I have decided to ressurect this blog while I am in Europe this summer to give myself a place to tell the stories of my travels without becoming an obnoxious smug asshole on social media who people hate. So here it is friends, back and ready for action, my travel blog!
Today was my first day of this five week adventure and it started out with me in my apartment in Toronto getting organized and ready to leave for the airport. My friend who is cat sitting came by to pick up the key and so of course with half an hour to spare before I had to leave, the bolt or screw or something broke in the lock and it wasn't working. Fortunately, not only is this friend a cat sitting hero, he is also a tool-using hero and he managed to take apart my lock and make it work again all while I frantically folded towels and put clean sheets on the bed and tried to remember that the most controllable variable in crazy situations is the choice to panic, and I wasn't ready to go down that road.
But, fortunately, with a newly repaired lock and slightly more restored faith in humanity at seeing the peaks it has created in people rather than the valleys, I made my merry way to Toronto Pearson. In general, the flight experience was fairly easy and uneventful, though I was somewhat dismayed to realize that my "window" seat at the back of the plane lacked poorly in the window department. Instead I settled in for movies I wouldn't usually go out of my way to watch but get to have the excuse to indulge in cause it's on a plane and a bunch of fitful non-sleeping while I ruminated on all the things I could have screwed up but didn't or might screw up in the future but haven't yet in this here trapeeze jump I'm taking.
Landing in Milan, my first impression was that it was an airport and much the same as all the other airports in the world, only with a little more cigarette smoke than you'd be used to back on good old Tutrle Island. Making my way onto the correct train while trying to figure my way through a lot of Italian signs was somewhat panic-inducing for a moment, but again, I remembered to calm my titties and use my brains, and lo and behold I managed to get the right train into central Milan.
I decided I wasn't interested in lugging my giant suitcase (I shall henceforth call her Belinda) in the super hot weather while possibly going the wrong way with a phone with no Internet connection and a lackluster knowledge of how the buses here work and opted instead for a taxi cab upon seeing the posted sign informing me which ones are legit and making sure my guy was one of those.
I don't like being the shitty American sounding person who keeps speaking English to people, but that's also my own fault for not buckling down as much as I could have on the Duolingo Italian learning project, but at least I know some rudimentary words and can understand some stuff. I am hoping to work on this.
I got to my Airbnb and it was a picturesque building with a buzzer and a courtyard. And, cause Europe, 6 flights of stairs for me to heft Belinda up. However, my host is incredibly nice and she helped carry my backpack and I figure it's good practice because Belinda and I are headed to a lot of places together in these coming weeks.
My Airbnb is a stylist's dream, a gorgeous apartment with perfect decor, simple and modern and chic and lovely. My host is so nice, we chatted in the kitchen about travelling and she showed me a map and told me all the places I could go and how to get there. The only crappy thing was the adapater I bought at the ITALIAN airport doesn't work in Italy. Its for Germany. So I had to buy another cord for my phone and I don't have a way to plug in my laptop so the next post might take some time but I want to write things down while I remember them clearly.
I had a super hot sweaty nap because damn it's hot here and there is no air con, thankfully since then I figured out how to use the fan and its working to save me right now. Then I headed out to the Duomo (a huge church) and to see about getting a SIM card for my phone (no dice on Sunday at this time kid) but it was the first chance I had to realize how incredibly beautiful it is here and walking in the galleria, the domed ceilings were just breathtaking.
I met up with Coco and her Milanese friend Alessandro and we had a great time together. We got some pizza (so good!!!) and some gelato which was heavenly (they put white chocolate in the cone for me first!) and we walked around looking at all the beautiful things and laughing and telling stories.
Now I am back at my Airbnb posting way too much stuff on social media and probably annoying people that might not want to see all of it so I'm thinking about better ways to share that don't bug people or attract shitty attention to me from scary assholes (they're out there friends!) and I'm hoping this is a good way to start.
Tomorrow Coco and I are going to walk along the canal and get lunch, and we might see about going on a double date if that all works out! We have Monday and Tuesday in Milan and then I have to leave for Paris at an ungodly hour which I have to start figuring out how I will get to the airport for and all that, but it will be wonderful and it will be Paris!
No comments:
Post a Comment