Double Adaptoring It!

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Well today has been a crazy day. After rejecting a few things from my luggage and freaking out a little bit about exceeding the weight limit, I left the B&B to embark on my grand Italian adventure. I somehow did manage to make it through the airport relatively hassle free. It’s weird though, at Stansted they don’t tell you your gate until like 40 minutes before you leave so you have to sit in this communal waiting area which is kind of annoying. Especially for me since I like to go ahead and find my gate and THEN doing anything else I need to do, like eat and/or go to the bathroom. I have to say, the whole Ryan Air experience is kind of zoo-y. Is that a word? Maybe not. Well, to clarify, it was kind of like a zoo! There was one crazy line to board the flight. It was unclear what flight we were even lining up for. I was just happy that no one tried to weigh my bag… I am still not sure whether it is under 10 kilograms! After they tear off part of your boarding pass (no perforation… classy) you just kind of walk out to the airplane. That’s a little loosy-goosy too. Then you get on the plane and pick whatever seat you want. Then, get this, to make sure they’ve got everybody THEY DO A HEAD COUNT! I was kind of like WTF, what kind of operation is this? I feel more like I’m at SEP than I’m on an airplane! It was crazy. There were tons of kids… maybe because it’s half term holiday… I don’t know. There was actually a kid from St. Albans on my flight! There was one lady who seriously stood in the aisle for most of the flight. Oh and you can use your cell phone on the flight! I was kind of like, whoa, is this safe? I don’t really know… The flight was relatively short though and flying in was BEAUTIFUL. All of the craziness just sort of melted away as I stared out the window at the Alps and Northern Italy. It was at that point I knew that this was going to be a good trip 😊

Landing was kind of anti-climactic. They basically dump you out on to the tarmac and you have to get on these overcrowded buses that take you to the actual airport. I then got my passport stamped and went to find my bus. We actually got in a little bit early so I was able to take an earlier bus than I had originally planned on. The journey from Bergamo to Milan took about an hour. The area was largely industrialized but the backdrop was beautiful. In between pockets of industry little towns looked unbelievable glistening in the late day sun. The bus dropped us at the central train station of Milan, which was much less picturesque. My plan was to take a city bus to my hotel, but it was unclear where I would be able to buy a ticket or catch the bus. I stood in line for a bit at an information desk. However, before it was my turn the lady at the desk started yelling at everyone in line in Italian, which seemed to mean that the information desk was closing. Greeeaat! So, no information for us—too bad! I went into the train station, but it was still not apparent how I might actually get information about catching the bus. By this point I was beginning to think of just taking a taxi, however it was kind of unclear to me how I would do that either. It was starting to get dark and I had read in Lonely Planet about how pickpockets frequent the train station. And I knew that was not how I wanted to start off my vacation if I could help it! I have become very conscious of the fact that I speak basically no Italian, which is a challenge. I did buy myself a little phrase book in Cambridge, which I think was a good investment. I have been trying to study it a little bit.

The taxi driver I found did not speak too much English and didn’t seem to quite know where my hotel was (both challenges). We did manage to communicate a little bit and I did get to my hotel. Luckily the owner of the hotel speaks pretty good English. He gave me a map labeled with the hotel, major tourist sites, and the train station, along with a recommendation for dinner. (By this point I hadn’t eaten since around noon so I was ready for dinner! Maybe I had been unconsciously holding out for the Italian food that I just knew in my heart would be better than the stuff I’ve been having?) Well getting into my room was a challenge. I don’t know why European keys have to be so weird, but the key to my room is in a league of its own. I was like, oh no, I’m never going to get into my room and/or I am going to lock myself in, or something crazy like that. My room is kind of odd. The floors are marble which is not too cozy but whatever. I was a little confused about the bathroom because I couldn't figure out how to turn on the light. Luckily I have been in Europe enough at this point to look outside the actual room, which happened to be the correct assumption in this case. There is also some kind of crazy urinal looking thing in there which I don’t understand. But I also realize that if I don’t touch it I can’t hurt it, so that’s good.

The free wi-fi in the room has turned out to be sort of crappy/non-existent so I decided to give Mom a call on the real phone to let her know that I had gotten in okay. Then I really did need to go to dinner since the little mints in the room just weren’t holding me over. I headed out the door and as I go through the lobby the proprietor told me that he had just put through a call to my room. (This would be the daughter of a business contact of Dad’s who lives in Milan and had volunteered to show me around.) I go back up to my room and might have actually gotten her call if I could have gotten my door open in a timely manner. Sadly, that was not to be. Luckily she called me on my cell phone. However I we decided that I needed to go out and eat ASAP and that we would check in later. (Still, it was nice to get a “welcome” phone call 😊).

Then I finally headed out for dinner, ready for some of that fabulous Italian food I have been waiting for. I went to the place recommended by the proprietor of my hotel. Interestingly it was run entirely by Asian women (am not sure exactly where they were from). However, they pretty much had no English, which was sad since I have pretty much no Italian. It was odd though as I was sitting there thinking about being an American in Italy in and Italian restaurant being run by immigrants and then I realize they’re playing Justin Timberlake… very much singing in English. It was just very odd.

I have realized that A) I really do want to try and learn a little Italian so that I can use it and B) that I can get served despite of the language barrier. However, I miss being able to make small talk and jokes with people or even explain things in any sort of detail. It also made me realize that while there have been miscommunications in the UK (a la the “would you like me to knock you up?” encounter with Pete… who wanted to know if he should wake me up one morning, by knocking on my door I presume…) there is defiantly not more communication than not. Now I am in the mode of trying to communicate on the most basic level possible, and its kind of a weird switch. Anyway for dinner I had the margharita pizza and a carafe of white wine. They have wine on tap here… my kind of place 😊 I also treated myself to lemon sorbet for desert. It was kind of liquefied so I got to drink it with a straw—yum! Well now I am thinking I should head for bed so that I can get up tomorrow and go do some sight-seeing around the Duomo before I have to meet Dad back at the train station to go to Florence…so exciting 😊

The Next Day

So I woke up this morning and went down for breakfast in the hotel dining room. The proprietor gave me an email from Mom saying Dad missed his connecting flight in New York due to bad weather. So, he will get here eventually, but it is a little bit unclear when exactly that will be 😞 Hopefully he will have the sense to try and call me when he lands. The proprietor also told me that Italian daylight savings time went into effect last night, so I am actually up super early…great. I am so confused about the time now. I know I went forward an hour coming here, so I guess I have gone back an hour? So that makes me the same as I was before? Still 5 hours off of US east coast time? To add to the fun, I think British daylight savings time goes into effect the first night I get back. Well I think now I am going to pack up my stuff and get going. Sightseeing with my luggage in tow should be super fun!

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Photos

Milan Duomo
In Italy, all of the cathedrals are called duomos

Photo 10
only in our crazy world could you have Prada, Louis Vuitton, and MacDonalds all in the same plaza! There were SO many MacDonalds in Italy (even signs on the street telling where to find the closest ones)--those Italians love them some American fast food!