Microblog
Train change in Lugano.
✅ Pretzel ?
Not as good as in the Hofbräuhaus, but a whole lot better than what you get in the States.
In Switzerland, I’m using the excellent SBB app of the Swiss Rail System. I really can’t overstate what a great app this is for travel. Trip planning, ticket purchase, and status updates are a breeze. If I ever meet whoever built this app, I’ll buy them a beer.
For train travel, Trenitalia has finally made its iPhone app available in the U.S., so I used that for checking train status. But the Trenitalia app cant be used to purchase tickets without an Italian Tax ID number, so I used the Trainline app for easy purchasing.
(Incidentally, we found a good heuristic for judging what will be a good restaurant in Italy is their wine list. We haven’t gone wrong yet with any restaurant that serves their house wine in pitchers by the liter. ?)
For planning where to go, what to do and what to see, Rick Steves’ guidebooks have been indispensable. This time, I brought Kindle versions, which allowed me to follow his self-guided museum tours and city walks on my iPhone without lugging around a book.
I’m on a six hour train ride through the Alps to Luzern, but we’re not to the scenic part yet, so I thought I’d kill some time by documenting some of the resources I’m using to make my travel easier and more enjoyable.