Switzerland to Italy

As Rob and Darkie were headed to Milan for the Grand Prix, today we left Switzerland to get to Italy and closer to Milan. We first had lunch in a small café, and I ordered an iced coffee- and ended up with a coffee ice cream sundae- and that ended up being my lunch.

To cross into Italy, you can take a road called the Simplon Pass, with the small town of Simplon being the last one in Switzerland before you cross the border. We put this into our GPS, and ‘Kate’ started to lead us the way- She asked if we wanted to take the ferry- and I had read on the map about a train that you put your car on and it takes you through the mountain- but I had not told Rob, so intrigued by this mysterious ferry across what he presumed was a lake, he said yes. Kate then led us to a train station, and he was not very impressed, as we wanted to see some scenery, not the inside of a tunnel. Nevertheless we found our way to the road Simplon Pass and it was well worth the drive. The road allows you to basically glide up the mountain, and has some phenomenal bridges, tunnels and parts of it that you are hanging over the edge of the mountain. The engineers and builders are geniuses as you felt completely safe on these roads.

We crossed the border to Italy and instantly noticed the difference between Swiss roads and Italian- A lot bumpier in Italy. We headed towards another Lake, Lake Maggiore and the town of Stresa. Driving into town there were many hotels and so many tour buses with pensioners walking everywhere. We stopped at a hotel overlooking the lake and they had some rooms free so we checked in. Ret and I certainly scored the best room this time, with a 2 storey apartment and balcony overlooking the lake. We ended up having dinner at a café overlooking the water and us girls went for a nice stroll along the lake to finish the night.