Tour of Milan, Italy

We are at the Train Station in Zollikofen, Switzerland, waiting for our train to take us to Bern, Switzerland.Picture was taken from the train on the way to Bern, Switzerland.

Outside of train station in Bern, Switzerland.



We had a while to wait for the train to Milan, so we found a park and sat and viewed the city. It was peaceful and quiet at the park.

More of Bern, Switzerland

The man in this picture was sweeping the street. We were interested in the kind of broom he was using, but he seemed to be enjoying himself.

On the way to Milan, Italy. Swiss Alps in background. It was a three hour train ride and we had a very good time. The scenery was breathtaking.

At Milan train station--this is the train that we were on. It is a new Italian Train.

Our first impression of Milan was that there were lots of buildings, lots of cars, and lots of people. There are over 1,000,000 people living in the city of Milan.

This is a picture of our Hotel

Train Station in Milan.

Our first eating experience in Milan

We enjoyed the calzones.

Walking tour (and I mean walking tour) of Milan. We left our Hotel on Friday morning intending to walk to a bus stop and take a bus tour of the city. We walked for about 2 miles to the bus to find out that they weren't doing the bus tour because they said, "Because of the conditions of the roads." There were things that we wanted to see, so we started to walk.

We walked

and we walked

and we walked. We found the opera house which was built in 1776.

And we walked.....

We finally found a place to sit down for a few minutes and take some more pictures

and we walked..the car on the right is a 2010, the one on the left 1910 model. I didn't believe it, but that is what the sign said.

And we walked.......

Suddenly there was a big crowd and lots of noise....what was going on? We walked some more....

Hey, there is a McDonalds in the background....Nope, we didn't eat there--we are in Italy and there is no McDonalds food that interests us. And we walked......

This shopping area was fabulous--the noise was getting louder....and we walked.....

Suddenly...we were in the middle of a protest and strike by the public workers. That is why the buses weren't running.....the drivers were all on strike....that is why there is so much traffic....the public transit was shut down.
And we walked......

There is was--the Duomo. This is a magnificant building...it is a church that honors the Virgin Mary--it is considered the religious heart and symbol of Milan. We have never been in anything like it. It is a 17th Century building.

It is quite dark inside, so pictures don't show up, but there are a couple of the stained glass windows.

This is the arch into where the Duomo is located.

After visiting the Duomo we started back to our Hotel. We walked and walked and walked. We finally stopped for a quick lunch.....there is no "Quick Lunch" in Italy.

After lunch we started back to our hotel...another thing we learned about Milan, is that everything looks the same and we were going the wrong direction. We finally got directions from a very helpful man and started back the right way...I (Karen) decided that I had enough of walking in the 90+ weather and we got a taxi...it is a good thing we did....we were a veryyyyyyyyyyyyyyy long ways from our hotel...even though we were on the right street. Another thing we learned today about Milan....is the same street has about 7 different names.

Second Post for Today--Trip through Parts of Germany and Austria

When we started out our trip we first went to Schwangau where there are two castles that we can visit--the Father's and the Son's Castles. The names of both kings was Ludwig, but they called the son Crazy King Ludwig. He only lived in his castle for a couple of weeks and was mysteriously killed in a boating accident.

This picture is of the Father's Castle.

This picture is of the Son's Castle. It was raining really hard and the fog was really low on the mountains so we were not able to go up to the castles. We have rearranged our trip so that we will go back towards the end of the trip. We walk up to the Father's Castle, but will take a horse drawn carriage about 2/3 of the way up to the Son's Castle--it is really high up.


This is driving through Austria. Throughout the area is a lot of agricultural area and these little barns or shacks are scattered about. After seeing several hundred we figured out that they are used as storage for hay.

More countryside of Austria. The road that we traveled on was through a narrow canyon, with high mountain on both sides. There were miles and miles of tunnels that we went through--kind of made me (Karen) a bit claustrophic.

Don standing at the edge of one of the forest's. We went for a little walk up the path in the forest and stumbled upon either a gypsy camp or a camp for homeless people--we didn't stay there to investigage.

The corn field in the background is very interesting. Between the corn that is growing is thousands of little pine trees that have been planted in the same rows as the corn.

This is out of order, but is the castle that was at the Rhein Falls.

This is also at Rhein Falls--it is a test your skills or bravery area with all kinds of equipment to do just that--test your skills or bravery.

This is a little village that we stayed overnight in and this picture was taken from the window in our room. The name of the village is Wadshuter, Germany.

This is the middle of town--there is a wall around this town, with a clock tower at each end of the street. The bell tower chimes each 1/4 hour and you can hear it from both ends and it sounds like an echo. Many of the buildings here have the date that they were built written toward the top of the front of the building. Many were built in the 1400s and the city burned down, and they were rebuilt in the 1500s. So they are very old--it has a wonderful atmosphere there. We had a great time!

This is the archway into the city, through the wall. Oh yeah, that is Karen!

Don enjoying his dinner--that is a Doner!

We bought the doners at this store!

After dinner we walked down to the Rhein River.

Cobblestone street! The cobblestone streets are slowly disappearing from Germany.

Along the path by the Rhein River

Looking across the Rhein River

Because the temple is closed for two weeks we are traveling through parts of Europe with our friends Carol and Ronald Frost. They are the only other American couple that is serving in the Frankfurt Temple.

This is Don's very favorite place in all of Europe--he has to check out every bakery that we walk past. This one he decided that you all needed to see what he is seeing. However it was close to closing time, so a lot of the goodies were gone--but the heavenly smells that come out invite everyone in to take a peek.

At Rhein Falls.

The boat goes out to the big tree covered rock just beindh it--if you look closely you can see stairs up towards the top where

a person can walk up and be surrounded by water--we didn't take the boat ride because it was very cold and we didn't want to get wet--whoever went out to the rock GOT WET!!!

Looking down onto the Roof tops in Bern Switzerland--all we need now is some chimney sweeps dancing along the roof tops and we have Mary Poppins!

This is clock tower in Bern Switzerland. Here we are in front of the Clock tower!

Here we are standing on a bridge overlooking the City of Bern, Switzerland

Bern, Switzerland

We went to a Cheese Factory way out in the country. The cheese was wonderful!

This picture was taken from the hill by the Cheese Factory of the village in

Emmenthaler Valley. Switzerland is just as I pictured it would be--it has hundreds of small villages set up in the green hills, with big farms and lots of brown and white cows. The government here pays farmers to keep little brown and white cows as a tourist attraction and there are lots of them outside of the cities.

Some of the brown and white cows--these were up close, but there are hundreds grazing out in the fields.

The man of this family has a love affair going with barns--he can't get enough barns to look at, but there are thousands of them in Switzerland. This bar was across the street where we stayed with a family in a little village outside of Bern, Switzerland.

The next four pictures are of houses in the village where we stayed. Many of the houses are old barns that have been converted to houses. Many of the houses throughout the countryside are still connected to the houses--that way when it snows heavily, the animals are very close to the house so the people don't have to go far to get to the animals to take care of them.

We attended a session at the Switzerland Temple.

Us in Interlocken, Switerland--JungeFrau is the snowcapped mountain in the background--part of the magnificant Swiss Alps. Just behind us are parachute jumpers--they don't jump out of airplanes--they jump off the side of the high mountains and land in Interlocken--they are usually tandem jumpers--so an experienced jumper and someone just along for the ride.

JungeFrau Peak

We are having a great time, seeing lots of wonderful scenery and lots of new things--more blogs to come.