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Published: October 23rd 2010
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impressive church in the centr of milan
Artworks inside dated back to the 15th centuries and earlier Milan was everything I had expected. Fashionable and expensive. It's the kind of place I would love to come back to and shop and eat in fantastic restaurants when I'm a little older. We made do with the time we had and the finances on board, still managing to sample typically Italian foods and enjoy the sites all the same.
We arrived at our hostel, the Hostel California - a name I particularly enjoyed. Again we had booked ahead, something we had become a little nervous about since Bari. Turns out this place was fine. It was run by two Egyptian brothers that had been in Italy for about 6 years. We found out on the second night that they had been operating as a hostel for a little shy of a month. That explained a few of the rough edges.
We booked a private room, it wasn't cheap but privates are always a little better when you are a couple and plus you never know quite who you will be bunking next to. The room was right behind reception though, fine during the day but when there is a 24 hour reception, party people at 2am is not
really the ideal situation. We didn't sleep much that night. The place is basically being renovated and so there are things that are missing, ie a locker room or luggage room for bags, these are keep in the reception hallway - which turned out to be our doorway. There's also not really a common room yet. There is one being setup upstairs but to be honest its just a place for the owner to sit and watch tv and smoke a joint. Which is fine but there's an awkward atmosphere when you are up there. The second night was the "grand opening" of this common room and to celebrate we joined the owner in a shot of courvoisier, something that shouldn't really be drank as a shot but when in Milan... We were headed out to a home brew bar but told the guys dwelling around reception we would join them for a drink later.
This home brew place was great although 5 euro a pint was a little steep for us, so we only had two each. I could have stayed as the atmosphere was great. Kind of like a rock/metal bar with a traditional English feel but
weird graphic design poster exhibition
About the mob. The translations were a tad off. Italian. It was weird but great. AC/DC was on the play list so I was set. By the way watching the bar tenders trying to poor a stine was painful. Instead of holding it on its side, the guy would sit it flat on the bar and poor straight into it, each time we ordered our beers we expected at least a ten minute "settling time" to ensue.
After enjoying a few pricey pints we set off to try and find some cheap dinner, it was at this point that we stumbled upon a Chinese restaurant that also did pizza and calzones. We took a gamble, for 5 euro each and partially plastered it seemed like a great idea at the time. We watched the young pizza chef make both a calzone and a Siciliana in their very own wood fired oven. We were a little skeptical having never bought a pizza from a Chinese restaurant before, the final product however disproved our skepticism. Both items were delicious - mostly the calzone though. I had clearly ordered wrong, a Siciliana turns out to be a tomato based olive drenched anchovies swimming, caper ridden pizza. A few slices in I
Ironic
This guy was flogging dodgy mafia produced fake DVDS next to the exhibition about anti mafia could feel the sodium levels in my body bubble at the brink. I was done. Blake, meanwhile however was having a love affair with his calzone.
Returning to the Hostel we did as promised and headed upstairs to join the rest of the guests. It was an interesting mix of Italian, American and us. The young American guys were really talkative and had obviously never traveled before. They were on their way to Barcelona for a few months of learning Spanish and partying. Another American guy was a little strange, a chunky balding Asian guy he came across as a little arty and to be frank arrogant. He lived in berlin so I guess that made him an artist.
It was upstairs, mingling with the guests that I first met Diablo! Diablo is the hostel California dog. He is a small blonde pug that has trouble breathing on the best of days, the cutest dog ever and affectionate too. Being too fat to jump he would nudge your ankles to pick him up for hugs, I was in love and wanted to steal him but Blake assured me he wouldn't fit in our backpacks. Damn!
The next
day, a little hungover we decided to try and make it to see Leonardo Davinci's 'Last Supper' which was based in a gallery downtown. I was really excited during the long walk down. We finally found the small gallery only to realise that you needed to book in advance, we thought OK maybe we can go book online for tomorrow, alas, the exhibition was booked up for the next two weeks. I couldn't believe it. I'd come all that way only to buy the postcard - that was as close as I was getting that day. Blake managed to sneak through the bookshop, which was actually the exit to the exhibition. He was convinced that he got a glimpse of it, I was certain it was a replica as it seemed to accessible. Regardless none of us got close to it, which was disappointing to say the least. To curb my disappointment, I ordered a gelato from a near by glacier place, this helped.
Lago Como or Lake Como, in English was the next port of call for us. We had decided to take the train out and possibly spend the day there. Again we hit rain, but only
a light dusting. The lake is pretty impressive though. It has an area of 146 kmĀ², making it the third largest lake in Italy, it's very popular with the rich and aristocrats too. Essentially the lake and the mountains are the beginning of the Alps, so you can imagine the beauty of the place. The place wasn't too crowded as it was off season, I can imagine the place being pretty packed out in the Summer though - lots of huge Summer homes adorned the slopes that surrounded the lake.
After spending a good ten minutes laughing at the gigantic swans that keep nose diving into the water with heir bums up in the air - we decided to scope out the other side of the river and grab a gelato. Again, the gelato was amazing, I cannot speak highly enough of it! Upon reaching the river bend, we happened on what seemed to be the finish line for a 'Milano to Como Lago' bike race. We stood around for a while and waited for the big event but it never came so we left and besides the commentators (who were at that stage commentating about nothing) were literally
screaming in a PA system and mixing bad euro dance tracks - it wasn't our bag really.
Having spent a few hours dodging the rain and listening to dodgy Italian PA systems we decided to head back to Milano. All in all a great day at the Lake, I will be back when it is Summer though, a tad too chilly for me.
The next morning was an early one, we had a 10am flight to Bordeaux and no cash for a cab so the metro it was. We cut if fine as always buy nearly missing the train to the airport. They come every half an hour but a half hour means a lot when you still need to check your luggage an go through security - you never know if the country you are in are going to be thorough or not with airport processes. Luckily for us, Milan was not thorough we sailed through security and bag check. We decided that being our last port of call in Italy for a while we would treat our selves to a slice of breakfast Margarita, it was expensive but oh so worth it.
All in all
we had a great time in Italy, a few dodgy moments but that goes hand in hand with travel. The food, the people, the sites all amazing. Naples and Pompeii a highlight.
Next blog: Bordeaux and du vin
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kyle
non-member comment
ease up on the cannolis blakey....