Milan, fashion capital of the world! 8 Sept 2011

This morning our train to Milan was delayed due to a fire on the line. Luckily we took the earlier train since we wanted to leave more time for Dominique to check in at the airport. We had to change from the regional train to the eurostar to leave earlier.

We made it into Milan central just a little more than three hours before his flight. We still had to take another train to the airport that is a further 40mins train ride. We were very glad by this time that we had decided on the earlier train in the morning. Vincent and I had decided to see Dominique off airport to make sure he could get onto the plane.

We arrived just a little under two hours before his flight depart. He checked in and soon was off through the custom. Wasn't much time to say farewell to another one of our travel companion.

The feeling is strange, we started off the trip with two people and now again we are back down to two. However it felt different now, as if the trip of two months has changed us already. I felt more seasoned as a traveler on the road, more ready to move on, more ready to keep going as we part ways. Perhaps another factor is that its not so hard as we know we will also be back home soon too.

I was hungry by now and we decided to eat at the airport before we head back to central Milan. We had lunch at Autogrill which served Pad Thai! It was made by an Italian lady but still tasted more Asian than much of the food we've had so far!

There is free wifi service at Autogrills in Italy. But much like McD, if the connection does not work, don't expect much assistance from the staff. I was actually blatantly lied to when she couldn't help me to say that wifi was not functioning that day even though I was obviously seeing the available signal on my phone.

On the way into and out of the airport, there is a little art display just as you enter the terminal. It was a little scifi but also quite fantastic. Mind you, the water sprayed down could be anything from plain water to disinfectants... who knows!

We took a train back to the central station after our lunch. This is another good thing about the eurorail pass, we were able to take as many of these trains as we like and not having to pay extra for the same day travel.
Milan central station is quite beautiful, some boutiques as well as other shops line the station. However it was a little bit more difficult to find the bus station outside of the building.

We had to walk around half the building before we found bus stop no. 60 which will take us to our hostel, Zebra Hostel.

The train and buses in Milan can be quite confusing as their stops are sometimes situated in the middle of the road, at other times they are so minimally marked that I think only locals know where each stop is.

The Zebra hotel is not located close to the bus stop. A walk of 15min down the road was required. We very nearly missed the hostel as all the signage the hostel had was the little Zebra on the window. What made it worst was that next to the hostel is a baby product shop, I just thought the Zebra was part of the shop's display. Luckily Vincent thought it looked too similar and we decided to investigate.

The hostel is another side of the world compared to it's exterior.
As soon as you stepped inside you know you are at a youth hostels. There was a bar, young people lounging around serving the net on their laptops. A disorganized kitchen in the background. Yes, we were at the right place.
This time around we are staying in a 24 people room. A bit of an experience as it is nearly the same as staying with a classroom full of people. We didn't know what to expect as we walked into our bedroom. Turns out it is a bit like some of the youth camp sites in New Zealand. A large room with lots of bunk beds and lockers. We were lucky to be allocated to beds close to a window as there was only one fan in the large room and I'm sure the room will be very hot at night as soon as it is all occupied.

Once we dropped all our luggage off we headed to one of the main historical attractions of Milan. The Piazza Castello.

We had gotten a Milano Card at the trains station that allowed us unlimited travel on the public transport for 72 hours. Therefore we took the metro this time to save us walking and to have a little relief from the afternoon heat.

We took walk in Piazza Castello, I didn't read up on the history of this place but it is a pretty grand palace situated in the middle of the city. The walls are high up with a large moat separating it from the rest of the ancient world. I can imagine the lions, tigers, panthers and wild boars that may have roamed the wide moat to scare off any attackers. In this modern age it seems to be the home of much smaller felines, stray cats wander the moat below.

After our walk we visited the information centre and got a map of the region as well as suggested places for visits. Turns out there is a large art gallery inside the castle for only three euros.

As the day was getting late we decided to skip the museum and instead visit the Sempione Park just behind the castle.

