Tag: Italy

My camera did not go hungry over a few days in Milan

Hello my rabid fans, I am back! I know it’s been a while, but I’ve had a month of travel and location changes, in addition to trying to balance paid work with personal work (this is why I need to be independently wealthy, people). I’ve got a lot to catch you up on, so here we go!

As I mentioned in a previous post, in the middle of my France house sit, the homeowners were home for a week and encouraged me to take advantage of this time and take a trip. Due to proximity and my Italy virginity, I chose Milan.

The bus ride to Italy was super ugly

At first, I was going to do 4 days in Milan and 2 in Turin. Since I had to go through Turin on the way to Milan, it made sense to spend some time there as well. As soon as I booked my train tickets, though, I felt a little buyer’s remorse. I was going for too long, I was planning to spend too much money. I immediately starting rethinking some of the things I had already booked (lodging, transport, etc.). Some things are better not to book in advance, kids.

Since I am attempting to sum up 1.5 Italian cities in one post, I’ve decided to break it down into easy to digest sections. Find what interests you and enjoy!

Drinks and Fun

Aperol spritz and my free dinner!

Aperitivo, or Aperitif for you English speakers: One of my top favorite things about Milan is definitely the aperitif. This consists of a beverage, usually an Aperol or Campari-based drink. Upon ordering a drink, most places have a complimentary food offering that comes with. The quality of this varies from place to place. Sometimes they are just small things like olives and nuts, other times they are little cuts of pizza and bruschetta. At the better places, one could even make a meal out of it, as I did several times. Delicious AND cost-effective.

My Negroni Sbagliato at Bar Basso

I don’t remember what this frothy, peachy beauty was called, but hot damn!

Bar Basso: My first night, I went to Bar Basso, a place well-known for aperitivos. Toward the end of my first Negroni Sbagliato, it began to rain. Hard. I went inside and stood by the bar to finish my drink and wait out the rain. Well, wouldn’t you know that standing by the bar meant I could watch the bartenders do their work. They kept making this drink that involved putting whole peaches and Campari into a juicer and then topping the “juice” with Spumante. F my face. After you see a couple of these come out, you just need to try one. The rain was the excuse I needed. It was so frothy and delicious. Yum.

L’Ecurie: One night, I searched out karaoke, as that is a great way to start a conversation, especially when you have the cojones to do it by yourself. There were a couple of places in this one area of town, and I chose this one based on reviews. I was shocked to find out how pricey the drinks were (10 Euros for a beer or a drink), but eventually eased into it. After singing my first song, I met some ladies who were U.S. Army soldiers and wives stationed in Germany. We hung out all night and had very similar tastes in karaoke songs (Zombie, anyone?). It was a lot of fun. I will say that the KJ (Karaoke Jockey, keep up) was great in the beginning, but as the night wore on started ignoring certain people for others, which is what made us eventually close up and leave.

Meals

I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that I didn’t do the best job of hunting down amazing meals in Milan. My first time in Italy, and I botched it. I know. I know. Shame.

This was not great going in OR coming out, sadly

Ristorante Alba d’Oro: After my first foray into aperitivos, I went off to Ristorante Alba d’Oro because it had good reviews, but those reviews did not match my experience. The waiter was lovely and incredibly friendly and accommodating. The food, however, was not. I ordered the black gnocchi (squid ink) special and it was pretty awful. Mushy. Non-descript. Bleh. AND it ended up making me sick later (which, believe you me, really amped up my hostel experience). Maybe I just ordered the wrong thing, who knows.

Delicious dumplings

Ravioleria Sarpi: I had read that Milan surprisingly had a pretty good Chinatown. Naturally, I had to go and try the dumplings at Ravioleria Sarpi, as I had read much about them. They had a little window on the street where I was able to order very affordable and tasty dumplings. After sitting on a stoop and chowing down, I went across the way to a wine bar, and drank a glass of wine on the street surrounded by bar goers.

