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Published: October 3rd 2006
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I Lav Milan
It's funny because 'lav' means 'wash' in Italian. So, after a long night of trying to sleep in a train, and not being totally sure if we were on the correct train, and of strange stoppings and random police boardings, fading in and out of sleep, and general lunacy, not to mention the entirely too recent memory of Oktoberfest on our minds, we woke up at around 0700 somewhere in the province of Lombardy, Italy. Our excitement, however, was short lived. As we neared Milano, everything became more and more dirty. We finally arrived in one of the largest and nastiest trainstations I have yet seen, where I had to wait around for what seemed like an age guarding our stuff while Eric changed in the bathroom.
Frankly, my first impressions were not very positive, apart from the melodic tones and overall animated Italian people, their world was quite disturbing. A large number of people were filthy, poor, and their surroundings insinuated that that was the way of life here. We somehow managed to buy a street map of the city and decided it was not 'too big' to walk to our hostel. Unfortuantely, we didn't know three things. 1 Milano is huge. 2. We were on the
Do not cross the tracks
It is pretty clear to me why it would be a bad idea to hang out on the tracks here. edge of it, and our hostel was somewhere in the middle. 3. Maps in Italy are more rough guidelines than anything else (a fact that would haunt Eric for the next two and a half days).
Anyway, we set out across Milano hungry, tired, and filthy. Our second impressions did much more to reaffirm the status of the city as disgusting, for all of Milano we could see was filthy, built in seventies architechture, and socked in with a thick, red acrid smog. After several hours, and a brief moment of wonder at the Cimitero Monumantale, and a nasty nasty Metro ride later, we had come to our Hostel. Here is where it is probably good for me into insert a small amount of information about Eric. Eric enjoys maps, perhaps too much. And as a result, whenever we go anywhere, it is up to him to figure out exactly where we are. In Italy, this was not an option, and because of it, I think he despises Italy. Also, he felt the need to point out (accurately) that there is almost no ethnic diversity in Milano, which is a little strange in a large city, i suppose. Fortunately
Cimitero Monumentale
This is a huge cemetary dedicated to the large families of Milan, and has some very elaborate monuments (hence the name). for me, I blended in rather well, and he stuck out like a large, red headed barbarian.
At anyrate, we eventually got fooded up and decided to give Milano one last chance and go into the inner city. Our opinions of it changed instantly as we emerged onto an immaculate Piazza dominated by the Gallaria Vittorio Emanuele II, Il Duomo, and a large equestrian statue of Vittorio II. From here, we explored the city to almost no end, and were only limited by the strange quirks of the Italian people that made the trip unique. Well, to me they made the trip unique, they just bothered Eric. For instance, two museums we wanted to visit were not findable. We walked repeatedly by them on the map, and still could not figure out how to get to them.
The other interesting thing I should say about Milano is that it is to this point the only major European city I have been to in which everyone feels the need to drive. Or at least it seemed that way to me, perhaps because the Italians are poor drivers. That is an understatement. We were on a bus and almost demolished
Vittorio Emanuele II
Mounted and ready for action! Also my 1100th picture on this camera... I would have pointed out 1000th if the picture was any good :) several parked cars, wherever you are in the street you can hear people railing on their horns, and these God forsaken scooters are eveywhere. EVERYWHERE!
What else? Italians are incredibly beautiful people on the whole, and incredibly friendly. These two men about our ages asked us to borrow a pen so as to write down something, after that we asked where a grocery store was. They didnt speak english or german, and we didnt speak italian or whatever else they knew. So the end result was that we
thought they knew where one was, so we followed them. They proceeded to ask everyone they saw for us, until they found one, and one of them showed us where it was. I mean showed us, we kept thanking him and telling him he had done enough, but he took us all the way into the building (we had taken this poor boy out of his way by about half a kilometer already by the by) and got us a hand basket from the cashier, since there were no available ones. We thought that he was going the extra mile to ask us for money or to rob us blind, but
Galaria Vittorio Emanuele II
He has a sweet Galaria, and McDonalds has the prime realestate therein. no, before we could thank him again he was gone. And all we did was let him borrow a pen.
Milano itself has quite an interesting story. It was settled as early as 600 BC by the kelts, and was incorporated into Roman Territory forcefully in 222 BC, where it was called Mediolanum. In the fourth century, it became a major religious center for the newly christianized Roman empire, produceing such greats as Archbishop Saint Ambrose, who in turn converted Saint Augustine of the nearby area. Also in this time, the Emporer Theodosius named it the capital of the Roman Empire (in stark contrast of Rome... which always makes a good candidate for capital of Rome). In the middle ages, Fredrick Barbarossa captured the city and decided to burn it to the ground in about 1160. And, in our interest as Austrian residents, it became property of the House of Habsburg in the sixteenth century.
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Deana
non-member comment
You make me laugh out loud!
I'm so glad you two are having this experience. I love your pictures and captions. You learned much here in your quest for the wild boar. I must say I feel sorry for Eric to have to learn that some maps are not accurate. Why would someone do that? Much love from Mom.