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.