We arrived in Milan to lovely hot weather again, looking for some super cheap accommodation Zac had found that was supposedly near the train station. After walking for about an hour with our stuff, my fun tank was empty and I whinged a lot. The best part was when Zac told me to start looking for a one star hotel. I LOLed a bit but let Zac off because I was being a whingeburger.
We found the place eventually, It was pretty simple but good for what we needed. The lady who owned it spoke absolutely no English and kind of hovered the whole time. Whenever we got up to leave, she would run out into the hallway. Whenever we got back, she was there. Every single time. We would uncomfortably exchange a few words in Italian, and she would watch us until we left. Pretty freaking creepy. Ironically the only time we didn't see her was when we checked out and had to instead wake up some old Italian guy with photos of him and a monkey on his wall. Actually.
We went for a wander down the main street where I’m pretty sure I set a few fashion trends.
I wasn't sure what to think about Milan, All I knew was that it was about fashion, but I was surprised to find out that I loved the place. It was sort of like a cooler, cleaner version of Sydney, Paris, Melbourne and Wellington combined. Probably a terrible example, but it was great, like those places I just mentioned.
We walked down the street and heard music pumping and people crowding out of a cafe. It was called "Salt and Tobacco" and it was going off- so many people spilling onto the streets. You paid $5 and got a drink and heaps of finger food (they do that in most bars in Italy- the food is awesome good food, not just crisps). We hung out there for a while, wishing that there was stuff like this in Sydney, but stupid OSH wouldn't let you. There were a number of girls smoking thin cigarettes and apparently they were flavoured. I thought that sounded exciting and European- like Shisha in the Middle East. I bought some called "Sunshine". Didn't get through the pack, funnily enough.
We wandered on and found another great little bar called Vinile, a sort of vinyl/retro/comic book/stereo themed bar. The staff were awesome and I had an amazing beer called a "Vudu" that was served in a sort of low glass bowl. We stayed there late, eating crisps and talking. A good night.
The next day a lady tried to beg Zac for money for about 10 mins. She talked for ages about how her child needs food, and then started asking for cigarettes. For her child? Not sure. Breakfast in Italy is great; we'd each get a Custard type croissant and 2 coffees each for 3.20Euros. So good. So cheap.
FUN FACT: Zac sneezes in rubbish bins. He actually runs towards a bin when he's about to sneeze. LOL
We played ice-cream bingo a couple of times which was great fun- we couldn't understand the flavours at all because they were fancy specialty ones. So we deliberately chose ones we didn't know and saw who won. Hazelnut and specialty Grapefruit don't work. Zac got some sort of chocolate and a nutty one, gutted that he beat me.
We wandered around looking for the Duomo, which I knew I’d seen before but couldn't remember what it looked like, as my last Italy trip I saw a lot of churches, museums etc. We wandered around a square for ages, me being convinced it was an art gallery and ignoring the GIANT church in front of us...that turned out to be the Duomo. Thank goodness I didn’t ask someone where the Duomo was while we were in the square outside.
We went to some local markets, ones you imagine- absolutely crowded and busy; people calling out prices and products, people pushing, bustling, and trying to get the best deal on a knock-off t-shirt or bowl of olives. It was fun at first, then I wanted to yell at everyone because they kept shoving me.
FUN FACT: people in Italy queue really close to you. Uncomfortably close.
We walked through a big park where some kids where playing kid's Olympics and a homeless man slept. We'd walked past a coffee show earlier and saw that there were special coffees advertised.
I asked for the coffee called the Bronx. Gotta get back to my roots you know? Don't be fooled by these rocks that I got. I'm still Catherine from Torbay. YEAH BOIIIII
It was disgusting, full of cream and sugar. Plus it cost about 4 times the cost of a normal coffee and I’m pretty sure everyone there (including and especially Zac) were laughing at me trying to eat/drink it without looking stupid. Pretty sure I failed.
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Our last day we packed up our bags and waited at a bus stop to take us to the airport. While we were waiting, an old lady came up and started speaking loudly and gesturing to us with a smile on her face. I thought she was telling us to come to her launderette, but after some time we realised she was telling us that the bus doesn't stop there and we needed to walk. She then asked us about where we lived, where we'd been...all in Italian, with us saying "bella, bella!" and "belissimo" because that's what they do on TV. Totally worked. Turns out I’m pretty much fluent in Italian.
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