DAY 7
We checked out of the truly outstanding Barberini Hotel after paying the additional 72€ City Tax . Local governments around the world, including my home town of Annapolis, are constantly raising fees and taxes on visitors because it’s an easy source of revenue and tourists can’t vote. That means when staying in Italy, you always need to anticipate at least another 12€ a day tacked onto your hotel bill. And it can definitely add up during a long trip.
It was raining, so we caught a taxi for 14€ to the monumental Termini Train Station, which was only about a fifteen minute walk away. But schlepping our bags in the rain on narrow, slippery Roman streets didn’t seem like a good way to start a stressful travel day.
Inna had bought our tickets for the Bullet (Fast) Train in Business Class for 330€ per person. The trip to Milan took 3:15 and the train went 200-300 kilometers per hour (about 170 mph), quick-stopping about 5 times along the way. Buying our tickets on-line was a breeze. They show you the schedule. You pick your train. Choose your seat. Provide your credit card information. And they send you a pdf ticket to print or an e-ticket you can load on your phone.
We arrived at the Milan Central Train Station at 4:15 PM. The Italian trains are known for their punctuality and our departure and arrival were right on time.
Trains stations in Italy are easy to navigate. Unlike Japan where we had spent the month of October and taken lots of trains, Italy’s train stations are pretty much all the same. You walk in the front door of what is usually a very ornate terminal similar to Grand Central Station and are greeted by a wide assortment of restaurants, stores, and ticket kiosks before taking an escalator either up one level or down to the huge area where the trains depart. This sprawling boarding zone is generally a madhouse. The bullet trains are operated by Italiarail. You need to find the bullet train portal with its easy-to-spot, green and red logo, present your ticket, and walk through the gate. You are now standing on a large open platform with overhead arrival and departure signs, telling you where each train is going and from which platform. Keep in mind they won’t announce the platform until fifteen minutes before it leaves. But, no worries, because ALL the trains are right there; it’s just a matter of walking a hundred feet or so.
There are many websites that offer advice on how to travel by rail in Italy. Before hopping a train, you should familiarize yourself with how everything works, like the various seating options. We used Tripsavvy. https://www.tripsavvy.com/italy-train-travel-1547531
The Central Station in Milan is about a fifteen minute drive outside the city center — it’s a straight shot but way too far to walk with luggage — so we took a cab for 18€ to our hotel. Little did we know what was awaiting us.
When we gave the cab driver the address of our hotel he shook his head and said he couldn’t drive there — he could get us pretty close — and we would have to walk the last bit. We figured we were staying in a quiet pedestrian-only part of town, which sounded great. WRONG!
The cab driver, as usual, spoke very little English and as he dropped us with our bags at a busy intersection he pointed this way and that, telling us that we should take a left at the first block and then a right at the next to get to our hotel.
We walked the last 300 yards in a light rain through a maze of streets that led us to Piazza Duomo where there was a full scale riot going on with battle lines of soldiers and police in ominous black combat gear, like Roman Centurions, sporting weapons, batons, helmets, and shields. On a huge stage in the Piazza, angry speakers exhorted thousands of amped-up people of all ages, many wearing helmets and ready to rumble, on behalf of candidates running for the EU Parliament. Elections for EU delegates were coming up all over Europe in two days and tensions were running high in Milan. The crowd was screaming and waving their fists. It didn’t seem like it would take much to set them off, and more and more people were converging on the plaza, loaded for bear. The police and soldiers were looking jumpy and acting like thugs. And here we were, two hopelessly lost American tourists, dragging our unruly wheeled luggage through a crowd of people ready to unleash their fury. This was not good.
We knew our hotel was somewhere right in the middle of the madness of this loud and scary political demonstration. But where? And who could we ask? None of the security forces were from Milan and had no idea where anything was. And they had no desire to help us out.
Rather than stumble aimlessly through the hostile insanity, I left Inna at a busy corner by the Duomo Plaza with our luggage and went in search of the Visitor Center to ask for directions. And while I was gone, poor Inna almost got trampled by the mob, showing once again that no good deed goes unpunished.
The ladies in the Visitor Center were helpful but unsure. They had never heard of Rooms Milano Duomo, but we’re positive it was really close, which was good news but still didn’t fix the problem. It was raining and the demonstration sounded like it was spinning out of control. Where the fuck was our hotel?
