10/16 : Day 12 - Strasbourg to Milan

Began the day at Elizabeth Ruppert's apartment in Strasbourg where she & her friend hosted a very large breakfast for us and her parents --- where excellent French pastry was had in great abundance.

Although there was a light drizzle it did not stop us from taking a tour on the canal which circles the downtown area somewhat like the San Antonio River does in San Antonio. Strasbourg is one of three cities (along with Brussels and Luxembourg City) that have a significant role in the European Union, hence there were numerous modern EU buildings lining the canal front in contrast to the much older buildings typically seen in the city.

At noon we caught one of the "fast" French TGV trains going to Zurich, Switzerland, however, the rail infrastructure was not yet qualified for the 125 mile per hour speeds of the TGV, so this train was only able to run at 70 to 80 mph.  In Zurich we connected to an Italian EuroCity train to Milan. The Zurich rail terminal is very large, with three platform levels servicing 50+ arrival/departure tracks. We arrived in Milan a little after 9:00 PM. As our first experience traveling on the European rail system we found it not only to be quite comfortable as well as a very leisurely way to see the countryside, especially when considering what is missed when flying.