Milan and an unexpected day trip to Verona

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Milan and Verona

My last breakie with Danni at Riomaggiore was had at our favourite bar centrale, where by now I am almost a local! Haha we caught the train to La Spezia, waited an hour for our next train and then blogges for the two and a half hpur trip to Milan. The only eventful thing that happened was my trip to the train toilet. The first one was "full" ewwwww, the second was pretty awful (like I would need a bucket of disinfectant to wash myself in after just looking at it) and when I lift the lid of the toilet I could see the train rails sweeping past through the hole of the toilet which didn't flush, it just emptied onto the tracks....I was shocked, and very grossed out at the lack of hygiene in such a modern European country. Also my carriage was packed and there was no room for my bag so the Greek guy next to me who was with his wife managed to pick up my 21kg pack with the 4-5kg backpack attached and lift it onto the over my head racks inside the carriage. My only concern at that point was how I would get it down again but luckily he went all the way to Milan. Navigating the metro to my hostel was a lot easier as Danni just took me along with her, a very helpful thing in such a big city.

When I got off at my stop I was a little lost and the directions were unclear, so I wandered along before I was directed by a lady on the street wearing some skimpy clothes and high heels (I did wonder whether she was 'working' the area) then I saw a few more women standing on street corners and wondered what I had gotten myself into. There were lots of ugly buildings in the surrounding concrete jungle which did not look like a hostel and I was getting exhausted. I am very wary so when I had an old guy stop his car next to me I freaked out a little, but it turned out he spoke English and was trying to direct me to the hostel. So I walked back the way I had come, to be met by another two shady types (I am overely suspcicious perhaps?) who also were nice enough to direct me to the hostel which I aparently kept missing. Then guy number one yelled out directions from the other side of the road where he had just reversed his car to be at the same point I was - was he following me?! I kept walking only to see guy number one in his car parked on the street in front of me pointing to the entrance which was around the back of an alley. I said thank you and walked as quickly as I could to the hostel. I was so suspicious but really everyone had been trying to help me. I spent the next hour or so catching up on internet jobs and organising trains and accomodation for the next 5 days as I decided to have 2 nights in Milan, a day trip to Verona, 2 nights in Venice before returning to Milan for my early flight to Athens the following day.

Milan sightseeing was then to be knocked over in an afternoon and an evening! I went straight to the Duomo to see the beautiful church and then wandered the beautiful big courtyard which was filled with tourists and pigeons. One guy came at me with a handful of corn trying to get me to feed the birds. No chance, yes I shall feed them as you steal my purse, bad idea. I walked to the nearby museums, had creepy old 50+ Italian men walk past me and lean in to say things like "yes please" ewww, and who knows what else in Italian. In typically Amanda style I managed to find the local gardens. I love green spaces, especially in big cities where life seems to slow to a more enjoyable and relaxed pace. Milan was no different with families, people playing sports and even a big screen playing the olympics. Ducks in the water, bridges across the waterways, couple snuggling, kids laughing, people reading, everything is delightful in a central park.

I walked past a souvineer stand and saw a postcard of a canal lit up with pretty lights which was aparently somewhere in Milan. I asked the guy where is was and he pointed toward the Duomo so I walked back to town to find someone more helpful. I found another shop with maps and discovered it was a few metro train stops away so I walked through the shopping Piazza's in Milan very quickly realising why it is a shopping mecca for the rich and famous. Although I thought it very ironic that Macca's was across the road from Prada. I found a technology shop and bought camera supplies before taking a metro to the postcard spot. Typically me fashion I walked the wrong way, up the street with all the locals until I got to the end and realised it was the street next to the one I had just walked up. I found a place to have dinner, decided on risotto Milan style (basically just cheese, not my favourite meal) and then succumbed to chocolate and pear cake which more than made up for the risotto.

I was so ridiculously excited to be going to Verona. I had not planned on seeing it until late November onwards so to be going there in summer was even more exciting. I have planned so much of my trip down to the little finite details it was lovely to be more spontaneous and try something new. I definately will be more spontaneous from November onwards when I don't really have set plans. I arrived at the station after a few debarcles with my credit card not working and I had also used the cash up on my cashcard and forgotten the number to my savings account. All this compounded to mean I had about 50 euros for 2 days, which was ok, just not ideal. I had no idea where to go from the station so I bought a map and souvineer information guide and headed off into town.