First some watermelon Granita to cool off. Delicious and real watermelon flesh blended into a cool (but not too sweet) ice drink. Simply refreshing!

There is a beautiful lake just inside the park from where you can see the Arch de Triumph in the background.

What is with the Europeans and their Arch of Triumphs? They seem to be everywhere!

After the park it was time for some dinner. But first we had to have a Stroll through the Brera district. The chic and trendy shopping streets of Milan where up and coming designers have their boutiques.

There were a lot of glamorous and fashionably dressed people walking around. Much of the boutiques were serving out champagne and finger food. I felt most especially under dress next to all these tall, skinny and fashionable women strolling on the street with me! We did not dare enter any of the shops.
Turns out it was Vogue fashion night out for the whole of Milan! No wonder all the fashionable people and beautiful people everywhere!

We managed to find a terrific chinese take away smack bang in the middle of all the action. The meals were only around 3.90 euros per dish! We got a nice seat just on the window and settled down for some people watching.

To go with our fried rice and noodles was LV, Gucci, Ferragamo and Prada. I have never seen so many big house labels displayed on the same section of a street. Zurich main street is nothing compared to Milan. No wonder it is the fashion capital of the world!

I was curious because even very young girls were toting a LV bag, is it cheaper in Milan or is it a requirement, a turning of age regulation to own at least one big house brand bag to live in Milan city?!

Well filled stomach wise with good old Chinese takeaway and well filled visually with terrific bag selection, we headed back to the hostel.

The hostel is a whole new place at night, as soon as the doors open we were greeted with the sounds of pounding music, neon lights. People were milling around holding beers. There were people dressed to hit the clubs tonight! It did not feel like a hostel at all. A very unique environment compared to all the other hostels we have stayed in.

Here is my description of the showers as I think it is a must to let you know all the gritty details of some of the more 'interesting' places I've visited.
Ok, so there are four showers on the girl's side. One with a massive open window in the stall. As it was the largest and roomiest shower I went over to see if I can close the window. Turns out there is no window to close. It is just simply an open gap in the wall. So I resorted to the next one. The stalls are so small one has to kind of squeeze and turn to avoid the door as well as avoid getting ones clothes wet by leaning against the wall. After this mission was accomplished, the next task was to actually close the door. I found out later this was not a problem on the boy's side but all the stalls in the girl's bathroom did not have doors that shut properly. This was a slight issue as the one i choose actually opens directly in front of the bathroom door which is kept open to the corridor.
Eventually I figured out if I hung my cloths over the door then the clothing weights will keep the door closed but will also get wet once I turned on the shower.
Turns out the latter was not a problem at all. The showers were on timer press buttons that dribbled water out for two minutes at a time. I had to press about three times before I actually had my hair wet enough to wash!
No wonder there was no queue at the only bathroom for two floors of people. I think a lot of the girls are taking extra quick showers just like I was or they must have found another alternative I was not aware of.

Complaints about the showers aside, this hostel definitely has the best wifi speed and the cheapest drinks at the bar!


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Location:Viale Regina Margherita,Milan,Italy

Parco Sigurta Giadino - Valeggio 7 Sept 2011

Parco Sigurta Giadino is a beautiful park in a nearby town Valeggio close to Verona. That morning after a breakfast at the hotel we took a bus from the train terminal as advised by the hotel staff to Valeggio.

It was a little difficult to work out where to take the correct buses. To us the buses seemed to be parked all over the place, it didn't help that there was also construction work on one side of the parking.

We eventually asked a staff who pointed us to station 32. When we got there 32 was in fact in the construction area. We were quite stumped as there was no indication of where the station had been temporarily relocated. Dominique caught up with another fast walking employee and got the indication that in fact the bus will just stop, well, in the middle of the last row of bus stations.

We were amazed and amused at his answer. We stood near and waited for the bus, sure enough, that was exactly where it stopped!

Once we got on it was well over an hours ride to Valeggio. As the bus moved closer the area eventually got more and more rural. Soon we were in fields and paddocks. Much like when one drives south out of Auckland.

