Today it was time to change location. We got up bright and early and caught the train to Milan. There we changed onto another train and headed off to Como in the Italian Lakes. Como has two stations. One right next to our hotel, and the other one a cab ride away. Of course, trains from Milan Centrale (note the proper spelling with the e on the end) go to the distant station. For us that was the one with S.G. in the name. This stands for “San Giovanni” which might be either the name of a famous railway station builder or Italian for “Long way from Rob’s Hotel”. Either way, after our cab ride we ended up at the hotel.

My travel tip for trains in Italy is don’t use the ticket machines. They tend to confuse you about your route (for example arriving in one Milan station and then leaving from another) and then fail to accept your credit card. But the folks on the ticket sales desk were unfailingly helpful and pleasant, and left me with a good feeling about where we were going.

We had a third floor room in our hotel of choice, the In Riva Al Lago. As there was no lift this did mean a bit of a heft with the cases, but the view from our window was worth it.