Hi All,
Marseille to Nice on the bus. We wanted to get a bus to Milan but the only bus from Marseille was a night bus and we wanted to see the country as we travelled so took a short day bus to Nice in the hope of catching another day bus onto Milan. We arrived at centro Nice via the airport which had a 5 minute kiss and drop zone,a longer passionate farewell costs after 5minutes,and found that there was no bus for Milan and the bus the next day was full. Too bad for us. We squashed ourselves into a tram and headed to the train station and found that there was a train to Milan leaving soon so we booked tickets and hopped on only to find that there was no seat allocation or bag storage and the train was almost full of passengers so we had to sit out in entrance section of the train hanging on to our bags ,whilst sitting on fold down seat ,until the Italian border where we had to change trains. Sounds bad but it was alright.
The train ride was along the Mediterranean coast with the clear azul water, pebbly beaches, snow capped mountains behind and of course large beach mansions and palaces perched on the rocks and a philipino woman with a cute child, with a cleft pallet and big smile, in a pram sharing the space. The train entered a tunnel and stopped at Monte Carlo station where many of the people left only to be replaced by others going to italia. Once out of the tunnel we got a great view of Monaco and it’s tiny 1.95 square km principality second smallest in the world only Vatican city is smaller. The train stopped at the border and we had about one hour to eat our lunch and look down a road to an inviting beach but it was just too much hassle to move the packs. Got a stamp and posted an important document to Australia which was written on the bus to Nice. The next leg on trenitalia was better as we had seat allocation and bag storage before arriving at the massive Milan central train station. Went to go to the toilet at the station only to find it was going to cost 1 euro so went back out to the platform and hopped on a train on the platform and used it for free. Must be careful not to do this on trains just about to leave the station.
We got out of the station and had a bit of trouble establishing direction as the Italians had marked the streets around the area with the name of the plaza not the actual street names. Guessed the correct direction and wandered around trying to find a room for the night and went from 3 to 2 to finally finding a 1 star hotel before dark. Didn’t really want to be out at night as there was a vagrant African population in the area. Perfect and the right price. travel is stressful but rewarding without knowing where we will end up and a relief at the end of the day when it works out. The truth is that we would just pay more if necessary to get a room in a hotel if necessary.
The Chinese owned and run hotel and was remarkably good and a bonus was free wifi. With the windows of the first floor room open over the garden area, the bells ringing from a nearby church and the birds chirping with the sunset it was a surprise and of course a relief to have such a relaxing setting in a big city.The layout of the suburban block in which the hotel sits is quite interesting. The block surrounds back yards on all sides providing a sort of sanctuary of green within the city and also blocks out the noise. A big tick for liveability.
Next day.
We only set ourselves a day to look around Milan and it was too short a stay. According to the lonely planet this city wasn’t much of a place to visit on a budget but we found it to be quite interesting and didn’t spend much money at all. We even lashed out and bought something locally made in Milan according to the label but later we found a made in china label on the inside of our new umbrellas.
Plenty of window shopping on the way to Duomo. We wandered along with the old trams rattling beside us in the streets and the well dressed elderly Italian people rattling beside us on the footpaths. The buildings were so elegant and we found the entrance to a lovely courtyard and looking through the entrance and exit arches there was a statue illuminated by the early morning light. A little further along we came to a statue of Leonardo da vinci and the beautiful Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II with high cover and ornate buildings. This is easily the most impressive arcade that either of us has seen in our lives to date. Two young boys one on violin and the other on piano acordian started playing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and it seemed to suit the moment perfectly. . It seems that the Italians like doing things on a grand scale. Duomo, worlds largest gothic cathedral, took 600 years to finish apparently. It is enormous inside and quite an architectural marvel but dark and gloomy as usual and we didn’t stay too long as the devil in Vanessa was driving her out. We walked past the worlds most famous opera house, Scala, before heading out past some roman ruins and canals with barges and a proud family of ducks and ducklings to the Saturday Markets at Viale papiniano. Lots of clothes and shoes but alas no sensible hat could be found for Vanessa to replace her second lost hat. Reminds me that there was a hat that we saw earlier that was just made of feathers but it wasn’t her colour. Too bad.
We found a supermarket for normal people and bought 500g of Italian icecream, sat in a nearby park and ate it with out plastic forks which we had grabbed from the hot food counter on our way. It just tasted like normal icecream so next time it will have to be gelato.
Continued along to the Cenacolo Vinciano on the off chance to get in and see the last supper but there was no chance as the waiting list was 2 weeks. Only expected it to be a day so Leonardo Da vinci Last Supper was seen later as a google search on the internet. Too bad.
A little further along we found the Castelo Sforzesco and Musei del Castello which we entered through a side door and wandered around through the exhibition until security booted us out for not having tickets but it didn’t matter as we had already seen much of it for free. Wandered around the outside of the castle walls and came across a chapter of the Italian Harley Davidson club and their motor bikes at the fountain in front of the main entrance.
The price difference in groceries made it worth heading back to the supermarket on the metro after dropping Vanessa off at the hotel.
Next day.
Early start for the train to Verona. It was about 8am when we got downstairs in the hotel only to find that the inside door was locked, the front desk unattended and the lights off. No amount of knocking could raise the staff so it was that Hotel California feeling again. I ended up calling the hotel using skype to the front desk and waking the staff member, who once out of bed, finally let us out.
Bye,
David and Vanessa
