Sciorpero!!

We have been in Switerland for over a month now and still no big weekend excursions such as I have mandated (to myself) as a stipulation for living here. So, last weekend, I decided: Basta (yes, my love for Italian transcends even the French lessons I am taking...plus, I don't yet know how to say 'enough!' in French!). A few sufficency checks reveal: Milan is only a 5 hour train ride away. It's cheap to get there, cheap to stay, and aside from fantastic shopping, many things to do. Plus, the trains are some sort of special 'swinging' cars that can soar even faster around mountain passes - PERFECT!!

Tuesday prior, I book a fabulous yet cheap hotel, right in the heart of the city. Wednesday, we inquire with the dog boarders - but, they are all booked up! So, no point in buying train tickets until THAT is resolved....which it does Wednesday afternoon, so Thursday I haul myself back to the train station to finalize the last purchase...only to find out that Italian trains are on STRIKE! Dismayed, I realize that planning travel at the last minute may not be the smartest idea, and we put off Milan one more weekend, sigh.

Epilogue: The Italians are fickle - the trains were back up and running the next day and now I know not to take the words 'train strike' with such gravity as I would in the US....or maybe not as strikes seem to happen as often as the wind shifts....and here I thought public transit was the absolute ideal in Europe!