Buongiorno Italia

It was a lovely 6 days in Switzerland, a place we have wanted to revisit since we were here in 2012.  Zurich is culturally very similar to
Melbourne, with a mix of many nationalities and culinary flavors. The other area we were in was Appenzellerland. This on the other hand was very rich in culture and history, however once again the food is based mainly on sausage and potato.  I'm not saying we were disappointed with the food in this region of Switzerland, but we were able to confirm our assumptions.

To get to Milan we caught the train over and through the alps, on the Gotthard line. My wish was to go through the Gotthard Base Tunnel that has recently been completed, however it isn't open to public trains 'til the start of December 2016.  This line is over 57km long and totally bypassed the need to cross over the alps.  In some stages its depth is 2.3km and this new line will take about 1 hour of the 4 hour journey.

On the other hand using the old Gotthard line had benefits, there was more to see, but looking through a double glased tinted window does not provide great photos.

We arrived at the Switzerland / Italian border on time, it is amazing how every thing runs on time in Switzerland.  All prepared for the expected passport check that was announced over the P.A. we waited.  After about 10 min we took off, no passport check, no new stamp in the book.

It was now that we were in a Swiss train on the Italian network.  The train sat stationary on 2 occasions and thus in turn made arrival about 30 min late. It was of no real concern to us, but it was amazing how many people started grabbing for their bags and queued in the aisles when we weren't even close to the city.

The evening was spent in front of the enormous Duomo.  I knew it was big from all the research I have done, but being in front with the setting sun illuminating the facade truly had us both staring in amazement. Tomorrow we will be venturing inside.

 

Heading into the  Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping plaza, we passed Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Versace. All very interesting, but we were both looking for the bull.  This is a custom of the locals to spin their heel on the bull testicles, the bull is from the Turin city coat of arms.

This spinning has been done so many times there is a divet in the mosaic tiles and the bull testicles are no where to be seen.

The evening was spent with the company of the impressive waiters at A Santa Lucia. We normally try to eat away from the main piazza and this was no exception, about 500 meters from the Duomo we found this place.

It has been opened in the city since 1929 and has a hundred or so pictures in frames on the walls from all the famous guests that have eaten there. 

We trusted the advice of the waiter for entree that we shared. It was a Beef Carpaccio.

This was a plate of thin sliced raw beef with a rocket, walnut, parmesan and olive oil salad.  The plate looked great and we were amazed with how good it tasted. There was no fat on the beef and the slices were soft like ham.  The salad was a perfect topping and offset the raw beef,

Next was main, Katie selected from the spacial menu, Spaghetti with Zucchini and Calamari. There was nothing left on the plate at the end, and she said 'it was very simple but ohh so delicious'.

My main was also from the special's menu, Pesto Tagliatelle.

The pesto was so fresh it was like the basil was still growing on the plate. The pasta was cooked correctly, Al Dente.

Both meals were small enough that there was room for dessert, but i forgot to take photos before they were eaten, sorry. Katie had a Tiramisu and I had a Creme Caramel with an espresso sauce.

It is great to be blogging back in Italy. Switzerland is such a spectacular place but is a little too perfect for us, nothing seams to go wrong, it is all so clean and well organised. Please don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad thing just very hard to explain.  Italy on the other hand is a far more diverse place.  It has graffiti, some say this is a way of self expression, it has the boarded windows of deralict buildings.  Today we even had a very old drunk man wet him self while standing in the middle of the footpath!

Italy also has the food that one could die for, it has local places to eat, and it has the very expensive places too, just like Switzerland.  We are glad to be back, and I hope I can explain our love for this country further in coming weeks. 

Ciao for now, Shannon 

Tomorrow, Is that the last supper?