Lorrach - European Vacation - Day 4 - Through the Alps

We packed our suitcases the night before our departure from Milan, Italy. At 6:30 am the bellman opened our door and took our luggage. If all goes well our luggage will appear in our hotel room in Lorrach, Germany. After breakfast we boarded the bus for a short 10 minute ride to the Milan train station. This train station was built by Benito Mussolini prior to the start of WWII. He wanted the station to represent the power of the Facist regime. It is a cavernous tribute to the masses. We will have a five hour train ride through the Alps.

Milan central train station.

I feel somewhat vindicated but not pleased by the navigational challenges we faced in Milan. Every fellow traveller regaled stories of spending most of their time lost due to lack of street signs. We all quickly solved this problem using the GPS on our phones. It should be possible to find ones way around a small city with a paper map. On Sunday night we went out for an early supper prior to our viewing of the The Last Supper. I asked the concierge for a restaurant recommendation. Most restaurants in Milan do not open until 7:30 pm. He gave us the usual go left then right then blah, blah, blah. I asked him to come outside and at least point us in the right direction to get us started. He agreed and showed us which street would take us to the street near the restaurant. We did for once, find a restaurant with a minimum of backtracking. A hollow victory.The results are in. Thirty-four people bailed out of the tour group due to the change of plans resulting from the low water. We are now a group of eighty-four continuing on with the tour.Our train ride through the Alps was picturesque. High mountains surrounding lakes with quaint villages. We are not on an express train. We stopped at almost every town along the way.

The scenery, as we travelled through the Alps, was stunning.

We arrived in Basel, Germany and took a 30 minute bus ride to the Steingenberger hotel in Lorrach, Germany. We are very close to both the Swiss and French borders. There is a group dinner at 6:30 pm. Tomorrow we have a choice to tour either Zurich, Switzerland or Basel, Germany.