Nice to Milan

 Today is a travel day. I’ve really grown to love waking up in the same bed every day in a room on my own. It’s been a luxury that I am incredibly thankful for. All good things must come to an end and today that means going to Milan. Hardly the end of the world. I check the weather and decide that the world is indeed ending. Milan is colder than Nice and we’ve had a cold snap over the last few days. I’m tired of this nonsense.

I pack my bags and pop into Monoprix for one last grocery run. An apple, a sandwich, Perrier, and a croissant. I look at the prices and pause, why am I leaving a place where a croissant is one euro and a bottle of beaujolais can be obtained for five bucks. Residency may be simple enough, we can tackle that later. I indulge in something incredibly American. My local transport card isn’t going to be any good in Italy and there’s one ride left on it. I take the tram one stop from the supermarket to the train station. Feels good with my heavy bag.

I take the French regional train to Ventimiglia, the first stop in Italy and wait for my transfer. Once more, the language changes and I have a new culture to become accustomed to. After enough time in the sun to eat my apple, I board the Intercity train to Milan. This is a four hour ride and the seats are almost as comfy as what you’d get in France. The road from here to Genoa is a real oddball. When the tracks were initially laid out, no consideration for speed was made. Just getting anything going at all on this rocky and mountainous section of the Ligurian coast was enough. A hundred years on and the mostly single tracked railroad was proving inadequate. What was a slow and scenic ride is now a miserable trip spend popping in and out of tunnels. At least it happens faster.

Night during the day

A sign of the changing culture, people are starting to talk on the train loudly. Reminds me of the US. In Northern Europe you don’t even need noise cancelation to keep out other people’s conversations. Here people are shouting just to be heard above the noise of the car. Seeking relief I go to the cafe car which is a couple of vending machines in one of the wagons, better than nothing. Humorously Trenitalia has included an espresso vending machine which even grinds the beans to order. Even more humorously, it is out of order.

I step off the train at Centrale and two things stand out to me. This is the more breathtaking train station I’ve ever seen. It is absolutely massive with amazing friezes stonework. The second is that it is crowded. All the walkways are packed with people just standing around. While I wait for my tram to pull up, I do a little research on what to do here. Milan has been described to me as a small city with not much to do or see. Realizing my proximity to Lago di Como, I check on the Moto Guzzi museum. Only an hour away and free to get to with my rail pass! That’s where the luck runs out, it’s closed for renovations, the luck of the off season.

By 5 pm I was checked in and ready to have a bite to eat. The receptionist was kind enough to provide her local favorites. All of them were closed until 7, my first culture shock. Apertivo starts at 5 or 6 and continues until 8. I haven’t experienced this personally yet. But it seems like the general concept is happy hour on steroids. Longer, cheaper, more negonis. Can’t get mad at that.

I found an English language practice group on meetup and joined them for Apertivo. For them, a native speaker. For me, an opportunity to practice European English. Most importantly, the Apertivo experience. A Negroni for 11 euro and a plate of food so big it became my dinner. The food is free. Coming from the US where a good Negroni isn’t a given, this is a huge culture shock.

After two hours of yapping and a second Negroni I went back to my hostel to hit the bar there. It was absolutely packed full of young Italians screaming karaoke. Hostel bars are an interesting mix of terrible or great. It’s hard to find a good one. Mine is not good. I wanted to have a beer and talk to strangers, talking was not much of an option. Instead, I went to sleep.