong.

 Courtyard in the Swiss National Museum.

 Interesting installation in the National Museum.

 Famous self-portrait by Van Gogh, Kunsthaus.  On the way I saw a documentary affirming that van Gogh cut off his entire ear.

 Kunsthaus has a large collection of March Chagall paintings.

Most of the Giacometti sculptures were in storage due to construction.  Here are a few still left on display at Kunsthaus.

After seeing Werther at Zurich Opera, we found a place to eat at Nordsee at the main train station.

Werther at Zurich Opera.

The hotel lounge was quite crowded, but we managed to find a small table, ate a few snacks, and chatted for a while.

Friday 5/11.  After an early breakfast, we checked out of the hotel at 8 am.  Zurich HB is a short tram ride away from Technopark (our hotel’s location.)

The train ride (EC 15) from Zurich to Milan took about 3:30 hours.  I was a bit surprised at how chaotic it seemed, with a lot of people standing.  Whether that was by choice or out of necessity, I don’t know; but I do know we had assigned seats.  I am typing this during the Milan to La Spezia journey, and for both trains people seemed to take their desired seats and move when the “legitimate” passengers come along.

The 3:30 hours passed by rather quickly, we went through many tunnels, and every now and then caught glimpses of snow covered mountains in the distance.  The many lakes we passed by also made the ride quite picturesque.

Anne and I had lunch at Roadhouse in the Milan station.

 According to the photo's geotag, this is Lake Lucerne along our way from Zurich to Milan.

 Milano Centrale is a large train station with over 20 tracks.  Today it is a transit station,  we would return to Milan in a couple of days.

 Roadhouse Restaurant at the Milan station.

This is a main road in La Spezia.

The Monteverde Resort is one floor in this building.

The Trenitalia train from La Spezia could use a scrubbing down, but the inside of the train was surprising spacious (seating was 2+1, with a wide aisle in between.)  At one hour into the ride, things have gone smoothly.

Unfortunately, things didn’t start out well for the La Spezia hotel we were staying.  It was booked through hotels.com, and I got a message from them saying we should let the hotel know (via message) what time we would get in.  I dutifully sent the cell numbers a message that our train would arrive at 5:21 pm.

When we got to the address (per Google) we saw a plaque giving out the same two cell numbers outside a locked door.  When we tried pressing the intercom, no one answered.  So I called them, and was told they didn’t get the message, and that it would take them 20 minutes to get to the hotel.  I decided to walk off my frustration, and the others said someone showed up sooner than 20 minutes.  He was still there and was answering cheerfully questions posed by the others that it was difficult to get mad at him.  The lady who runs the place showed up a bit later also.  I personally prefer punctuality and delivering on promises rather than friendliness, but I suppose many come to these areas for precisely that and the laid-back feeling.

The “hotel” is basically an apartment with five rooms, with each room named after one of the villages, a small common area, and an office.  The rooms are small, reminding us of this one time in London.  The shower is barely large enough to turn around it.  It is convenient – this is a small town – and reasonably clean.

There was a market this afternoon, it would disappear that evening.  I suspect this is “traveling” sort we also encountered in Tuscany.  Most of the stuff sold were daily goods.

We walked to the La Spezia harbor, which was quite big.  Dinner was at “Dai Pescaton” where you ordered, picked up your food, and found a table in the “dining area.”  Food was so-so, but inexpensive.

After dinner we strolled across a modern-looking bridge to the other side of the harbor.

Accommodations: Monteverdi Resort (2 nights.)

Saturday 5/12.  When we got to the pier for the ferries, there was already a long line waiting to buy tickets, with the ticket office not yet open.  We found out there was a cash line that was much shorter, and bought tickets from that.  The boat left promptly at 9:15 am, and I am sure many people didn’t make it (next one was at 10, “soon” by Italian standards.)

Cinque Terre is a group of five small villages: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso.  They are known for crowded, colorful houses built on the side of these rocky cliffs.  In the area there are other villages with as their only accesses long stair cases from the main road (we were told one exceeded 2000 steps).  There were many castles built in the 1600s during the Genoan Kingdom period; some date even earlier.  From what I could tell, churches also dominated the villages’ “skylines,” for lack of a better word.  For 35 euros one can buy a ticket on the ferry that makes stops at 4 of the villages.

We ended up disembarking first on Monterosso, and as we did with subsequent villages, walked around and took pictures.  The second village we visited was Vernazza.  The ferry to leave the village wasn’t for 2 hours, so we walked, took pictures, and then tried to find lunch.  The cafes and restaurants were all busy, we finally found seats in one.  When I started to order at the counter (as everyone seemed to be doing), half way through the order taker decided since we were eating in, someone would come to help us.  So I stewed at the table for a few minutes before I decided to excuse myself and walked out – Anne followed along.  (I was told by the Yangs they had to try three times before the waitress came by.)

 In the Cinque Terra area there are villages that are accessible by only walking up and down many steps.

 Approaching Vernazza.  Boats tie themselves to pylons and steady themselves by reversing the engines.

 Quiet late lunch in Riomaggiore.

 Riomaggiore.

 Hordes of tourists this time of the year.  This scene at Portovenere.

 Beef being aged in a local restaurant.

My original plan was to take the train back to La Spezia and call it a day, but we decided to get off at Riomaggiore and had lunch at a “random” restaurant.  The mixed fried seafood was quite a bit better than what we got at Dai Pescaton yesterday.  So far we were pleasantly surprised that food is in general not very expensive.

