Europe Summer, 2024, day 5, so many trains…

I woke up around 5:45am and hopped out of bed to see if the skies were clear. They were so I threw on my clothes and a hat and went to see the Matterhorn in morning light.

I joined several people waiting to see the same. I texted Mike a picture and he came out to enjoy the tourist ritual. Here’s the progression of light on the mountain.

It didn’t get really pretty until we were eating breakfast.

And Mike climbed into a wooden shoe…

The rest of the morning was spent packing up and heading to the train station. One last departing shot of you know who:

From Zermatt we caught a train to two different stations in Switzerland before crossing the border into Italy. We noticed a distinct difference in cleanliness and infrastructure upon crossing into Italy. Trains were hot, stuffy, smelly and running a little behind. Still not a horrible journey.

We went to the Milan Main Train Station and caught another train to Florence and then to (finally) Lucca. Mike finagled a better train that went direct to Lucca for our last leg.

A quick taxi ride to our palace (yes, palace) and we quickly dropped our bags and headed to find something to eat.

Il Pozzo De Santa Zita is an old palace converted into a hotel. (I could be making the palace part up but I think I read it somewhere…) Thick walls, exposed beams and just charming. But screw the room. I was really hungry.

We headed out to find a restaurant. Thank god Italians like to eat late because it was around 9pm. We found this place.

It was packed and the food smelled delicious. And it tasted just as good as it smelled.

Pizza with baby arugula, ricotta, mozzarella, tomatoes and prosciutto and garlic bread that was really garlic forward. Mike had a delicious beefy tortellini. I had a lemon soda that was delicious. I had a little freak-out moment when I was reading the ingredients of the soda and saw a word that looked like alcoholic. (Most know I’ve been sober and in recovery for a long time.) It didn’t taste boozy at all. I used google translate and what I thought said alcoholic simply said soft drink with 12% lemon juice.

It was a great birthday dinner. Oh, today is my birthday and starting with breakfast under the Matterhorn and ending with a Tuscan feast in old town Lucca is a pretty good birthday in my books. If only we could have a little gelato before going to bed it would be perfect.

The gelato shop was located in Piazza dell’Anfiteatro which is a public square in the northeast quadrant of the walled center of Lucca, Italy. The ring of buildings surrounding the square follows the elliptical shape of the former second century Roman amphitheater of Lucca. So, gelato in a second century Roman amphitheater. Not a band end to the day.

Thanks for following along.