I found a park and sat down to plan which areas I most wanted to see before heading off to take photos of the big Roman performance arena where they had Opera on tonight (too late at night for me though). So I checked out the beautiful piazza's before getting my fix of romance which was really why I had chosen to come to Verona. Before I left Australia Mum and I watched "letters to Juliette" which as corny and silly as it was made me fall in love with the town of Verona, so I headed fo Juliette's balcony. The massive wrought iron gates that framed the entry had locks and graffiti all over them, as did the tiny alleyway which led to the house and balcony. It was beautiful to see so many declarations of love from so many people. Yes it is corny and more of a tourist attraction but it was sweet to see how many people had so much faith and hope still in love. I try not to be synical but I often feel like I am too negative about love. Today was different I could feel a sizzle in the air of so many people and I got swept along with it. Love locks cover the gates in the courtyard, and Verona council manages to keep thd actual walls free from graffiti and letters which would otherwise choke the building.

Supposedly you grab the Juliette statue's right? breast for goof luck so after I took my photos I headed inside to check out the house which had been turned into a museum. I paid $15 for a Verona card which then got me into almost all of the Verona attractions for free and wandered the tiny wooden stairs to the first floor. In the house there is really not much. There is alot of artworks of the lovers and also pieces of furniture from the era or from movie sets from the films. If I wasn't a Romeo and Juliette fan it would have bedn dodgy, but I really enjoyed it. I waited patiently in line to go and stand on Juliette's balcony and wave at all the people below (daggy but totally required) and then headed upstairs to see more of the house. I took a creepy photo of my head reflected in the glass cabinet where they had Juliette's dress from a film...it looks almost ghostly! Haha They had crocery, quotes fo the play, love notes and decorative tiles.

The cutest part was seeing four computers set up for people to write their messages of love to Juliette. There was one girl, about 12-14 who had a hand written note which she was trying to type into the computer but didn't have her glasses so was trying to argue with her mum about whether she could release it so they could co-type. It was sweet to see her internal debate about whether she could share it with her mum even though her mum promised not to listen/read it, and just type it. Eventually love won out and her mum got to type it as the girl read it. I felt inspired by her so I wrote my own letter to Juliette on the back of the heart decorated note paper in my souvineer Verona book and posted it to Juliette. It was amazing, I felt like I had a little ephinany immediately after I put the letter in the box and have felt better and more hopful ever since and not so synical. It is more than likely all in my head, however why ask if the outcome is positive?! Haha There was such a positive vibe of love and romance which had less to do with the venue and was more a catalyst for faith and hope in love, it had a beautiful aura about the place and being a romantic at heart I revelled in the feeling. I try to live life with passion and see the romance and joy in the little things so Verona's obsession with love, regardless of whether it was simply to improve their tourism, suited me to a T.

Next up I realised how many venues I had free access to and pretty much went nuts trying to see ad much as I could as most of the places I had earlier circled on my map where now free on my Verona card. My first stop was the giant bell tower which overlooked the entire city. I chose to walk the 364 steps to help my exercise routine (I loved the exercise but disliked how unfit I have become, I have lost alot of muscles) and all the effort was worth it for the view from both viewing platforms. The city, I then discovered is built mostly on the bend of the river and reminded me a little of Bern in Switzerland, but in Bern the river is a light baby blue due to the river coming directly from the alpine streams, here it was a little less clear but still beautiful. The hills that backed the city had a lot of older traditionally Roman looking buildings which were beautiful situated amongst the olive trees.

Next up was a tour through Verona's famous churches, and more churches, and then finally enough of churches! I walked over the bridge to the other side of town where I stopped at a river front restaurant to have a pizza and drink more water...it was seriously hot and I had got to the 2 litre mark at this stage. I continued to update my journal to pass the time while eating alone. It is not somuncomfotable to eat alone if you are being technologically antisocial. I walked through the Roman amphitheatre museum after lunch and walked up to the top of the hill which had an incredible view of the city. I stopped to sit in the shade and finish another entry as I had finally caught the inpiration bug to finish a big chunk of catch up work. After wandering thr museum, appreciating the view and artworks from so long ago, so much older than Australia's history I headed down to the river to find a picturesque spot to journal and drink more water as it was too hot to continue exploring.

Afterwards I walked to the other side of town to Juliette's tomb which was just a little disappointing because it had no plaques or special things inside, it looked like half of an empty cocoon. I walked back to catch my train to Milan and then sat in the hostel common room to organise Venice on the internet. It was quite late when I was finished and I was surprised to find my roommate, a girl from Scotland still up and waiting for me to come to bed. After 4 months of travel I have never had that happen. It was very motherly of her so I am guessing she hasn't travelled with hostels for long. I hope for her sake she doesn't wait up for all her roomies to get home, she may not ever sleep! I was excited and couldn't sleep....Venice in the morning! Sooo excited!

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