This was another travel day, riding a train that carried us first into Austria with a brief stop at Innsbruck, Austria, before crossing over into Italy and reaching our next destination, Lake Como. It would be another long, but scenic journey through the heart of Europe.
The morning began like most others in Europe that holiday season…with a pastry and a trip to the train station. Will originally had planned for us to awake at 5:30 for a 7:30 train to Innsbruck, so as to have a bit of walking time in the Tyrolean capital, but the group felt that a little extra sleep seemed a better prospect. It was a shame that we would spend less time in Innsbruck than we desired, but a four hour stay was never going to do the city justice at any rate.
So we left Munich at a much more reasonable hour in the morning, lamenting
the enigmatic German sun that had hidden itself away during most of our stay in the city,
but which was now bathing the Bavarian landscape with a warm, expansive
sunlight. This would be the first train ride in which the passenger seating
consisted of a private cab with a sliding door entry, with cushioned chairs facing each other. It's a more intimate way to travel, offering seclusion from others
on the train, only to be interrupted in the event that a lone traveler needed an
extra seat that only your cab might provide. This actually occurred to us soon
after leaving Munich, when a young German (probably) woman found that the cab
me, Ryan, and Beth were currently occupying had in it an extra seat she could
plant herself in for a little while. Probably nothing more than warm
pleasantries were exchanged as she put on her headphones leaving us three to once more talk amongst ourselves and
stare at the Alpine landscape as it rolled by.
We arrived in Innsbruck around lunchtime, and with our time limited, dropped
off the bags at a waiting area in the train station, and a number of us decided
to take a brisk walk through as much of the city as possible before we caught a
train bound for Verona while the others volunteered to stay back and protect our small
fort of luggage. Those heading into town walked west-northwest from the train
station, heading towards the Inn River. We soon passed through a shopping
district of the city with an open air Christmas market on
display, or at least, the vestiges of a Christmas market since the holiday was
now three days past. 
Here is where the group began to fragment with the fairer sex in the group
wishing to stop off and see what they could find for sell. My Dad and I pressed
on towards the river, eager to catch a better glimpse at the surrounding
landscape that was presently obscured from our view by the urban setting, or as
urban as a resort town like Innsbruck gets. We eventually found our way to the
edge of town to see an impressive Alpine scene spread out before us. On my prior visit
here two years ago, darkness and a blizzard had concealed this vista from me. Ryan,
Will, and I had climbed a foothill just across the river that night, which made
for a charming setting with all the snow, but we had no time for this today.
Which was fine, because this time around, Innsbruck was caught in the splendor of radiant sunlight of a bluebird winter day. Hardly a cloud in the sky with a warm sun to
fight off the cold of winter. We managed to pose for a few quick pictures on a
bridge over the Inn River before trudging back towards the train
station.
Once there, we spent the duration of our time in town waiting for our train
to depart. Our train would take us to Fair Verona, home to everyone's favorite
pair of star crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet. But that would be a sideshow to
other things to be seen on this train ride. I guess it was because I was so
focused on the first half of this trip, or simply too overwhelmed to take note
of all we were doing, but this leg of the trip I will admit, snuck up on me. By
that I mean, I didn't really have any expectations about it. Oh sure, like any
train ride across Europe, I guess I expected it to be spectacular in its own
way, especially as I assumed we would still be surrounded by mountains for much
of the ride, but it hadn't really captured my imagination. So it was with a
sense of wonderment that, shortly after entering Italy, I looked out my window
and saw the mythical Dolomites, unmistakable with their famous limestone peaks.
I knew one would find the Dolomites in the northern part of Italy (duh, all of
the Italian Alps are), but the thought that we might see the Dolomites, or at
least a front range portion of them, hadn't crossed my mind. They didn’t disappointed
with their fantastical setting. No other mountain range in Europe compares as best
as I can tell. But my experience with them was only fleeting so you’ll have to
look elsewhere for a more thorough description. A trip back here would probably
be warranted. (note: the picture included here was stolen from the internet just to give you an idea of what they look like, though we didn't see anything near this spectacular)After a while, despite the amazing scenery encountered as we made one seemingly endless journey through a valley, it felt less like we were traveling and more as though we were meandering towards Verona, our next stop before changing trains for Milan. Call it weeklong European fatigue I guess, but I was ready to be there. The appeal of rail travel hadn’t quite worn off, but it was going into remission for a short spell. When we finally arrived in Verona, I didn’t spend much time thinking about the the fact that we were in Montague and Capulet territory. I took note of it, thought, “That’s neat”, and turned my attention towards our platform number and departure time. I was ready to head to Milan for our final changeover before going to Como.
As it was, the train ride from Verona to Milan was fairly uneventful. Whatever scenery there was to enjoy was cloaked in darkness. Before we knew it, our train was arriving in the Milan. I was hoping to see at least a little of the city as we arrived or left, especially a glimpse of the city’s famous Duomo, but even had the sun been out, our train didn’t appear to take us by any famous Milanese landmarks. No time to venture out into the city either as our layover was brief before we took the short train ride to Como.
After arriving into town, we caught some cabs and got to our hotel about 20:30. After a quick check-in, it was out on to the town to look for some grub. Given that it was our first night in Italy, and we weren’t in the mood for anything extravagant, we settled for a local pizzeria just down the street from our hotel, right along the lakefront. The first taste of true Italian pizza (as true as it gets outside of Naples and Southern Italy anyway) was, I’m sure, a seminal moment for our first time visitors to Italy. (i.e., everyone but me, Ryan, and Will). Regardless of whether it actually tastes better than pizza back home (it does…to me anyway), you’ll tell yourself that it does. You can be one of those Europhile snobs (guilty as charged) that, next time you’re at Pizza Hut, points out that this isn’t real pizza, but rather processed cheese tossed on some dough along with ketchup sauce. You’ve had the real deal on that thin, Italian crust, with real cheese, and real homemade tomato sauce, and you want more. Or you could just keep getting the $5 Hot and Ready pizza from Little Caesar back stateside. That’s a pretty good deal, y’all.
Bottom line, legit Italian pizza is good stuff. We liked it so much we helped ourselves to it a few times while in Italy, starting with this first night in Como. Also came across nice dessert called Bongo Bongo, and it’s as awesome as it sounds. Here’s a description I found on the interwebs:
“A dessert resembling profiteroles consisting of tiny cream puffs surrounded with whipped cream with more cream puffs on top, all coated with melted chocolate.”
Sounds pretty awesome, right? Believe me. It was. I actually ordered a different dessert, but something exotic/awesome sounding as Bongo Bongo warranted a taste, which others in our party were willing to share, thankfully.
After a long day of travel, it was a good note to end on. We retired to our rooms shortly thereafter to prepare for a day along the lake tomorrow.
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