Milan Nov 1-5

At Vienna Station we sussed out where our train would leave from that night, then found lockers for our luggage. Spotted a shady character hanging around checking all the lockers so waited until he was gone!

Then we trammed to the Vienna Museum and spent hours there. Among the beautiful art and ancient artefacts were confronting Holocaust exhibitions—powerful, harrowing, and deeply sobering. (I guess this should be in the Vienna post 🤔)

Back at the station, a Russian woman came up to Amelia and started speaking Russian. Amelia said “Sorry, I only speak English” and the woman replied “Sorry, you look Russian!” Funny, considering she’s 1/4 Russian.

We headed towards the train and an “officer” said “Not that way!” Then I went to scan my ticket and he said “Just go through,” which I did, but the others were holding back and telling me off. The officer said “Mamma mia!” (like “for goodness sake!”) mainly to Amelia. She was kind of chuffed someone said that to her – like when she sneezed in Vienna and someone said “Gesundheit!”

We collected our luggage and boarded the night train and into our 4-person couchette. We had to make up our own beds – Sean put the extra mattress on top of his because they were so slim. I wrapped the weird-shaped sheet around my mattress. Who knows what we were meant to do? There was a skinny blanket and nothing else, plus a tiny slim square pillow. Fortunately Sean and I had brought our own.

So eventually we went to sleep (well, Amelia and I did) and at 1am the light came on and the train stopped for a whole hour. The heating wasn’t working and the intercom cycled through its welcome in German, English, and Italian on repeat. We couldn’t turn off the light. I noticed an email saying there was apparently a “police incident on the tracks”! but no one else seemed to be around to explain anything to us. After an hour, the train started again and we could finally turn the light off.

Then at 5am the Italians in the couchette next door were laughing and talking at the tops of their voices. I banged on the wall. They just banged back and carried on. Fortunately they got off after about an hour.

When we arrived in Milan, we tried to work out the travel app but it wouldn’t accept our credit card or Wise card. There was an Australian couple, Chinese couple, and Indian family all equally confused. We decided to head out the exit and saw a nice hotel, so we went into the lobby to regroup. We were there for ages and eventually decided to find a ticket info desk and bought 3-day tickets there instead of using the app. For some reason our train hadn’t gone to the main Milan station but to a smaller seedier one where nothing worked and there was no information.

We finally got to our Airbnb – almost 4 hours after our train arrived.

Milan:

Not as groomed and beautiful as Prague and Vienna, but we saw the stunning Milan Cathedral (Duomo) – even more wow than the last cathedral.

Sforza Castle – very cool and tasteful medieval castle

Brera – the arty district with the Italian vibe we loved and gorgeous alleyways

Navigli – very cool district with canals and bridges, a little like Venice

Pizza. Pasta. Gelato. Cappuccinos. (Have not had one bad coffee in Europe – writing this from Croatia, 6 weeks into our trip)

So the last pic is something we saw all the time, a classic Italian tradition. When you order a drink (usually between 6-8pm and usually an Aperol Spritz), the bar provides complimentary snacks, and they’re often quite generous. It’s a social ritual, having a drink and something to tide you over before dinner (which Italians eat late, around 8-9pm). It’s meant to stimulate your appetite. We often see the Croatians (and saw Italians) having a lighter version of the Aperol Sprintz at Midday with their lunch which is their main meal. For breakfast they tend to just have coffee with perhaps a croissant (cornetto)

Another thing, Italians all seem to have Bidets. All our Italian airbnbs had one.

As we walked through the graffitied, run-down areas, Sean said he has to get his head around that just when he’s thinking “I’m in an area where I’m probably about to be shot,” he sees a child run past with a dachshund. Haha.

Poor Sean – sore feet with massive blisters on his toes. We have been walking up to 22,000 steps a day. (My feet are fine)

November 4: We saw Amelia off at Milan Airport for her flight to Singapore. There were tears from us all – we’re used to seeing each other weekly if not daily since we live 5 minutes from each other, and it’ll probably be 10 months before we’re reunited.

From Milan Malpensa Airport, we could see the snowy alps that separate Switzerland from Italy (at least I think thats what they were).

Luckily Amelia had taught us how to navigate the transport system, follow routes and signs, know which side of the platform to stand on, and what all the words mean so we managed to find our way back.