After only 4.5 Hours and 4 Trains...

...we were in Italy!

Over the weekend, Joe, Maureen, Smidgey and I went to Stresa, Italy. It was our first trip outside of Switzerland...but definitely not our last.

Stresa is on the shores of Lago Maggiore:

It is basically a summer resort town, so being there in December gave us a different perspective:

Some hotels were open...

...while most were closed.

But experiencing the Italian Christmas spirit was well worth the chill in the air. (Though it was at least 10 degrees warmer than Zug with no snow.)

Store front nativity scene #1...

...and #2.

Decorated stores...

...and 'Santa' climbing up a hotel balcony.

The Italian locals we met were friendly, kind, and didn't mind that we didn't speak Italian.

As per our usual experience, we didn't understand a lot...

Some signs have better messages...

...than others.

...but that didn't slow us down. Between our tiny bit of Spanish (surprisingly helpful when trying to speak basic Italian) and our crazy American gesticulations, A LOT of Italian food can be ordered and consumed! (Though I did have occasional Deutsch outbursts which kind of confused matters even more.) The best part for Joe was that everything costs about 1/3 of what it costs in Switzerland! Più pizza per favore!


The only downside was walking Smidgey on the narrow streets (with no sidewalks). And Italians like to drive FAST - luckily most of them have tiny cars.

Smidgey peeking to see if the coast is clear for us to walk down this TWO lane road.

Tiny but mighty...fast!

And when we returned to Zug we were met with white-out conditions:

But, alas, the snow is not so bad. Especially when an Italian (or French or German or Austrian or...) adventure is only a train ride (or four) away.

rail against
the winter blues
train trip

©2017, Bridget Magee. All Rights Reserved.