During the fall break of October 2025, I traveled to two bordering yet vastly different countries, Italy, in which I visited two cities, and Switzerland, where I visited six cities.
Taking it back home to California, I flew out of San Francisco Airport with my mom to John F. Kennedy Airport, where my layover was set by my airline, then over to Milan, Italy.
Once I arrived in Milan, we took a bus to bring us close to our AirBNB, in which we stayed to meet with my sister so we could then venture off towards the Duomo, the famous cathedral which Milan is known for.
After exploring the old streets of Milan, and both the inside and outside of the Duomo, we took a cab over to the general area of restaurants, and a few small shops. We stopped over at a restaurant right off the walkway named Hosteria Della Musica, where there were live singers and performers, while you eat authentic Italian food.
Afterwards, we went for gelato, and off to another restaurant before heading back to the Airbnb.
The next morning we caught a tour bus for english speakers which took us to Lake Como, where we took two short ferry’s to the one side of the lake and back. We were able to stop on the main land to take pictures, have a few snacks, or do a small amount of shopping.
Afterwards, we headed to Lugano, Switzerland, which borders Italy, there you can do some shopping, see the old churches, the pictures, buy and eat Läderach chocolate, a famous Swiss chocolate brand.
Once we returned to Milan, we went to the outlets to do some shopping, where I bought jeans and a trench coat from Zara, which was a delight since it was cheaper than the US.
The next day we caught our trains to Switzerland, where we saw astonishing views of the Swiss hills, mountains, rivers, and the greenest grass I have ever laid my bare eyes on.
Once we arrived to Luzern, our first city to stop at, we walked towards the main area for tourism where we visited the chapel bridge, though we did meet with inflation once again, we ate at McDonalds, which is something every tourist in Europe or Asia should do since it’s better, most likely cheaper and has items the US will most likely never have.
After exploring the main area, we took a 1-hour ferry ride taking us around the lake where we saw many mountains, especially Mount Rigi.
For the night, we took a train to Zurich, which is one of the main cities in Switzerland, where we had dinner in a rooftop restaurant.
The following morning, we packed up once again to take our train to Interlaken. Immediately upon our arrival, we notice that the town was peaceful, smaller and the view is insanely beautiful no matter where you are or where you look. If you look up you see the mountains and people parasailing, wondering what view they could be experiencing.
We caught our train to Zermatt to see the Matterhorn, the mountain notoriously known for its structure and height, as well as for being the mountain on the Toblerone Chocolate. We took another train going up towards a viewpoint, where there are more snow and ice.
Once we stopped by Grindelwald to eat fresh steak from the cattle around, and Sigriswill to visit the bridge known for being one of the sets for the famous K-Drama “Crash Landing On You”, we concluded our visit and trained back to Gallarate, where we spent the night after dinner for our early morning flight.
Once our morning bus took us back to MXP, my mom and I said our farewells to my sister, since she flies to London, then LAX, while my mom and I fly to JFK, then SFO.
