Milano and Public

I ventured up north this past weekend to the small, quaint city of Milan…you may have heard of it before. Milano will always hold a special place in my heart after my unforgettable six month stay in the bustling, urban city. I was lucky to leave work early to catch a train up to Milan. Since I was here, inflation has gotten the best of Trenitalia and my ticket went up from 33 € to 44€ one-way for the Eurostar. What a rip-off. I sucked it up and got excited for a great weekend!

Milano Centale was changed by Mussolini to demonstrate the power and strength of Italy. And while it definitely is a beautiful and huge building, I don’t know how much power you can show when your train almost never arrives on time. Anyway, I pulled in Centale and was greeted by a newly remodelled stazione. When I lived in Milano, the station was under construction the entire time and really just looked old and dirty. Now, you are welcomed by clean walls, new electronic message boards and confusing criss-crossing pathways down to the biglietteria and metro. It is a beautiful improvement.

The beauty of Milan, however, is not in the train station or the incredible Duomo, but I find it really in the food and nightlife (ovvio). The great thing about Milano is that pretty much every bar or club begins its evenings with aperitivo. What a wonderful word that is…you purchase and pay for your tasty drink and are given the key to a buffet (usually warm unless the place isn’t that great) of warm delish food. We ventured all the way downstairs from Tucker’s apartment, literally the place was next door and had some big fruity drinks (literally had huge cornucopias of fruit on top of drinks) and in this case, what can only be described as, Indian meets Italian food. Cioè, cous cous, curry, rice, salad and of course, some pasta for good measure. It was an ok aperitivo, definitely not the best in Milano. The night only got better as we ventured to a discoteca called Gattopardo (apparently the name of a film and that’s all anyone could say about the meaning of the name). The club was gorgeous and used to be an old church (ironic much?); the DJ spun on the alter and the upstairs balcony was another bar…our table was on the ground floor right under the balcony in the picture…you can see the curtain, right next to the bottom bar. It was a great night full of our favourite songs and dancing til 4am…

Another amazing point of Milano is the after discoteca panino cart. The streets near clubs (and not for that matter) are lined with carts full of yummy cold cuts, salsiccia, cotoletta and many many delish treats…always the best way to end your night!

The rest of the weekend was spent catching up with friends, wandering around the streets of Milano and enjoying on of my favourite cities! I headed home Sunday, exhausted from no sleep and dreading work bright and early on Monday. My train ride home was only 26€ since I opted for the (as David says) grindo train that takes almost 5 hours. The thing about Italian trains is that you never know who you will have near you. This time I was lucky enough to experience a crazy, smelly, and presumably homeless non-Italian man next to me for the second half of my trip. I went to the restroom and upon returning to my seat, was met by a man who ignored me the first fifty times I said excuse me that’s my seat. He then got up and I went and sat down and he sat right next to me. I immediately put on my iPod, full blast so I’d have an excuse to ignore him and just stared right out the window. Sure enough, he tried to ask me something over and over and I ignored him, so he turned to the girl across from me and asked about a stop I think and she didn’t know so he asked the girl across the middle (both of them had iPods on as well mind you) and she said yes, it’s coming up…then he didn’t stop “signorina, signorina, signorina” for about 5 minutes and asked the same questions. Finally I asked him to please move and I sat further back…then the train collector man came and while he was checking the ticket for the girl across the pathway, the man snuck behind his back and slipped into the restroom. Man you gotta love public trains….

Speaking of public transportation, I’ve been lucky enough to be taking the bus from Capannori to Lucca train station every morning for work. Since my father won’t even think about me having a motorino or even a bike for some reason, I’ve gotten used to doing my part to save the environment, one bus ride at a time…Anyway, Friday I needed to go into work early so I could leave early for Milan. So, instead of the 8:09 bus, I took the one at 7:12 (who knows about the schedules, ps). Never again will I take that bus. The bus was “full” of bratty pre-teens going to school. Now, I say “full” because they do not move away from the doors. Meaning, I was on of the last to get on the bus and had to SQUEEZE on whilst getting the bus door shut on both myself and my suitcase several times…yet NO ONE moved away from the door. All three doors on the bus were crowded with these kids and yet, the ENTIRE middle of the bus was as empty as a plate of tordelli at any family dinner. And it’s not like the teens were getting off on the next stop, they rode the bus all the way past my stop crowding the doors and the bus driver, while the entire middle of the bus was like the middle of the Mojave desert. I had the bus doors open and close on me about 5 times. The only good thing from that bus ride was that I didn’t have to use my 1.5€ ticket because I couldn’t get to the stamp machine and so I got a free (although miserable) ride….

The kitchen is being put in or partially installed or something today…

We’ll discuss that later!

A dopo….