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| in a strange coincidence, we were flying to Italy exactly six years after our last flight there |
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| getting to Italy back in 2018 was a comedy of errors; getting there this time was pretty much seamless! |
I'm not sure what I should write about Milan because to be honest, it was not the most thrilling city we've ever visited. It's absolutely fine. I just found it kind of boring. Milan is definitely a step up from Rome, but I don't foresee us ever returning here. I'm glad we came and it improved my overall opinion of Italy, but it's a one-and-done for me. As you'll see below, I don't have any particularly interesting pictures to share (other than from our day trip to Como, which was wonderful!).
On Saturday, we dropped Avalanche off at his dog hotel and drove up to New York for our flight from JFK. The weather the entire day was atrocious, but we made it in plenty of time to park, take the AirTrain, and spend some time in one of the lounges before our flight. Once again, the boarding process was beyond tedious, although not as bad as when we flew from JFK to Portugal in November 2021 when the gate agent shouted at everyone and no one followed directions. Ridiculous! C is always so great about finding flights with two seats by themselves whenever possible and this Delta flight had a 2-4-2 configuration, which is perfect for us! The flight left at about 7:45 pm and we were able to get some decent sleep overnight.
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| The Alps... last spring break we were on the Switzerland side of The Alps and this spring break, we're on the Italy side of The Alps! |
We arrived on Sunday morning and I was pretty excited about finally getting an Italy stamp in my passport (you might recall that last time, our flight was diverted to Oslo, so I got a second Norway stamp, but no Italy stamp). We had just renewed our passports in the fall, so this was going to be the first of many stamps in our new passports. Well, the customs guy could not have been less interested in his job and just randomly stamped our passports - mine on page 18 and C's on page 27. WHAT IN THE WORLD?!? I was so annoyed!
After we collected our bags, we decided to see if the trains were running because there was a semi-strike happening. The prevailing taxi rates meant it would have cost us over $100 to get to our hotel, so until that we had no other choice, we were eager to investigate our train options. We got to the ticket counter at 9:10 am and the lady told us the train to central Milan was leaving at 9:13 and that she strongly recommended we make a run for it because there was no guarantee there would be another train that day. We bought tickets, grabbed our bags, and ran like our lives depended on it, just making it onto the train before the doors closed.
Once we arrived at the central train station, it was less than a five minute walk to our hotel, which was a super convenient location! We rested for a little while, then wandered around the city and grabbed a late lunch/early dinner. Visiting Italy during the week leading up to Easter means there are tons of tourists, but once we were off the beaten path a bit, the crowds weren't too terrible.
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| I always like to get a pic of our plane's shadow whenever possible |
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| the hotel staff delivered fresh macarons to our room as a welcome treat! |
We took the train to Como on Monday and Lake Como was so absolutely beautiful! The weather was gorgeous and we had a really amazing day. I loved it until we were at the train station waiting for our train to return to Milan and we were approached by three military police. I haven't yet mentioned about what a heavy military police presence there was everywhere we went. Frankly, it was a bit unnerving and they were just everywhere from the moment we arrived in Milan on Sunday. When these three approached us - and ONLY us, despite a busy platform with many other passengers - they demanded to see our passports and asked us questions, with one of the three clearly trying to intimidate us. After several minutes, they finally left us alone, but I certainly didn't appreciate being harassed.
Tuesday was a rainy and gloomy day; we had fun wandering around the city, but I really don't have much to share in the way of pictures. One amusing thing was that we were taking a break from the rain in a Starbucks when we overheard three teenagers at a nearby table. They were studying chemistry together and their conversation switched from Italian to English and back again without missing a beat. We were pretty impressed and happened to notice a maple leaf on the sleeve of one of their jackets, but didn't really give it a second thought. After we left, about a block from the Starbucks, we happened upon a sign that read, "Canadian School of Milan!" A cute discovery!
Today we checked out of our Milan hotel at noon and walked over to the train station to catch the train to Venice! I'm currently writing this on the train and I am super excited to get there!
To summarize my thoughts on Milan...
The best:
1) We ate a lot of amazing pizza!
2) It seems to be an exceptionally dog-friendly city; during our time there, we saw over 110 dogs, including 13 Dachshunds and 1 Husky!
3) Generally speaking, people were very accommodating when they realized we do not speak Italian. An exception to this was one guy on the train who had a very friendly conversation with C in Italian for like 20 minutes! C just nodded and smiled and was apparently the exact audience the guy was looking for, because he never realized C didn't speak Italian! LOL! (I'm also very grateful for Google translate!)
The worst:
1) We found many people to be quite rude, acknowledging that it could just be cultural differences. Of course those in the shops and restaurants and hotel were lovely.
2) There are no social conventions for walking on the right or on the left - people just walk wherever they want and will bulldoze you in the process.
3) Smoking is extremely pervasive. I inhaled so much second hand smoke. Gross.
Overall, I'm glad to have visited Milan, but I simply cannot wait to see Venice after years and years of admiring pictures and videos!
Happy Tails to you!
