Ouzo, Schnapps, Rosé & Prosecco

[Gem56]

Sights around Monaco

Monaco railway station







The Palace




From our room at night fall - around 10.45pm


In the grounds of the Palace


At the bottom of the hill from the Palace - probably all belonging to the Palace

 

[Gem56]

Someone of some importance I believe

 

[Gem56]

A very tidy, pristine and hilly country, with lots of stairs to eliminate you getting dizzy!
There are many staircases that go from street to street, otherwise you would need to follow the road around in circles to get to the bottom/top.

 

[Gem56]

Time to move on to Italy.

We took the train from Nice to Milano - changing trains along the way. Sometime during the second half of our trip my computer was stolen from the luggage rack above our heads. We weren't aware until we were getting close to our stop. We went straight to the police station, which interestingly is on the platform. There were many others there reporting that their luggage had been stolen - not just small carry-on size bags, but LARGE suitcases, some containing everything, including their passports and money and worst of all... no travel insurance for some. I know... the mind boggles. So, me losing my computer is nothing, however still terribly disappointing. We believe there is a professional team - we've been told there are around 100 thefts a day just on the trains!

One guy (an American) caught the bus from the airport to the station and put his bag in the luggage compartment under the bus, as lots of us have done. When he arrived at the station his bag was gone. All he had was his phone. He suspects it never left the airport.

We returned to the police station the following day to give them further information. As time passed we realised there were some suspicious characters on our train, that we felt worth following up, however the police are either swamped with paper work, under resourced, the situation is too big or don't know where to start, or they are just not really interested - who knows! Whatever the reason, our attempts were to no avail.

Still feeling very upset and angry, however I've moved from grieving for the loss of my laptop (photos really) to grieving for the young ones that lost everything that day and probably every day that follows.

I keep thinking what if that was us, what would we have done, where would we stay - no passport, no clothes, no money, no hair dryer or hair products (very important to me) and losing all our treasures? We always travel with insurance, however losing everything, especially at the beginning of the trip would be devastating. My heart aches for them. This happened on a Sunday so where would we even start to bring our lives together again? We would call the insurance company, but for those not covered. what would they do?

The adventure that was probably so terribly exciting for these young ones, off to Italy for a few weeks or whatever, only to have that excitement destroyed the minute they arrived. I just can't imagine how terrible that must be.

 

[Gem56]

We were booked into the Hilton located only a couple of blocks from Milano Centrale Stazione, which given the heat wave at the time was about as far as we would want to walk. It has an Executive Lounge which is not common in this part of Europe. Sorry... due to the bad experience I'd had, taking photos of our room was the last thing on my mind. Here are some photos of the magnificent Railway Station though.











The temperature was still around 38, which curbed our exploration. We've been to Milan before, and thankfully saw most of the sights at that time. I wanted to make a few purchases so we caught the Metro to the Duomo station. For those that haven't yet visited Milan, when you do, it's really worth the effort to go up to the roof of the Duomo.

 

[ellen10]

Sorry to read about your computer theft @Gem56, were you on a regional train or intercity? We have caught Italian trains before, but is alarming to read of the high number of instances you encountered.
We have some friends who I am helping book some Italian train trips. They are a little nervous having never done it before and I think they would prefer business class. I'm not sure whether this would make any difference with thieves.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Sorry to read about your computer theft @Gem56, were you on a regional train or intercity? We have caught Italian trains before, but is alarming to read of the high number of instances you encountered.
We have some friends who I am helping book some Italian train trips. They are a little nervous having never done it before and I think they would prefer business class. I'm not sure whether this would make any difference with thieves.

We caught two trains that day. One was an IC, the other a Regionale. +1's laptop was stolen on the Regionale but I doubt the ICs would be any better.

There were a group of guys kicked off the IC because they didn't have tickets. As it happened, they ended up on the same Regionale as us later in the day. We suspect they may have been the ones, but who knows.

First Class has a little more room and the Gem thinks that may help keep the bags closer to you. OTOH, I don't think it would be any safer. Take your eyes off them and they're gone.

 

[VPS]

Time to move on to Italy.

We took the train from Nice to Milano - changing trains along the way. Sometime during the second half of our trip my computer was stolen from the luggage rack above our heads. We weren't aware until we were getting close to our stop. We went straight to the police station, which interestingly is on the platform. There were many others there reporting that their luggage had been stolen - not just small carry-on size bags, but LARGE suitcases, some containing everything, including their passports and money and worst of all... no travel insurance for some. I know... the mind boggles. So, me losing my computer is nothing, however still terribly disappointing. We believe there is a professional team - we've been told there are around 100 thefts a day just on the trains!

One guy (an American) caught the bus from the airport to the station and put his bag in the luggage compartment under the bus, as lots of us have done. When he arrived at the station his bag was gone. All he had was his phone. He suspects it never left the airport.

We returned to the police station the following day to give them further information. As time passed we realised there were some suspicious characters on our train, that we felt worth following up, however the police are either swamped with paper work, under resourced, the situation is too big or don't know where to start, or they are just not really interested - who knows! Whatever the reason, our attempts were to no avail.

Still feeling very upset and angry, however I've moved from grieving for the loss of my laptop (photos really) to grieving for the young ones that lost everything that day and probably every day that follows.

