Ryan Goes to Italy: Milan

In keeping with October’s theme of “travel ‘til you drop” I booked a trip to Italy. The itinerary was:
Day 1 (Friday): Fly into Milan
Day 2: Milan/Venice
Day 3: Venice
Day 4: Venice/Florence
Day 5: Florence
Day 6: Day trip to Pisa
Day 7: Siena/Rome
Day 8: Rome
Day 9: Rome
Day 10 (Sunday): Fly home from Rome

I flew into Milan on Friday evening. Like most cities, the airport isn’t anywhere near the city so you have to take a 45 min. bus ride to get downtown. I step out of the airport to look for transfer buses to Milan and there were two buses. I was trying to figure out which bus to take when I figured out that one was 5 Euro and the other was 5.50 Euro. Guess which one I chose? I have no idea why one was 0.50 cents more. The cheaper one even left the airport first. The buses drop you off at the central train station. My first night was the luxury night – I stayed at the Hilton. All the hostels were booked and the Hilton was only $20 more than the budget hotels, so that was a no brainer. I had no idea where the Hilton was and didn’t feel like dragging my backpacks around looking for the hotel so I just hopped in a taxi and said, “Take me to the Hilton”. The taxi drove exactly 200 meters to the front door of the Hilton. The price for those 200 meters was 7 euro. I wasn’t too excited about that. I check into the hotel and learned from their room literature that you can call housekeeping to request special pillows. I tried to do this but, naturally, the phone in my room didn’t work. I was too lazy to go back down to the lobby to complain, but not to lazy to complain about it here in my blog. Like all beds in Europe – in both high priced and budget hotel – the bed was about as hard as a slab of concrete. The best part of the room was the shower. The Hilton could have chosen a simple shower faucet like every other hotel, but they decided to choose the “Mensa Approved” faucet. Turning on the hot water from the shower head was so complicated that the hotel had included an instruction set on how to do it. The instruction set wasn’t two lines either – it was about 7 separate things you needed to do just to get hot water coming from the shower. It was like trying to solve a Rubik’s cube. Eventually I figured it out, but not before getting pissed off that taking a hot shower was so complicated. The next morning I went down to the Hilton’s lavish breakfast. I double checked with the waiter that the breakfast was included with the room and he said, “yes”. After breakfast the reception desk said, “no” and Kat had to do a bit a sweet talking to get me out of the 50 euros extra they wanted to charge me. I got it taken off the bill and headed down to the train station to store my bags while I spent the day roaming around Milan. One of the things I hear about Italy all the time is “The Duomo.” “The Duomo” is always described as an amazing cathedral that everyone must see. Little did I know that every city in Italy has a “Duomo.” I saw 3 separate Duomo’s on my trip and all were impressive. Milan was the first Duomo. It is the second largest Roman Catholic Cathedral in the world after the Cathedral of Seville. Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome is larger, but is a basilica and not a cathedral – which are completely different … somehow. Although the outside was covered in scaffolding, the interior was huge, impressive, and many other superlatives. This was the Duomo that I thought a “Duomo” should look like. It was dark, cool and had a whole 16th century plague feel to it. In contrast, the interior of the Duomo in Florence was bright, airy and looked far too upbeat to be a real Catholic church. After the Duomo I went to the Ambrosian Art Gallery. The gallery, opened in 1618, is the oldest gallery in Milan. There are a few famous pieces there including Raphael’s “School of Athens”. I though this was pretty cool until I saw about 20 other Rapheal’s during the course of the week. I think there were only about 4 people total in the entire museum which was quite nice for me, but perhaps not so great for the museum’s accountant. Naturally I used my BU Student ID card to get a reduced rate ticket. After the Ambrosian museum I went to check out the Castello Sforzesco. The Castello is a big impressive castle that now contains various museums on art, furniture, archeology, musical instruments and a few others. I went to the art and furniture gallery where I saw, among other things, Michelangelo’s last sculpture, the ““Rondanini Pieta.” At one point in the museum I came to the end of a long gallery. There was a door at the end that was unmarked, but didn’t have any “alarm will go off” signs on it or anything. There was a barrier next to the door, but it wasn’t across the door or look like it was supposed to be across the door. I thought this might the continuation of the gallery, but I wasn’t sure. All of these galleries are set up to have the visitors funnel through on one path in one general direction. I walked back to ensure I didn’t miss a door somewhere in one of the previous galleries and I didn’t see one so I assumed this was the door. I went through the door and found myself outside on one of the castle walls. I saw a sign out there that said “Museum Continues” or something like that with an arrow so I was indeed on the right path. The signs led across a castle wall (with a great view of the courtyard) and to another door on the opposite side. The door on the opposite side was locked. That’s strange. I went back to the door I came through and that door was locked as well. I was now trapped outside on the castle wall. Most interesting. I looked all over to make sure I didn’t miss a door somewhere – nope, no door. When I was confident there was no way out I went back to the door I came through and banged on it hoping someone would let me in. One of the security guards was nearby and looked through the window on the door trying to figure out why someone was outside. I gave him a big smile and pointed to the door knob. He let me in and started to berate me for entering a restricted area. I started to berate him for not putting any signs (in English or Italian) noting that this door was off limits. I then noted that the barrier which was sitting off to the side of the door should perhaps be put in front of the door. I even took the barrier (2 poles and a rope) and put it in front of the door. He didn’t like that and put the barrier back to the side of the door. Whatever Mr. Security dude – you can do something that makes sense or you can confuse the visitors. Obviously confusing the visitors is high on your priority list. As it turned out I had to walk all the way back through the entire gallery to get out. Bizarre. After this little fiasco I caught my train to Venice.

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