Milan to Venice

We cheated and took a train from Avignon to Milan. Being tired of France and behind schedule, we went to the Avignon and asked for a train ticket to Northern Italy: anywhere in northern Italy: Turin, Genoa, Milan. It turned out that we could go to Milan the next day, so we bought the tickets.

The ride took most of the day and involved four different local trains, since those were the only ones that (supposedly) allowed bike stowage. On our last train switch, just beyond the border of France, the train engineer stopped us and said that bicycles were not allowed on TrenItalia trains. We took the bikes onto the train anyway, since we had no other way to get to Milan that night. Once we boarded we were harrassed by another conductor. Krisztian and I put on our angry faces, crossed our arms, and blocked the door so that they could not force us off. After some arguments with a compete language barrier, a third and more nurturing/reasonable (read: woman) employee showed us a pace where we could store our bikes. We were on our way.



We stayed with our friend Nadia in Milan. She spoiled us with the fineries of life: access to a shower, beds, delicious food, etc. Being from Sicily, she doesn't really like Milan and was planning on leaving the city. Her diagnosis of the city seemed to be pretty accurate: it was too expensive, fashion-obsessed, and FULL OF MOSQUITOS. Of course, there were still beautiful cathedrals, castles, and all of that other European stuff. Still, I think the combinedl volume of Milanese mosquitos would fill all of these buildings. Imagine: middle-aged women wearing Prada sunglasses and Yves St. Laurent dresses trying not to scratch the itchy red bumps all over their bodies. And Vespas. That´s Milan.

Here's a strange thing about Europeans- they don't have bug screens on their windows. They have shutters, balconies, and every other window accoutrement, yet somehow screens never caught on. So people (I) get mosquito bites all over my face at night. It was the same in Avignon. wtf?

One great thing that I got to see was a photo exhibition at the Palazzo Della Ragione called˝Unknown Weegee.˝ Not only is Weegee one of my favorite photographers, but I got to see a lot of his rare works on the inside of a somewhat-renovated medieval palace: above the typical white walls were worn frescoes and vaulted stone ceilings.

Our ride from Milan to Venice was probably the most successful of the trip. With a flat terrain and perfect weather, we covered about 325 km in three days. We camped on the edge of corn fields, bathed in irrigation canals, and were sometimes kept awake by huge, noisy bats and other mysterious creatures. We heard that Italians were not so lax about their regulation of informal camping so every night was a little nerve-wracking. It's no fun to get in a tent at sundown and not be able to talk or turn on your headlamp. While I loved Italy and found people to be quite warm, I wonder why they have such a different attititude towards privacy than their neighbors. Every house has a gate, for example.

Anyway, I could go in but internet is getting really expensive these days. Check out Krisztian's blog for more more more!