Italy trip July 1, 2011
So it's finally happened, my mother - daughter trip with Lauren. What seemed so far away when we first talked somehow slipped through time between all the other trappings of daily life and suddenly I was trying to find a suitcase and time to pack. Daughter Lauren is so stylish and I worry that I will look too frumpy. But it's time to let go of all the stresses of daily life and to just enjoy the ride.
The day takes some interesting turns as we board the flight only to sit for an hour while they change out a part. Finally we take off and think we are on our way when the pilot advises that we have an engine problem that they are researching. They decide we have to go back to -Atlanta and move us to another plane. After dumping fuel for 20 minutes to lighten the plane we head back to land.
So we all de-board and are given our exciting $6 voucher to go buy a $12 basic dinner, then return to stand in line for another hour or so while they keep changing the plane plans. Lauren and I ultimately reach the front of the line for our assignments to find that we are traveling on separate records, so they split us. In order to be together we have to sit in the next to last row of the 767 in the middle. After a very frustratingly long day we at last take off for Milan at 12:45am.
We get another dinner on the plane but most people are too tired to eat much by then. Wish I could sleep, but the dream water we took to help seems only to work for Lauren. I get a few hours in, but then am restless, and muscles cramping. My posh little neck pillow won't hold air for long so I keep needing to blow it up again. I watched a cute Adam Sandler movie, and find that I am just thankful that we are safe and together. I finally figure out my user error on the pillow and get a couple hrs sleep before breakfast is served.
Sat July 2, 2011
We land in Milan at 3:30 pm local time and walk right through customs, guess they aren't too worried about Americans coming in to spend their money. We find the trains that will take us from the airport to central Milan for 7 euros a piece and hope that we can still find a train out of the main station to get us to S. Marguerite Liguere tonight.
We must be getting better at it, because we walk up to the boards upon arrival, find the list of trains leaving at 6pm which include our destination and see that one is an IC, so it will move faster. We head over to the ticket machine, book our ticket and select first class with seat reservation (as suggested by guide Rick Steves), get a quick chibotta to take on board with us, validate our ticket, the hop on the train in plenty of time.
Thought we must be handling things well, because by this time we have helped three travelers to validate their tickets, find how to determine what train to take, and to help assure another that this was the right train and he was just in the next group of seats. But the wind was taken out of our sails a bit when we realize we could not understand anything the conductor was saying. How would we know when to exit? Thankfully we had a cabin mate that spoke English and said she will be happy to help flag when we should get off the train. Then the last step of this journey leg will be to get the final three miles to our hotel and check in.
We somewhat lost the first day of our exciting European trip and yet it's all part of the experience, and we are already loving the exploration of the countryside. I find it relaxing after the long trip to gentling bounce along through the fields and towns, capturing the last of the sunlight while also capturing a record of our journey.
Work and household items and property management all seem so far away now as we move to a day to day existence for now. the sites we pass look surprisingly familiar in the corn fields, the concrete city buildings, and the wooded outskirts, yet offset by thinking very Italian / European like the many small cars, the many story apartment complexes in the city that all still seem to fit in a terrace and tiny garden plants. The weather is great, and suddenly the time doesn't seem so much of a issue as I begin to let go and just enjoy the moment.
Finally we arrive at our destination and figure out the not so obvious exit process. We agreed though that we prefer the local regionale type trains vs the IC because we are here about the journey, not just the destination.
We were going to wait for a cab but then after a quick review of ur map and conversion from km to mi, we decide to walk to our hotel. The Europa is a smaller hotel about a block off the ocean side tucked down a side street. But the price was right for a ritzy area, and we just Ned sleeping quarters while here. Good thing, because we can't do much moe than turn around once we set out bags down. Also good we are so tired because I think they put bricks under the bed.
We freshen up then head out to dinner at a local pizzeria. The main guy clearly prefers his local customers and to us on the back patio with some other non-Italians. But then we met Terri, a Canadian, who has been here for two years with her husband, but sounds like she would rather go home. She was helpful with teaching us some initial info for ordering in Italian and asked lots of questions. We get a hung from her when we leave and caio when we left - normally reserved for friends vs arrivederci for the more formal goodbye.
One good thing at the hotel was that the Internet was free now, vs the previous reviews we saw that said it was charged. So we got on Chris' Skype account and we able to call home. That felt so good after the long, arduous trip to let them know we had finally made it. I climbed into my rock hard bed and slept like a baby.
No comments:
Post a Comment