I. Venice (leaving for Milan)

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Monday, April 5

After three lovely days in Venice, it was time to head back to Milan, where we would be catching our plane to Paris the next day. We spent a leisurely morning in Venice, and walked around some more, taking one last cappuccino. I was sad to leave such a beautiful city.

We took the noon train to Milan. From the Stazione Centrale, we walked into the heart of the town. Milan has a very different feel compared to Venice. It's big, fast paced, there's actually cars on the road, and it's more modern. It's another world actually. In Milan we walked past churches and stopped in a nice park. The sun came out and we reposed for a while. Then we visited the Duomo which was awesome! It's the big famous cathedral in town, with gothic architecture that can knock you're socks off.

We went inside, and it was nice but I preferred the exterior. An old Italian lady touched me and said 'Si cobre, senorita, si cobre," which meant that too much of my chest was exposed. I had forgotten to make sure that I was dressed appropriately, because cathedral attire is often a little conservative. So I put my scarf on and then I was good to go.

On the way back to the station, we stopped to have gelato, though this one wasn't as good as in Venice. I had chocolate and coffee flavors. Before long it was time to head back to the train station. We still had to take the shuttle to the airport.

That was when we noticed that we had a problem. We didn't know that there was more than one bus company doing the shuttles. It turns out that Cyntia and I had tickets for two different companies! We went to the one I had bought from and tried to see if I could be refunded. The man was handsome and tried to help us, but they don't give refunds. SO, we bought my ticket again for Cyntia's bus company and split the cost. It was only 7 euro, but it was still annoying.

We walked somewhere close and found a pizza joint. I ordered a pizza with french fries on it, just because I saw it on the menu and was instantly curious. Somehow I didn't believe that Italians would murder a good pizza with fries. But they did. When we were walking out to leave, our waiter (who had been a pretty cool guy), came over. He reached out his hand, and I thought it was to shake my hand. So I gave him my hand, and then he pulled me over to him and kissed me on the cheek.

"How many nights you stay in Milan?" he asked.
"Erm, I'm leaving now." I said, as I tried to inch out from under his arm.
"You leave now?! No. You stay with me."
"No, we're leaving now." I said, blushing, and too taken by surprise to punch him.
He kissed me on the cheek, and then another time on the forehead, "You stay with me, bella. You stay with me five nights?"

I finally escaped and then Cyntia and I left. It's annoying when stuff like that happens, because I never react quickly enough. I think it's pretty rude to kiss and stranger, and I would have told him that if I'd been more on my toes. Anyways, it makes for an interesting story!

But on to the rest of our night! So, we took the shuttle from the train station to Milan Malpensa, the airport. It was small, and practically deserted. It seemed that there were a few other people who'd had the same idea as us. Cyntia and I got set up in a place where there were benches. The annoying thing was that they never turned off the lights! How rude--we were trying to sleep!

I took the first shift being awake, and Cyntia napped a little, then I napped a little. I didn't sleep, though, and once again the automatic coffee dispenser became my friend. Every thirty minutes a message would go over the intercom in Italian and English telling us not to leave our bags or take things from strangers, despite the fact that were no flights between 1am and 5am. Ug.

Time passed. Around 5am, things started coming alive and then around 6am, Cyntia and I went through security and boarded the plane. We were in Paris before 9am! Then we took the RER to the TGV and returned to Besancon. At Christine's house I met PJ for the first time, and he drove us back to the CROUS. Cyntia and I had about 5 hours between the time we arrived at the CROUS to the time PJ came to take us to St. Lupicin to meet up with everyone to go to Spain.

I repacked my bag, choosing to take my larger backpack for the next trip, and posted pictures on Facebook. It was nice to have a few hours to relax because it had been a whirlwind getting back and our vacation was only 1/3 over!

So, here's the ratings for the two airports we slept in:

CDG Milan Malpensa
Sketchiness **** ****
Comfortable Sleeping Spaces ** ***
Darkness **** *
Quiteness *** **

Overall Sleepability *** ****

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Photos

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last cappuccino in venice: do i look tired or what?

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Milan!

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in the park--it was getting hot!

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the tip of the cathedral in the distance

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the duomo (cathedral) of milan

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our plane cruising above the swiss alps as the sun rises