When we got on the ferry again at Riomaggiore, we found – as expected – the Yangs on it.  We stopped at Portovenere for a few minutes before rejoining the boat to return to La Spezia.

Anne and I had dinner at Come Te in town, where a 3-course meal cost E22, including service.  It was then time to pack for departure tomorrow.

  Come Te is one of the best restaurants in La Spezia.

Dinner at Come Te.  Fish and pasta.

Sunday 5/13.  The walk from the hotel to the La Spezia station is uphill, and took us a few minutes.  As opposed to Switzerland, things here in Italy often don’t seem to work, the elevators at the La Spezia station among them.  It took us a bit of effort to lug our suitcases up and down the stairs.  On the other hand, we manage to buy these 1^st class tickets La Spezia to Genoa for a little over 10 euros each, so the ride was comfortable.

I had trouble finding the connecting train to Milan at the Genoa station, and then discovered to my horror that we got off at the Milano Bignole station, instead of the Piazza Principe station.  We managed to get on a local train to get to PP, and was told by Information that we didn’t have to pay, so things worked out and we boarded the Genoa to Milan train on time.  We also had enough time to take a picture with Christopher Columbus right out the PP station.  Not quite home free yet, as there was an announcement that the train would be delayed by 25 minutes (actual was 30 minutes.)  We ended up checking in the hotel at around 1:45 pm – rooms were available – and then took the Metro to La Scala which was a major reason for this trip.  The opera was Francesca da Rimini.

Statue of Columbus outside Genoa Station.

After the opera we wandered through the fancy Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II Shopping Mall to the Duomo.  From there we caught the Metro back to the hotel area.  We had dinner at a nearby restaurant, Giglio Rosso.  I had the beef steak, cooked medium rare.  I continue to prefer American steak.

 Inside La Scala.

 Curtain Call Francesca da Rimini.

Statue of Puccini.

Anne and I walked around a bit, looking for a laundromat, before we came back to the hotel.

Accommodations: Smart Hotel Milano Centrale (3 nights).

Monday 5/14.  Today is Lake Como day.

Breakfast was provided free by the hotel, with the usual hot entrees of eggs, sausage, and bacon.  Anne and I then went to the laundromat that we scouted out.  In her broken English, the attendant told us they did only dry cleaning and it would take four days anyway.  The same answer – this time in better English – by the one down the street the first lady referred us to.  A search of the internet found a “self-service” one a few blocks away.  There we had more luck, the young man looking after the store offered to put our washed laundry in the dryer and we could pick up before 7 pm.  We gladly gave him E15, the actual cost was about E8 if we had done it ourselves.  We did wonder as we left whether we would see our clothes again.

While checking out a ticket machine at the train station, a man in jacket and tie approached us to try to help us.  His crumpled shirt and somewhat worn jeans gave him away as a possible scam artist, so we moved to another machine.  With available English screens, the process is quite simple anyway.  We ended up taking an EC (Euro City?) train out, and a regional train back, costing E17 and around E7 each, first class.

Anne talked to someone at the Information Booth and was provided with the wrong information.  We did manage to take the 1:30 pm fast boat to Bellagio, stopping by a few towns along the way.  After staying in Bellagio for about 30 minutes, we returned to Como. The outgoing boat was a catamaran, and the return is a hydrofoil, much faster.  Unfortunately, we were on the lower deck when we were traveling back, and didn’t get to see much.

Lake Como is shaped like an inverted Y, with Como on the southwestern tip, and Bellagio where the 3 arms of the Y meet.  There are small towns along the coast, and the ferries basically crisscross the arm as they work their way up or down the lake.  The scenery is quite beautiful, and today we could see snow covered peaks that appeared quite close.

 We had tea and cake at this cafe in Como.

 Bellagio is a well-known city on Lake Como.

Como Cathedral dates back seven centuries.

We are quite sure we cruised on the adjacent lake (Garda) about 20 years ago.  My recollection is the villages were much smaller along the coasts of Lake Garda.

[Notes on train tickets for future reference.  Even though we bought our tickets at a machine, seats were pre-assigned and printed on the tickets.  The regional tickets have no pre-assigned seats, and must be validated before one boards a train.]

After we got back to Milan, we walked back to the laundry place (about 15 minutes) and our wash was waiting for us there, neatly folded.

Dinner with the Yangs was at a local restaurant Tuyo Café.  Food was only passable, with the exception of their pastas, which were quite good.

Tuesday 5/15.  Morning was devoted to Duomo visit.  This is a huge cathedral right next to La Scala, the location was first used as a church in the 14^th century, and the current building was built in 1965.  We paid for the “express” entry which allowed us to skip the long line (90 minute wait, we were told) to take the elevator up a few flights, after which we simply wandered around, walking often on roof tops.  Two amazing things: that the structure is so sturdy that marble slabs are used as roofing tiles; and we were actually allowed to do it.  To me the complexity of design and building are simply overwhelming, and this is not the largest church around.

 Duomo di Milano is located next to La Scala.  One could walk on the stone-covered roof.

Vittorio Emanuele II Shopping Plaza.

Random tree-lined houses in Milan. These buildings are on the cover of a magazine.

Anne found out about this place call “Eataly” which is basically an expensive supermarket with a couple of restaurants on site.  We ate at one of these restaurants.  The Yangs bought some seafood salad for dinner later today, and they said it was delicious.

The opera for tonight was Aida.

 Outside Teatro alla Scala.

 Elaborate set for Aida.

Duomo at night.

Continued at Part 2.