The bus eventually stopped just outside of the main town square and we had to walk in. The day was already very hot as we walked around. Not thinking far enough ahead, we did not purchase the return bus tickets earlier and so needed to purchase our bus ticket back to Verona before we headed out to the park. It actually took us near an hour to find a place that sold the intercity bus tickets. You would think a small town like Valeggio would know where all the tickets were sold.

The ticket office was actually just down the road, But there was an interesting moment when we had to work out the directions of the locals as most of them spoke very little English.

Here are some of the interesting sights in the town as we searched for the ticket office. These are the bells outside the little church in the central square.

Just before lunch time we finally got the bus ticket and walked to Parco Sigurta Giadino.

Like most of these types of parks in Europe, it was originally part of a giant villa belonging to wealthy families. As time passed the property is modified and exchanged hands until it is open for public viewing.

The entrance fee was 12 euros and charges extra if one wishes to hire a bike, golf cart or take the guided vehicle tours:
This park has an area of 600,000 square metres. To cover all the grounds in one afternoon was just not possible by foot. The hire of a golf cart was 15 euros and the bikes 3 euros per hour. In the end we decided it would be cheaper and more fun to bike so we hired the bikes.

In actual fact we didn't go directly into the park once we realized we were biking. Had to fill ourselves up with some energy before exercise! We went to the bar just opposite the bar to have a panini before we start. It appears that most bars who have nice looking pictures of sandwiches displayed are in fact selling microwavable sandwiches. It wasn't bad, but for the price a snack bar does much nicer and fresher sandwiches.

Something else that was interesting for me was the multiplicity of these bars in Italy. By day it is a cafe for locals to stroll in for their daily shots of espresso, or simply 'cafe'. By night these bars are places to gather to have a glass of wine or for an Appertivo before dinner.

After the modest meal of a microwavable sandwich we entered the park. I can't remember when was the last time I was on a bike. I think it must of been in high school so I was a little apprehensive on whether I could manage. Turns out it was the same for the other boys too! People always say one will never forget how to ride a bike so we braved it out and hired them out.

I can now testify that this saying is very true, once learnt you never forget, but there was a slight breaking in period for all of us. I'm not going to say who, but some of us had a little difficulty getting started and fell off our bikes before we finally got the hang of things again!

Us just starting out!

Initially we thought it would be an easy ride as Valeggio appeared to be quite flat, but the park was part of the hilly region. Here is a shot of the boys going up the hill.

Scenic regions of the park.

There was a region in the park that housed animals, more designed for kids but it was still fun to get off our bikes and walk through the farm.

A chipmunk! For northern hemisphere people this might not be a big deal, but for a girl who comes from a land of birds and a the concrete gardens this is a rare sight.

More scenic park photos, this was the butterfly garden with quite a few different species of butterflies.

This was a hedge maze. We had a go inside each taking a different path. I found it more enjoyable as more kids joined in. The shouting and the shrieking of the children brings a whole new dimension to the hedge maze experience.

A pretty Lilly pond with fishes.

There was a castle we could see in the distance but couldn't find our way from all the paths in the garden. As we left we mentioned this to the man there at the bike shed and he tells us that in fact the castle is not within the garden but on a hill in a nearby village called Borgetto.

The day was still young, so we took the 20mins walk to Borgetto. A picturesque Italian village set on the backdrops of the roman castle ruins.

In this photo you can see the ruins just above the roof top. We decided against hiking up the hill as the day was too warm and there was still a long walk back to Valeggio town centre.

We took an early evening bus ride back to town. That night we had a lovely dinner in one of the Piazza. And tried the Apertivo with the orange liquor. It was not my cup of 'tea'. To me it tasted like orange cough syrup!
It was Dominique's last night in Italy and he actually shouted us dinner which was very kind of him.

As we walked back we notices a plaque we did not see before. A nice little Shakespeare quote as we crossed the old city walls and to walk to our hotel.

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