A Series Of Unfortunate Events- Milan

So, this past weekend the plan was to go to Milan!  I was meeting my friend Ksenia from back home there on Friday afternoon…and then leaving Sunday morning to come back to Tuscania.  Just a simple little weekend trip.

Or so I thought.  The plan was for me to wake up really early on Friday, catch the 6:45 am bus from Tuscania to a nearby town, and then from there another local bus to the train station to catch the train at like 8:30 to Rome.  Then from Rome, I would take another connecting train at 10:15 or so for Milan.  I was supposed to get to Milan at 1:45pm on Friday.  I woke up Friday morning at 6:38 am.  After jumping out of bed and sprinting to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth, I realized that there was absolutely no way in hell I was going to make that bus.  I then texted Massimo del Papa, this local driver who is usually available at any time, but after sending the text I remembered he was in Kenya for the week.  After an awkward conversation on the phone with his wife, I reluctantly accepted the fact that I wasn’t going to make my original train.  I finally figured out online bus times and train times and planned everything out again for a later time.  The plan was to leave from another nearby town’s train station into Rome, then from one Rome station I had to take another train to a different Rome station, and then from there to Milan.  I was supposed to get there around 3:45 now.  I caught the bus to this train station, and being an hour early, I just sat on a bench on my computer.  Around this time, Iva called me just warning me that there is a train strike and so I should just see if my train really is coming.  I talked to other people at the station and to my relief, they said that they thought the train was definitely coming.  So, 10:30 or whatever it was rolls around and there’s not a train in sight.  Other people at the station were still hopeful that the train might come so I figured I would be too.  30 minutes later...still no train.  At this point, I was basically freaking out with no idea of what to do.  I emailed one of my advisers at my school in Tuscania and asked her opinion.  When I was halfway through reading her reply email, my computer died.  GREAT.  Luckily she called me and explained to me that the only way I was going to get to Milan that day would be to take about 100 different buses and then the train and then get to Milan really late that night.  She suggested I just try again in the morning.  Whatever, Ok, I’ll try again in the morning, the strike ends tonight.  I then basically walked from one side of the town to the other (keep in mind, this is Viterbo- a MUCH bigger town than Tuscania) to get to the bus stop to go back to Tuscania.  Completely sunburned from sitting outside the train station, I finally got on the bus to go back home.  Just to add insult to injury, my nose randomly started bleeding when I got on the bus…great.

After getting back into Tuscania, I went to the school and figured out reservations for the train to Milan the next day and schedules and everything.  Everything’s looking up and everything’s cool.  We all ended up getting frozen yogurt and walking around the town in the beautiful weather that day before going to a wonderful dinner at Iva’s host family’s house.  The day ended up being pretty good and I just laughed about what had happened earlier that day.  I kept getting asked by Noah, “So, how was Milan?....oh wait. HAHA”  Such a nice boy.

The next morning rolls around and I caught the 6:45 am bus again to the train station and then caught the bus to Rome.  Success.  When I got to Rome I grabbed a quick bite to eat before going to find my platform to catch the train at 10:15.  Couldn’t find the platform.  I must’ve been on the complete opposite side of the station.  I found signs leading to the underground hallway that comes up at each one and walked down into it.  There was a huge gate blocking me from getting to my platform.  I then walked back up and searched around some more, continuing to just follow signs to my platform... and it’s about 10:10.  I was frantically asking workers there how to get to my platform, and they all told me to go back to the underground passageway.  I figured that maybe the gate was open now.  It’s 10:14.  I was literally running (with a backpack) looking like a complete idiot through this underground hallway to find that the gate is STILL there.  I missed my train.  I had to go to this kiosk and change my reservation for the train (it was a fast train and therefore needed a reservation) and ended up having to get one for the train at 12:15 because the one for 11:15 was full.  After an hour and a half of sitting in a little café in the train station, I finally found the correct platform and caught my train for Milan.  Phew!

the park behind the castle!

Finally I was in Milan!!  I walked about 25 minutes from the train station to meet Ksenia at our hostel.  I got there around 4:30 absolutely exhausted.  But, knowing I only had about 16 hours in this city, we immediately left the hostel to go explore and fit in all the major sites of Milan.  We first took the metro to the famous and beautiful Duomo!  It actually was really pretty.  It had such intricate detail. We went inside the church for a few minutes just to look around.  It was really beautiful, but a church is a church.  I’ve seen way too many churches painted like that that this one didn’t faze me, call me spoiled.  The piazza around it was really neat and there were a ton of people just hanging out. We of course got some really good gelato and then walked down this one street that was basically an outdoor chocolate market!  There were literally like 50 tents set up, each selling their own kind of special and decorated chocolate.  Amazing.  We then walked to the old castle at the end of the street.  We walked through it, which was pretty cool, and then on the other side there was this huge park.  We just stood there relaxing and looking at it for 15 minutes because it was so nice out.  So many people were just lying out in the park, playing Frisbee, or strumming their guitars.  Pretty relaxing.  If I had had  more time in Milan, I would have loved to join them and just lay in the grass for a few hours.  We then walked all the way to this other church where The Last Supper is held.  We walked through the church, looking at every wall and at every painting, and even after double-checking in a guidebook as to where it should be, we never saw The Last Supper.  I’m convinced it’s a lie and that they must’ve been holding it somewhere else because there is no way it was there.  Oh well.  We then just walked around the city some more and saw this outdoor gallery thing and the opera house.  We grabbed dinner at this little restaurant and sat outside and had a nice glass of wine and some pasta.  The weather was absolutely amazing.  After dinner, we just walked around some more.  Milan must’ve just won a soccer game because EVERYONE was going INSANE in the streets.  Every car that drove by would beep its horn 10 times and everyone was yelling and drinking beer.  It was a lot like Franklin Street after UNC beats Duke minus all the bonfires and people climbing on street signs.  It was pretty cool.  Absolutely exhausted, we then took the metro back to near our hostel.  The next morning I got up early and caught the train by 10:15 back to Rome (and then all of the buses back to Tuscania). 

awkward pic. but only one of just me and the duomo so suck it up

I AM glad I went to Milan, even though it was such a pain in the ass and I only got a little bit of time there.  It is a beautiful city, I just wish I had been able to fully experience the 'shopping' aspect of it, what it's really known for. Maybe if I had had more time there, I would’ve fallen in love with it, but my first impression of the city was just alright.  I left with a positive attitude on the whole weekend, though.  I wasn't going to let Italy and its stupid train strikes ruin my weekend!