Ratana: I had read a bunch about Ratana, so I made a reservation so I could make sure to get my one fancy meal. This place was lovely, but I made a mistake in my ordering. Instead of going with whatever looked best to me on the menu (which was the risotto special, btw), I went with the saffron risotto and ossobuco because I had read on the internet that it was the quintessential thing to get here. Ends up that I spent way too much money, and I probably would have liked what I got more, and spent less money, if I had followed my own heart and not some internet person’s. What I got was quite good, but not $50 good. Lessons, folks!

Ossobuco and saffron risotto at Ratana

I feel like I kept missing out on the tasty spots to eat because so many trattorias were only open for lunch. I’m generally not ready for my big meal at lunch, especially if I am a tourist and am running around town (everyone knows this is kebab time). So, sadly, I kinda failed on the food front in Italy. Next time, I will be better.

Lodging

Koala Hostel: Don’t do it. Before leaving France, I had booked four nights at the Koala Hostel, which was conveniently walkable from Central Station. Upon arriving, I noticed quite quickly the lack of air conditioning in the lobby. See, the reason I booked this hostel at all was because Booking.com said they had AC. I thought maybe this was just the lobby and that the room would have it, but was disappointed when I got there to find a balmy room. I thought, ah well, maybe it won’t be so bad. I was wrong.

Unicredit Tower

That evening, I had one of the worst night’s sleep on record. I was on a top bunk in the corner. The room was stifling, despite the ceiling fan and open window. My roommates were incredibly clueless and rude. One dude’s phone started going off at 4am, playing the Rocky theme on repeat ad nauseum. Seriously, the song played on repeat for easily a half an hour. Eventually, it started up again and I just yelled “NO!” and then he made it stop. Oh, he could hear me say, “NO!” but couldn’t hear his phone blaring in his ear? Excellent.

THEN, at 7:30, his phone started going off again, but this time it was a different song. NO.

So, for anyone keeping score, I was unable to sleep due to stifling heat and impromptu phone concerts. To add to it all, apparently where I had chosen to eat dinner the night before was not the best place, so I had to get up to get sick numerous times throughout the night. It was a terrible night.

I woke up knowing I couldn’t do this for another night. At 7am, I was lying in bed searching desperately for other lodging options. I was hoping to get some or all of my money back, but even if not, being able to sleep would be worth the loss.

Bosco Verticale

I was fortunate to find a wonderful Airbnb for a good price in a convenient location, and the guy said I could come by early to drop off my luggage. I intended to at least cash in on the free breakfast before leaving the hostel, but as to be expected, it was worthless.

Of course, when I checked out, there were two people at the front desk. One was presumably the older lady that everyone had bad things to say about on the online reviews. I knew this would not bode well for my refund. I explained to the other girl at the front desk that the only reason I had booked this hostel was because it said it had AC online when it definitely did not. False advertising. Couldn’t sleep there. Could I get money back? Bla bla bla. She consulted with the older woman and it was decided that they could only refund me for one day (a whopping 17 Euro). This sucked, but I took it and went off to check into my life-saving Airbnb.

General Impressions

Streets of Milan

My first impressions of Milan were definitely favorable. I liked the feel of the streets. It seemed like a friendly, open, quirky place. At times, it reminded me of the feel of Barcelona. They had full service vending machines all over town where you could get food, beverages, supplies. Pretty impressive.

I walked and walked all around, as I do. I’m not particularly fashion-minded, but I started noticing fashion everywhere. Thanks to my trip to Milan, I am now obsessed with wide-legged pants, or Palazzo pants. Unsure how that would look on my frame (beyond experiences with wide-legged skater jeans in high school, but the aesthetic I was going for was a bit different then, as was my frame), but I am digging them so hard. This reminded me that I am such a little sponge sometimes. I started dressing better when I was in Barcelona as well. What did you do to me, Denver?