It turned out that our hotel was not a hotel, but rather, an apartment building that was undergoing major renovation, so it was wrapped in a protective construction cover, making it impossible to find. And the sign for the place was less than obvious.
Inna called the hotel and frantically told the receptionist Christina that we were standing at the back of a large McDonald’s. She said we were very close and she would come and get us. Christina arrived a few minutes later and apologized profusely as she led us to our room which was spacious and bright, though the balcony window was covered in scaffolding and plastic.
We didn’t care. At this point we were safe. More importantly, we were ravenous and immediately went looking for food and drink.
Milan is a bustling metropolis, larger than Rome and Europe’s fifth biggest city with five million people, like an interesting cross between hard-working Bologna with its dark and imposing buildings and free-wheeling Barcelona with its tree-lined boulevards and picturesque roundabouts.
The Milanese look down their noses at the people to the South, including Rome. They consider themselves more sophisticated and cultured. And as the fashion capital of Italy, they definitely like to strut their stuff.
On a quiet back street we found a completely empty restaurant called Italy Restaurant where Inna conversed happily with a friendly Ukrainian waitress named Marina who steered us toward the nearby castle and told us about some other cool places to visit during our stay. We had the best meal so far in Italy and the beer and wine chilled us out after our hectic arrival in Milan.
Following our early dinner we walked down Via Dante, one of the main streets in town lined with fashionable stores and Milan’s multi-colored and ever present electric trolleys that rumble along the city center like prehistoric beasts. The overhead wires resemble spiderwebs.
We soon came to the Castello Sforzesco E. Museu (castle & museum), a ginormous red brick clock tower flanked left and right with black turrets and Swiss cheese brick walls. We walked through a gargantuan keyhole gate that led into the castle’s interior with its green lawn and football field-sized quadrangle.
Then we walked in a light rain through Sempione Park, Milan’s version of New York’s Central Park, showcasing the Triennale Design Museum, the Branch’s Panoramic Tower, and the Arch of Peace.
It was getting dark and we were really tired, so we walked back down Via Dante to the Piazza Duomo and snapped a few photos of the grand buildings before heading to our hotel and crashing once we realized that there were no convenience stores or small groceries like in Rome. So our plan to buy fruit, snacks, and bottled water to have in our room wasn’t going to work.
We decided to go with Plan B and begin the next day by eating in an upscale “fast food” restaurant where the food is already cooked and you pick what you like and then sit down and eat. It’s much faster, cheaper, and tastier, plus you know exactly what you’re getting. It’s always good to go to bed with a plan.
After surviving the political riot I was curious how the election would turn out. We never figured out what side the protesters were on. Were they socialists? Nationalists? No one we asked seemed to know. But the election results in virtually every country were the same, including Italy. The people of Europe are totally fed up with the Brits and the whole Brexit debacle. So, they elected people whose marching orders are to take a hard line and squeeze the Brits until they scream in pain. Keep this in mind as you watch what happens in the English and European parliaments leading up to the Brexit deadline on October 31st, which in an ironic twist of fate is HALLOWEEN.
Walked 5.6 miles
Insider Tip — Before checking out of your hotel room, make sure you haven’t left your 3-pronged Italian outlet plug. It’s easy to forget in the packing rush and without it you are dead in the water.
Insider Tip — As a general rule you don’t need to book any train in advance. Trains leave once or twice an hour between the major cities, so you have lots of choices if a train is sold out.
Insider Tip — Taking screen shots of tickets for travel or tours is a great way to get around the fact that while you might have a mobile app ticket downloaded in advance, it’s likely you won’t have an internet connection or cellular data at the train station, on the train, in a museum, or when you meet your guide in some plaza. And without internet, you can’t open the ticket. But if you have taken a screenshot and saved it in the photos section of your phone you’re good to go.
Insider Tip — You don’t need to buy Business Class seats on the train. It gets you a slightly bit better seat and a free water and snack. Bring your own snacks. The First Class seats are the way to go. The seats are plenty big and they recline. And when you select your actual seat when you book your ticket on-line, get a window seat. Second Class seats are cramped and noisy.
Insider Tip — In theory, there is free WiFi on the Italian trains. The locals definitely were able to get on-line. The rail company cleverly hides the username and password on your ticket. But we found it impossible to get connected. Nothing seemed to work. Maybe we are just simple minded folk. The point is this: you might get your phone or iPad connected during your ride, and you might not. I would bring something to read just in case.