I keep thinking what if that was us, what would we have done, where would we stay - no passport, no clothes, no money, no hair dryer or hair products (very important to me) and losing all our treasures? We always travel with insurance, however losing everything, especially at the beginning of the trip would be devastating. My heart aches for them. This happened on a Sunday so where would we even start to bring our lives together again? We would call the insurance company, but for those not covered. what would they do?

The adventure that was probably so terribly exciting for these young ones, off to Italy for a few weeks or whatever, only to have that excitement destroyed the minute they arrived. I just can't imagine how terrible that must be.

Sorry to hear about the theft. It sucks and can put a real dampener on a holiday. Friend of mine just flew Westjet LA to Toronto on an overnight flight and his laptop was stolen from his bag mid flight and he didn't discover it until he got to his hotel.

 

[Gem56]

Lake Como

A beautiful part of the Italian world. As we were staying near Centrale, we caught the train from there to Como San Giovanni and the cost was €4.80 each. We stayed at the Sheraton which is on the outskirts of Como near the Tavernola ferry wharf. If we were doing it again, knowing what we know now, we would try to catch the train to Como Lago and then walk across the road and catch the ferry to Tavernola. However, that would probably require leaving Milano from a different station so I guess it depends where you are staying in Milan.











The Executive Lounge

 

[Gem56]

Tavernola

 

[Gem56]

Como

We caught the ferry from Tavernola to Como - ferries run ever half hour, except at lunch time, they run hourly. Cost of the tickets were €1.30 each. Short ride - approx 10-15 min.





Mum, Dad and Bub












Family outing

 

[Gem56]

Time to move on to Italy.

We took the train from Nice to Milano - changing trains along the way. Sometime during the second half of our trip my computer was stolen from the luggage rack above our heads. We weren't aware until we were getting close to our stop. We went straight to the police station, which interestingly is on the platform. There were many others there reporting that their luggage had been stolen - not just small carry-on size bags, but LARGE suitcases, some containing everything, including their passports and money and worst of all... no travel insurance for some. I know... the mind boggles. So, me losing my computer is nothing, however still terribly disappointing. We believe there is a professional team - we've been told there are around 100 thefts a day just on the trains!

One guy (an American) caught the bus from the airport to the station and put his bag in the luggage compartment under the bus, as lots of us have done. When he arrived at the station his bag was gone. All he had was his phone. He suspects it never left the airport.

We returned to the police station the following day to give them further information. As time passed we realised there were some suspicious characters on our train, that we felt worth following up, however the police are either swamped with paper work, under resourced, the situation is too big or don't know where to start, or they are just not really interested - who knows! Whatever the reason, our attempts were to no avail.

Still feeling very upset and angry, however I've moved from grieving for the loss of my laptop (photos really) to grieving for the young ones that lost everything that day and probably every day that follows.

I keep thinking what if that was us, what would we have done, where would we stay - no passport, no clothes, no money, no hair dryer or hair products (very important to me) and losing all our treasures? We always travel with insurance, however losing everything, especially at the beginning of the trip would be devastating. My heart aches for them. This happened on a Sunday so where would we even start to bring our lives together again? We would call the insurance company, but for those not covered. what would they do?

The adventure that was probably so terribly exciting for these young ones, off to Italy for a few weeks or whatever, only to have that excitement destroyed the minute they arrived. I just can't imagine how terrible that must be.

Sorry to hear about the theft. It sucks and can put a real dampener on a holiday. Friend of mine just flew Westjet LA to Toronto on an overnight flight and his laptop was stolen from his bag mid flight and he didn't discover it until he got to his hotel.

Thanks VPS, I can't believe how brazen they are. JV has been saying for awhile about passengers losing things from the overhead luggage areas on planes during sleep times. Emphasises the need to keep bags locked at all times.

It really does suck and certainly did put a dampener on our trip, but we have to be thankful for small mercies - it could have been much worse. I am a big believer that everything happens for a reason, not too sure what the reason is for this, and I must admit I was struggling to convince myself in this instance, Perhaps it was a warning to us. Who knows!

 

[OATEK]

Thanks VPS, I can't believe how brazen they are. JV has been saying for awhile about passengers losing things from the overhead luggage areas on planes during sleep times. Emphasises the need to keep bags locked at all times.

It really does suck and certainly did put a dampener on our trip, but we have to be thankful for small mercies - it could have been much worse. I am a big believer that everything happens for a reason, not too sure what the reason is for this, and I must admit I was struggling to convince myself in this instance, Perhaps it was a warning to us. Who knows!

Every significant theft when travelling for any of my family and close friends has been in Italy and Spain. There does seem to be a culture of stealing, whether on trains or in the street, that we are just not accustomed to. This has been a great TR to follow and I am glad to see you have kept your spirits up.

 

[Gem56]

Funicular at Como

Connects Como to the village of Brunate and has been operating since 1894. A return ticket is €5.50.

 

[Gem56]

Views from Brunate





Sant'Andrea Apostolo

 

[Gem56]

Como Duomo

Construction began in 1396 and wasn't completed until 1770. The west front was built between 1457 and 1498.

 

[Gem56]

The heat wave continues...

 

[Gem56]

We hopped back on the ferry and motored over to Cernobbio - €2.50 each. Very enjoyable ferry ride on a beautiful lake.

 

[Gem56]

We had a pleasant walk back from Cernobbio to our hotel.

 

[Gem56]

Of course now we are in Italy I should have uploaded a photo of Prosecco.

I had a much better photo of about half a dozen different brands that I found in a bottle shop along the way however that photo was on a different camera card that was stolen along with my laptop.

So; here you go....