My friend and I decided to go to Lake Como at the beginning of May completely on a whim. We knew we wanted to go somewhere for the weekend but could not decide where. After going back and forth between Siena and the Cinque Terre for an hour, we completely changed direction and decided on Lake Como. Then about 12 hours later, we were on our way there by train. Italians often complain about Trenitalia. It's infamous for its delays, and the trains aren't as nice as those of other European countries, but as an American, I really appreciate the trains here. They have made many last minute trips possible for me, so grazie, Trenitalia!
Bellagio
Menaggio
Varenna
Lake Como was very pretty, and we had fun doing a bit of hiking and kayaking and searching for George Clooney, but after doing that (and failing at the last one - turns out he was filming in Hawaii at the time. Darn.), the only thing left to do was hop on a train to Switzerland.
Lake Como was very pretty, and we had fun doing a bit of hiking and kayaking and searching for George Clooney, but after doing that (and failing at the last one - turns out he was filming in Hawaii at the time. Darn.), the only thing left to do was hop on a train to Switzerland.Look, the Swiss flag! We made it to Switzerland! Tirano, to be exact.
Well now that's just confusing.
So after walking around Tirano for a bit, it became clear that we had failed at leaving the country. The Italian Post Office is what specifically gave it away, so we sulked in a cafe trying to figure out how we'd gone wrong. We even looked at a map, and Tirano was clearly in Switzerland. That's when we realized that where we'd gotten off at the train station, there was a neighboring Swiss train station, and we just had to go there to cross the border. So we did. And we took a train to the next stop...and then I saw why Italians complain about Italian trains. The Swiss ones are AMAZING.
...and the next stop was Campocologno! I think we doubled the population of this town. Our brilliant idea to hop the border didn't seem so great after we realized that we wouldn't be able to go back for another couple of hours, and we were stuck in a town made up of one cafe, one train station, and maybe two houses.
It was pretty though.
...and clearly we weren't in Italy...
...and now I can say I've been to Campocologno. How many people can say that? I could probably count the number of people on my hand.
Well now that's just confusing.
So after walking around Tirano for a bit, it became clear that we had failed at leaving the country. The Italian Post Office is what specifically gave it away, so we sulked in a cafe trying to figure out how we'd gone wrong. We even looked at a map, and Tirano was clearly in Switzerland. That's when we realized that where we'd gotten off at the train station, there was a neighboring Swiss train station, and we just had to go there to cross the border. So we did. And we took a train to the next stop...and then I saw why Italians complain about Italian trains. The Swiss ones are AMAZING.
...and the next stop was Campocologno! I think we doubled the population of this town. Our brilliant idea to hop the border didn't seem so great after we realized that we wouldn't be able to go back for another couple of hours, and we were stuck in a town made up of one cafe, one train station, and maybe two houses.
It was pretty though.
...and clearly we weren't in Italy...
...and now I can say I've been to Campocologno. How many people can say that? I could probably count the number of people on my hand.
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