Europe 2011: St. Moritz, Switzerland

June 3rd, 2011
Lugano (CH) - Tirano (IT) - St. Moritz (CH)

We arrived in Lugano at 8:10am. Quite train station, not so many people. It was still early, and our next ride, Bernina Express bus would only depart at 10am. We had our light breakfast,  croissants and hot chocolate at the train station.

at Lugano train station

Lugano town seems calm and quite, not so much of activities. It was friday, wondered where were those people?

Our breakfast

After a while, few people started gathering at the parking lot. All of us were to board the Bernina Express. As expected, the bus arrived on time. It was a panoramic bus, with the large windows for easy viewing :)

Our ride to Tirano

The road in Lugano town were so small (the bus route). Only one way vehicles can pass at one time. Hence the frequent honks used. The houses were too near to the road. If the bus window can be opened, I could just touch the building wall along the road ;)

The scenery throughout the bus ride was breathtaking! Awesome views! We passed by Lake Lugano, Switzerland and Lake Como, Italy.

Lake Como

The 3 hours bus ride ended at a small town called Tirano. Tirano is located at the border between Italy and Switzerland. From Tirano, we boarded the Bernina Express train. It has panoramic coaches, and popular with tourists. The train connecting Tirano and St. Moritz, our final destination on that day.

The Bernina train ride was the highlight of our Europe trip. The journey crossed the Swiss Alps from south to north. For us, it was once in a life time experience :)

view from the train on top of the Alps

"Ospizio Bernina is a station on the Bernina Railway line between St. Moritz inSwitzerland and Tirano in Italy. Hourly services operate on this line.
It is the highest station on the Bernina Railway and also on the entire Rhaetian Railwaynetwork. Nearby is the Bernina Pass." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ospizio_Bernina_(Rhaetian_Railway_station)

"The Bernina Pass (el. 2328 m.) (Italian: Passo del Bernina) is a high mountain pass in the Bernina Range of the Alps, in thecanton of Graubünden (Grisons) in eastern Switzerland. It connects the famous resort town of St. Moritz in the Engadin valley with the Italian-speaking Val Poschiavo, which ends in the Italian town of Tirano in Valtellina. The pass lies a few kilometres east of Piz Bernina. A lower pass is located west of the Bernina Pass, at 2,253 metres.

The Bernina Pass is crossed by road and rail, with a popular tourist train, the Bernina Express operating year-round betweenChur and Tirano. The train crosses the lowest pass at 2,253 metres (at Ospizio Bernina) - it is the highest adhesion railwayroute in Europe." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernina_Pass

After about 2 hours journey, we arrived in St. Moritz. We checked in at Bellaval hotel, which was situated just next to the train station. It was summer, daylight was longer than night but the shops were closed early. We didn't get the chance to shop (selamat duit!), just literally window shopping! We roamed around the small town. Our famous malaysian shoemaker, Dato' Jimmy Choo was going to open an outlet in St. Moritz.

 

Lake St. Moritz

We spent one night in this beautiful resort town.

The next morning, we continued our journey, another city awaited to welcome us. ZURICH!!!

Europe 2011: Milan, Italy

*** oh my! berkurun lama baru nak continue update our travelogue!

June 2nd-3rd, 2011
VE. Mestre - Milano Centrale (ESI-R 9710)

Woke up early to catch the train to Venice Mestre train station from Santa Lucia station. VE Mestre is located on the Italian mainland, where Venezia Santa Lucia is on the island of Venice. Our train to Milano was scheduled to arrive at 8:32am. As usual, the train arrived and leaved on the dot! After about 2hrs 20mins journey, we arrived in Milano Centrale.

Inside view of Milano Centrale

We checked in at Hotel Garda, located about 7mins walked from Milano Centrale. It was one-night stayed so we need to pay upfront. The hotel gave 10% discount for paying in cash. After checking in, we straight away went out. Our target was to get to San Siro stadium, home of AC Milan. We took the metro, and the nearest metro station to San Siro stadium is Lotto Fiera. From the metro station we had to walk about 20mins to reach the stadium. Jauhhh!!! It was not a lucky day because the stadium was closed for a private function! Penat betul jalan jauh2 camtu! So, just snapped few pictures outside the stadium, bukti dah sampai! hehehe...

Mr. Ayah in front of the San Siro Stadium 

Next stop was Piazza Del Duomo and nearby the famous church is the Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle II. You can find LV, Gucci, Prada, and other luxury goods' shops here. Back and forth kami mengukur jalan. Keluar-masuk, turun-naik almost all shops just to feast our eyes.

the crowd at Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle II

Ramai betul umat manusia di sini. Along the street penuh, crowded! Pelbagai gelagat dapat dilihat. We had early dinner at one of the diners along the street. Had seafood spaghetti (againnn) and coffee while watching people on the street :)

view from our table

seafood spaghetti

The next day, early checked out from the hotel to catch our train to Lugano, Switzerland!