We went to the Central Station and waited in line to buy tickets to Basel, Switzerland. We finally boarded a beautifultrain and left Milan. We had no sooner crossed the border when we had to transfer to another train (unscheduled), they needed the fancy train for some bigwigs in Basel). However, the "older" train had more comfortable seats! It also meant we did not go through any customs inspection which we were told would happen. Most of the trip into Switzerland went through huge tunnels which as I recall were all "mined with explosives" many years ago to make invasions really, really tough. Upon arrival in Basel, we took a cab to our "Best Western" Hotel Stuecki near where our ship was to be docked. On the way we were startled to see Basel's Hammering Man in front of a bank!