8/31 Lucerne to Milan

Thursday was a lazy day as the rains came down in the morning. We hit up the breakfast buffet at the hotel, and then with no real plan opted to just go back to sleep on a full stomach. Post breakfast naps are amazing. The laundry was picked up and the luggage was re-repacked. Not wanting to waste the day, we trekked to the bus station in full rain gear, and took a bus down to the National Swiss Automotive Museum. The general lobby had a lot on display, but peaking around the entry gates there wasn't a whole lot in the history of Swiss automobiles. The rain still fell so it was movie time! Next to the museum were a few other attractions and they were playing a 3D Space movie. This American made film dubbed over into German for the locals, but dubbed back to English for us yanks chronicled the NASA Space Program at a Swiss Museum.
The rain finally drained the clouds, and the roads were drying and time to just explore some more before everything closed again and we had to get to the train station once again. We found The Lion of Lucerne and marveled at the carving as Mark Twain did in his day. The lion is a staggeringly beautiful who shows true anguish and sorrow on his face in honor of those of the Swiss guard massacred in the French Revolution.
We were still downtown after visiting the lion, and Simi found a local Irish Pub that had the promise of mushy peas. This is a bit of a running joke for us, as I had my first experience with mushy peas in London when I ordered classic fish and chips during our honeymoon trip. They don't sound good, but just give them a chance! Well, every fish and chips specialty restaurant in the States claims they have the most authentic version of the dish, but not a single one has ever offered up the mushy peas. It's the little things, right? Well, I had them again, and yes they were as tasty (for my tongue) as I remember. Simi gave me the gag face. More for me.
The evening train blitzed the tracks at nearly 150 mph around the mountains and into the tunnels as we left Switzerland and went south to Milan, Italy. The ride quality of the trains is really something that we should have here in the States, and importantly leg room for days! Arriving in Milan there wasn't much for public transport that we felt like investigating late at night. We were marching on our stomachs and plunked into the back seat of a cab. The local cabbie broke about 17 traffic laws in the 5 minute trip to our hotel and last I checked he still hasn't received his test drive with the Ferrari race team.

Our hotel receptionist honored our request for a really good slice of pizza. After dropping off our bags in our rooms we followed her fairly suspect directions to find the best meal of the whole trip was to a mom and pop pizzeria just on the edge of Chinatown near our hotel. A controlled chaos would best describe the dining room which didn't seem to have a single tourist. The super thick crust pizzas are served by the slice in half, normal, and large sizes. The normal slice having the dimensions and weight of a college textbook. The stigma of eating pizza with a knife and fork was busted as we were there in Italy watching the locals slice the pizza with the silverware into bite sized buttery morsels. The pizza was so good, with robust flavors, and a clean tasting crust that I could go on and on.

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