Sadly our last day was pretty hectic. It was a lot more driving, heat and frustration.
On the happy side we had a really beautiful drive down the lake in the morning. Too bad the drive got longer, and longer. We arrived in Milano frustrated, hungry and hot. Then we got lost looking for the city center for a place to eat and the famous shopping district. You can’t say we got lost though, because we never figured out where we were in the first place. European cities are just NO fun to navigate.
We finally gave up and parked. We hiked a ways to try and find a restaurant. Once again our option was a primarily gelato cafe with a couple fast food type things to choose from to eat. I thought our last day and last meal together before we went our separate ways could be a little more relaxing and enjoyable. I was so irritated. We quickly ate and decided to get out of Milan. We walked out of the stupid cafe and right next to the entrance tucked down a green and shady alley was a nice sit down restaurant. Argh! We had walked right past it! Totally lame.
We did eventually find some of the fancy shopping streets as we walked back to the car. But by then we were all ready to get out of there. All these Italian, high-end name brands were on a street that smelled so rank.
Chad and I had a train leaving from the Milano central train station at 5:38. Todd, Linda and the girls had a plane leaving to Sicily from the Milano Airport at 6:10. We left Milano a little before 3:00 thinking we could accompany them to the airport and then catch a train back to get our connection. It took us forever to get out of the city. Then we realized the Milano airport is not close AT ALL to downtown. We were all stressed trying to find the airport. None of us expected it to be so far. After an unfortunate fueling incident we cautiously got back on the road and made it to the airport. Todd’s girls were having a heyday teasing about his driving skills at that point. We gave hugs, said farewell and went our separate ways.
That is where the day got REALLY good. Chad and I tried to decide whether a 50 minute bus ride back to Milan or an hour train ride up to Como, Italy to meet up with our train would be better. I got overwhelmed and Chad took over. We got on a bus and after Chad received the assurance of the supervisor and ticket man numerous times that we would make it for our train we continued to sit and wait. Finally we took off and thought we were free to relax. Then the driver stopped at the next terminal and turned off his engines. I freaked out. I went and asked our driver about our making our train and he said, “No way.” So then we did not have time to catch our train home by train or bus. Our only other option was a 100+ EURO cab fare up to Chiasso on the Swiss border. Since our tickets were a special deal and also non-refundable we just had to suck it up and go. We got to Chiasso and discovered our train went through Como only, without a stop on the border town of Chiasso. So Chad worked it all out with the ticket counter. He got their assurance that if we got on the next train to Lugano we would be able to catch up with our train home there. What a nightmare! Other than missing our train in both Milano and Chiasso, it was a pretty relaxing trip. 🙂