After a rainy 24 hours in Geneva, Joseph and I set off on a 4-hour train ride to Milan. We’d been traveling for over a week – from Colorado to Iceland to London to Switzerland – and we were tired. We’re introverted homebodies, and being out and about in foreign countries wears us out.

When we crossed the border into Italy, we suddenly got excited. We didn’t realize how much we’d been longing for familiarity until we got a taste of it. Our train pulled into the beautiful station in Milan that we’ve visited half a dozen times, and we suddenly felt totally at home. Everything changed, like a switch was hit. It was completely unexpected and completely wonderful. I no longer regretted the way I’d planned our trip, spending a week in Italian cities we’d been to before. This week was a refuge towards the end of an exhausting and exciting vacation.

Joseph and I spent months planning our 10th anniversary trip. 7 cities, 7 plane rides, 8 hotels – 18 carefully-planned days. This quick trip to Switzerland was one of our last editions, and we really did it for one reason: we wanted a snowy winter wonderland.

Unfortunately, as happens, our 24 hours in Switzerland didn’t show us the best weather. It was rainy and cold the entire time. We landed on a Sunday and left the next Monday, and we tried to enjoy it as best we could given the weekend hours and nasty weather. There wasn’t much for us to do, especially since the one place on our list (United Nations) had closed for the season three days earlier.

We stayed in just about the cutest hotel imaginable, Hotel Edelweiss. The whole place smelled like cinnamon – that’s basically a dream come true for me! A warm, welcoming refuge to the rainy days outside. I’m a light sleeper, and every time I woke up I caught a big whiff of cinnamon and then easily fell back asleep. It was lovely!

Continuation of my posts about our recent 10th anniversary trip to Iceland, London, Geneva, Milan, Venice, and Colorado. Click here to see all the posts, and click here to see the recent post about our first two days in London.

On the advice of a friend, we decided to spend our last day in London at Windsor Castle. The 45 minute train through the English contryside is wonderful in itself. What a nice break this was after two busy days in London!

We especially enjoyed seeing the childhood home (and current weekend home) of Queen Elizabeth II after watching The Crown! 

Part 2 of posts about our 18-day trip to celebrate our 10th anniversary. Click here to read all the posts!

Our second stop was in London, where we spent three and a half days, which really is no time at all in London. I planned this portion of the trip for months in advance. I had a very long list of sites I wanted to see, and that list was ultimately cut in half due to time constraints. And we still didn’t see everything on my itinerary!

But now we have a reason to return, right?