Basilica di Santa Maria delle Grazie, The Last Supper is in here, but I wasn’t allowed to see it

One day, I had walked all across town with the goal of going to see The Last Supper. I got to the little, humble-looking church where the famous painting resides, and stood in what I thought was the ticket line. Moments later, a lady came up and informed me and some others that we needed to have reserved a spot a month in advance to get in. Since I planned my trip just a few days in advance, this was sad news for me.

The Duomo was stunning and beautiful, as expected. Probably one of the more impressive cathedrals I have seen. It was so big, so ornately detailed. I spent hours exploring her in and out. I tend to really love cathedrals (and architecture, really) but this one was a bit different and I dug it.

The Duomo

Turin Snapshot

A fountain in Turin

I ended up only spending an afternoon in Turin due to being eager to get back to my routine. My first experience between the bus and the train station made me think it wasn’t a particularly lovely city, but on my return when I had hours to walk it, I learned differently.

Turin is a beautiful, walkable city. It seemed more historical and had a lot of impressive old architecture. I did struggle to find decent lunch, which is a bit of a theme for me partially due to siesta time and things being closed when I am hungry. The shopping also seemed to be really great, but as I am terrible at shopping and I overpacked for this trip, I did not buy anything.

The Shroud of Turin is allegedly in that box

While there, I went to see the Shroud of Turin, which is allegedly the actual burial shroud of Jesus Christ. It apparently has his visage and blood stains imprinted onto it and everything. Sadly, they didn’t actually have it on display where it could be seen. It was in a glass case that was covered with a shroud of its own. Despite this, there were people legitimately crying to be in the presence of this artifact, which surprised me a bit. Apparently they only put it on display once every ten years or so. I guess it makes sense that a 2,000 year old piece of fabric would be very fragile, but maybe if they’d let me see it they would have had a convert out of me. Just saying…

Transport

45 minutes at the rest stop was a bit much, but the view made it better

The bus ride to Italy was easy, though we stopped at a rest stop for far too long, resulting in the bus getting in an hour and a half later than scheduled. This meant I had to run through Turin in order to catch the non-air conditioned (eek) train to Milan. Besides drowning in sweat, this ride was also relatively painless. I also had the good fortune to sit across from a gentleman wearing a T-shirt with three check boxes: Single. Taken. In the garage working on my Subaru. Guess which one was checked? Dream. Boat.

Ouibus wasn’t bad. The prices were right, but they definitely did not operate according to their timetable. Since I changed my plans to come back to France a couple of days earlier, I had to rebook my ticket. They obviously ignored my requests for a refund of the original, despite it being outside the 48 hour window. Being abroad, I wasn’t able to make the phone call so I emailed. They never responded. So, I ended up paying for two tickets in the end. Not ideal.

Ugliest Bus Ride Ever

We ended up getting back to France way behind schedule as well (why did we need 45 minutes at a rest stop?). This meant that the train I had to get on back to Aix les Bains wasn’t a train at all, but a night bus. Since it was after 9pm, there was no one around the train station to ask for information, so I had to rely on signage to find where this alleged bus would pick me up. Long story short, the bus pick-up was moved due to construction and I ended up missing that bus as well. My host was all set to pick me up at Aix les Bains, but ended up having to wait for hours. It was incredibly inconvenient for everyone and taught me a valuable lesson about bus travel in Europe.

Lessons Learned:

Do not book travel in advance, if necessary.

Do not count on bus travel being reliable.

Always double-check signage, don’t be afraid to ask people around.

If your hosts seem put out by your travel, even if it was their idea, skip it.

Be wary of hostels… don’t book too many nights in advance… scour those reviews.

I don’t appear as young as I think. Two separate French men greeted me on the street with “Madame” instead of “Mademoiselle.” I generally think I am sprightly as fuck, so imagine my surprise.

Order what YOU like, not what the internet tells you you should.

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II