Hello everyone! We got back from Milan yesterday evening, but were too tired from travelling to post anything until now. So, without further ado, an account of our Italian vacation!
On Thursday evening we arrived at Baneasa airport, situated on the northern outskirts of Bucharest. I had never flown through Baneasa before: up until a year ago it had been closed for renovations, and at any rate only services budget airline flights. I wasn't really sure what to expect, and when we arrived, it at first didn't seem so bad: there was a central waiting area around which were clustered counters for the various airlines. As it turns out, you can't actually check in for your flight at these counters: they are used for purchasing last-minute tickets and other financial transactions (more on that in a moment). As we waited to check in, it became clear that only one flight leaves Baneasa at a time; hence, only one flight can be checked in at a time. When they finally did begin checking in passengers, S and I were aghast to witness a massive horde of people hurling themselves against the counters in an amorphous blob of agitated confusion. The geometrical concept of the line, so beautiful in its simplicity, so efficient in its course from points A to B, apparently eludes Romanians! As Blake might say, what fearful symmetry indeed, when there is no symmetry to be found at all.
When finally we reached the counter, the agent informed us that our baggage exceeded both the dimension and weight restrictions for carry-ons, and that we would have to go back to the afore-mentioned counter, pay an excess baggage fee, and then return to the agent before we could receive our tickets. Depressed, we steeled ourselves and began to elbow our way through the crowd to the counter. As it turns out, the baggage fee was not very much, but the back-and-forth was a pain. Needless to say, when we realized after finally gaining our tickets that we would again have to claw our way through the crowd, going backwards past the central waiting area to get to the security check-point, I began to feel like maybe the trip wasn't worth it.
As you might suspect, one departure at a time means that there is in fact only one gate at Baneasa. It was a rather dingy room with mysterious stains running along one wall. Despite (because?) the fact that smoking is banned in the airport, the stale odor of cigarettes clung to everything. After waiting for 45 minutes, they began the "boarding process," a term I use loosely, as it was less a process than a stampede, and we did not so much board at that time as get swept up into yet another human tidal wave, this time getting crammed into a bus. The bus taxied us to the plane, where once again a chaotic swell heaved forth from the bus, dumping people at the plane's entrance.
The plane itself was an Airbus, and the seats were large and comfortable. So comfortable that the guy sitting in front of me decided to recline all the way back into my lap. Maybe he was lonely. I was glad to arrive at Bergamo airport, leaving my new friend behind. Once at the airport, we easily found our shuttle-bus to Milan, and relaxed during the hour-long drive to Milan. The bus pulled into Milan's Stazzione Centrale, one of Europe's largest train stations, and from there we had a twelve-minute walk to Hotel Edolo. I will admit, at first glance I was not overly pleased with our room; it seemed rather spartan and cramped, and I contemplated walking out and finding another hotel, but we were tired and the room was clean, so we decided to stick with it. We asked the concierge for suggestions on where to go to eat, and he recommended a neighborhood pizzeria just across the street. It was definitely a place frequented by locals, and was both cheap and low-key, which made us happy. S got a vegetarian calzone, and I ordered a pizza topped with Parma ham. Not very sophisticated food, but for fourteen Euros we got a very large meal. Sleepy and full, we called it a day, and tried to rest up for a long day of site-seeing.
Friday: (S here-B was starting to get writer's fatigue) We woke up earlier than we would have liked on Friday morning after our tiring journey the previous day. Thankfully, breakfast was included in the price of our room, so we didn't have to find a place to eat. The hotel's breakfast was fair- two kinds of cereal, croissants, yogurt, coffee, tea and juice. Not very exciting, but we ate enough to get full and headed to the newsstand (called the tobacconist by Milanos) to buy tickets for the tram and since the tram was nearby, we were able to head directly to Il Duomo (the Cathedral) where we were meant to meet our tour group. We initially had some trouble locating our group, but we managed to do so and went on a 3 hour tour of Milan's highlights. We started with Il Duomo- a beautiful Gothic church with so many intricate marble carvings outside and in and beautiful original stained glass windows. Next, we toured La Scala- the famous Opera house and then we were taken to Sforzesco Castle, a building that was a castle first and then an army barracks for many years. In addition to being a beautiful and architecturally interesting building, it also houses several museums (ancient art, decorative arts, prehistory and proto-history, Egyptian, musical instruments, furniture, prints collection, and photos) as well as 3 libraries, all of which are free each Friday from 2pm-5pm. Following the Castle, we headed to the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, in which the original Da Vinci Last Supper is housed. Visitors can only view The Last Supper in groups and only for 15 minutes, but it was truly amazing to see such a famous and inspiring piece of art. While admission isn't expensive, reservations are required, so either paying for a tour that guarantees a view or booking early are the only ways to see the masterpiece. This concluded our tour and we found ourselves again at Il Duomo, something which would become a theme. Directly next to Il Duomo is The Galleria- an arcade of shops (mostly expensive- Prada, Chanel, etc) and restaurants that range from McDonald's and Burger King to a beautiful 5 star restaurant. Our breakfast having worn off and the rain starting to fall, we chose to get lunch at one of the more reasonably priced places. It was during this experience that we began to realize just how expensive food in Milan is and became careful about where we chose to eat in the future. The food was good and once we were finally feeling bolstered again, we walked back to The Castle Sforzesco to take advantage of the free museums. We were able to tour about 3 of them (Ancient Art, Decorative Arts, Egyptian) before 5 PM. We then began walking down Via Dante, the street between Il Duomo and the Castle, which is filled with shops and restaurants. We stepped into The American Bookstore and took a look around and then got a quick snack at a cafe while we tried to decide what to do next. We looked through our guide book and some brochures, and decided to try a restaurant offering authentic Milanese cuisine, which was recommended by our guide book. It took us a while to locate it on the map and a bit longer to find it for real. We arrived at the restaurant around 6:40 to find it closed. We quickly realized that it and other restaurants around do not open for dinner until 7 PM, so we started walking back to the main street instead of just standing in an alley waiting for a restaurant to open. In the end, we chose to eat at a different establishment. B decided to order a steak, which was fair and I had a Milanese speciality, saffron risotto. The risotto was OK, but I don't know what all the fuss is about. This place was sort of disappointing and expensive, which was frustrating, but the saving grace was the tirimisu, which was lovely. After all of this, we headed home on the tram and all but collapsed in the bed after our 12 hours of touring Milan, mostly on foot. We knew we had another big day of touring ahead and got some sleep.
To be continued ... B and S.
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