Last Lap Part 3- Florence, Venice and Milan !!!

I enjoyed touring the Uffizi, which houses such works as Boticelli’s “Primavera” and ” Birth of Venus”. I am glad I made the effort to stop off in Florence for just those few hours to see it. There were no pictures allowed though, so I don’t have any to share with you unfortunately.I had lunch at a little café and walked around a little bit. By chance, I ended up by Florence’s duomo. Then it was time to make my way back to the station and on to Venice finally!

Finally in Venice! Now on Venice’s main island, once you pass the train station, there is basically no way to get around except by walking or waterborne transport. So I took my first vaparetto (waterbus) and headed down the Grand Canal to my hostel. The location of my hostel was really, really good; especially for the price. Furthermore in comparison to other places I had been looking at on Venice island ( which at first had seemed prohibitive) and even on the mainland itself, it was definitely a good deal. I had all but given up hope of finding somewhere to stay on the island until I happened across this place. It was right near the famous Rialto bridge as promised; I could get there on foot in about 2-3 minutes. I checked into the hostel and decided to have a nap before going out to walk a bit. Even better, it seemed like no one else would be in the room with me (in a four-bed room) that night. Score again! I was even able to purvey an extra blanket from one of the unoccupied beds! Feeling refreshed, I decided to try to make it down to the famed St. Mark’s square (San Marco).

I decided that I was going to have a nice lunch that day. I ignored the protests of my inner budget watcher and decided to live a little. I was in Venice after all right?! I had lunch at a  little café along a canal, which is exactly what I was looking for. Somewhere that I could have a Venetian experience and not just a random restaurant. It wasn’t fancy, but very charming in its own little way. So I had a mushroom risotto and a overpriced glass of wine, but the ambiance was lovely.

Luckily, right near my lunch spot was a gelataria recommended Trip Advisor. So I popped in and had my gelato to cap off lunch as you are wont to do when in Italy J

That night I realized I once again had the room to myself. I once again took a trek to St. Mark’s, taking another route this time. I wandered around once again and too in some more of the free concerts before heading back. The next morning, the plan was to roam a little and get my souvenirs (which I had been scouting the best prices for on the days before). I managed to get some pretty good deals on the famous Murano glass jewellery ( think Pandora bracelet charms) and a few other knick-knacks. The roaming was made a little more difficult by the heavy influx of people from cruise ships and it being Saturday. The streets were crawling with tourists. This made navigating the narrow streets more time-consuming.

 I had been in contact with my friend Agostino (Ago for short) who lives just outside Milan. I had met him while I was studying in Bordeaux at the beginning of my MSc. He got in contact with another Erasmus friend of ours, Eleonora, who actually lives in Milan. It was decided that it would be best that we all stayed at Ele’s during my visit. So after Ago met me at the train station, there we went. Here beginneth the trials I had with my luggage. Since a particular instance during my stay in Rome, my suitcase had been behaving a little funny; now in Milan it all but gave out. We’ll re-visit this later.

That evening we met up with a friend of Ago’s and decided to do “Happy hour” Milanese style. Now Milan’s happy hour is one of the best things you’ve never heard of. None of that two for one stuff. Pay 8-10 euros, get any drink on the menu (including all the expensive cocktails) AND then there’s an all you can eat buffet.We then headed to where all the young, hip (and possibly broke) people gather- a spot called Coloné. After a while the cold started to set in a sitting on the ground drinking wasn’t as much fun.

The next day was time for the grand Milan tour. The Duomo is really something. I know I said the same about St. Peter’s etc, but the Milan Duomo is really up there. When you walk in, the height of the ceilings may make you gasp a bit. It really is quite incredible considering that construction began in the 15^th century!

We did all the main sights including Milan Castle, the city centre and of course the Duomo. In terms of sights, there actually isn’t that much to see in Milan to be honest. You could definitely get it done in a day. Ele had gotten up really early that morning for volleyball training so she headed back and Ago and I continued on. We had lunch in a cozy little pizzeria and then walked around to see a few more things.That evening, we tried an initial repair of my luggage, but that was in vain. Later that night, we stayed in and had a Spaghetti Carbonara dinner and played Monopoly Bordeaux into the night.

The next day I had to set off in search of a solution to my very serious luggage problem. Due to this, I had to shelve my plans to visit Lake Como that day. It was a pity since Lake Como was one of the things that had made me decide to add Milan in the first place. Such is life eh?

So the repair shops I found online were not actually official Samsonite stores, but just repair men that Samsonite approved to repair their products in Milan. Of course this would mean a problem when it comes to stocking parts. I think you can see where this is going already. The first repair shop I visited (that took me about half-hour on foot) said he could do nothing for me and I would have to wait about 20 days for him to order the part. Of course this was not a viable option. Let’s just cut this story short and say that Ago and I were able to finally find one guy across town who actually made an effort to help me. It was a temporary fix, but all I needed was to get that bag rolling again. That was a relief, considering that I still had roughly half of my trip to go still. That night we went out for a final pizza. I really enjoyed being able to meet up with friends who I had no idea if or when I would ever see again when we first parted. Even more evidence for never say never!!

 …and the next day I would begin my journey to Prague!  I took a train from Milan to Zurich thereby crossing Switzerland in effect and getting a peek at the Alps. I didn’t have much time in Zurich to spin around in the station before it was time for my overnight train to Prague. I had decided to reserve a couchette space (basically a bunk in a six-bed cabin)  and though I wasn’t as lucky as on the Mediterranean ferry, I was alone for a good while before the other two passengers got on. Anyhoo Prague itself will have to wait till the next post.

Stay Tuned!!