We arose at 7:00am to pack, have breakfast in the hotel and then left to drive through Switzerland to Italy. The scenery is unbelievable. There are huge snow-capped mountains all around us as we drive and we come out into clearings where there are beautiful lakes and villages.

We travelled through many tunnels that have been cut through the mountains. The biggest tunnel was 17.6 kilometres long. It connects the German side of Switzerland with the Italian side. It was built with two teams dynamiting the tunnel from both ends and meeting in the middle. It took ten years to build. Prior to the tunnel being completed vehicles had to travel over the mountain pass which was impassable during the winter and vehicles would have to be loaded onto the train. The tunnel makes is possible for vehicles to travel from the German side of the Alps through to the Italian side and vice versa with relative ease.

Darren Tappouras is claustrophobic and he set himself up watching a movie on his iPad with noise-cancelling headphones which is just as well because the tour guide told us how many accidents have blocked the tunnel including trucks which have burst into flames in the tunnel causing huge fireballs. There are also oxygen sensors in the tunnel to ensure the air is healthy for the commuters.

We crossed the Swiss border into Italy at 10:30am and drove past the beautiful Lake Como on our way to Milan.

We arrived in Milan at midday and alighted from the bus at the Sforza Castle. We went for a brief tour of the city centre, completing our walk at the Milan Cathedral, a majestic building and the third largest Gothic Cathedral in the world and the fifth largest cathedral of any kind. It was built in 1386, completed in 1577.

After our guide left us, we walked around the city looking at the amazing sights. We walked through the Galleria Vittorio, a glass-covered passage with a big glass dome in the middle. There are actually four passages made up of 19th century buildings converging on the intersection where the dome is located. All the most expensive Italian brands are located in this spectacular galleria.

We walked to the Leonardo square, which is in front of the Opera House with the city’s main administrative bulding on the opposite side of the square. There is a statue of Leonardo da Vinci in the middle of the square and a Leonardo museum close by. We then walked through the streets of Milan to find the ruins on the Imperial Palace of the Ancient Roman Emperor Maximian in 286AD, who was the western co-emperor with Diocletian who was in the east.

We then had a delicious Italian lunch in the main mall in Milan. Pris had carbonara and I had pappardelle beef ragout. We then went to sample some of the local gelato for desert. We then walked to the Sforza castle which is deserving of much more attention than we were able to dedicate to it. We walked right through the centre of it and marvelled at the huge construction. It is a castle within a castle. It has working drawbridges at several levels, a huge moat at both the inner and outer castle. The walls and towers were impregnable. The castle was built between 1360 and 1499. It is a fantastic example of a medieval-renaissance castle. It was built by Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan. It was decorated inside by famous artists including Leonard da Vinci.

When we walked right through the castle and emerged on the other side, we saw a triumphal arch topped with six majestic horses pulling a chariot. This arch was built in 1807 under Napoleonic rule to commemorate the inauguration of the Kingdom of Italy under Napoleanic rule.

We left Milan at 3:00pm, stopping briefly near Verona, then on to the Venetian region. The whole route we travelled was flanked almost continually with vineyards and other farms. The northern region of Italy is a rich green productive area - the breadbasket of Italy. We travelled through Lombardy and the Venetian area. It is quite flat but flanked by the alps in the distance and smaller hills with churches and castles situated on them. There are lots of small villages close together.

The coast is actually the Adriatic Sea, even though its part of the larger Mediterranean.

Tomorrow we will see the Venetian Lagoon. Venice is not an island, it is about 118 islands. It has 400 bridges. It lies in the region where the Po and Piave rivers meet the Adriatic Sea.

The Po Valley covers a large part of this area. The River Po is the source of water for the whole area. The lower valley is where most people live and where the rich agriculture is located. The coastline in the venetian area is sandy beaches. The Po Delta to the Adriatic Sea is a sandy area rich with wildlife.

Glassblowing is a big industry in Venice. Benneton, Diesel are also Venetian.

We are staying in a hotel in Mestre near Venice. We will need to travel to Venice tomorrow, leaving at 7:30am, by public transport, including a tram and a boat.
The bus we were on had to pay a tourist bus fee that all tourist buses have to pay. This is a way of sucking further money ut of the vulnerable tourist. This is in addition to the daily city tax that applies to all tourists travelling across Europe no matter where they are staying. The bus tax was $340 Euro for the bus in Venice.

Dad just rang from Australia and spoke to Steve and I to let us know that Nana Dodson has died in Olivet today aged 101. A very sad day - 4 July 2017 - maybe the 5th in Australian time. The end of an era for the Dodson family. We reflected on the many happy memories we have of Nana. The tour group extended their condolensces to us a number of times which was nice.

We settled into the restaurant in Mestre, on the mainland of Italy near Venice, and then went exploring. We found a market which sold beautiful fruit and bought some cherries, nectarines, and peaches. We then went wandering around Mestre and found the fantastic town square.