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We were eager to put Nice behind us and make our way to Italy. Our first hour long train ride was standing room only. I stood wedged between an emo looking Japanese guy with a bright pink suitcase and a Greek looking girl with thick black eyeliner, a low cut dress, and platform shoes. Dale was kept busy corralling suitcases, as at each new station more people crammed themselves on board. We were able to catch glimpses out the window of the beautiful coastline as we left France, passed briefly through Monaco, and into Italy.
We had a two hour wait for our train to Milan at a small frontier town where we had to again change languages for ordering coffee - although Italians seem much more appreciative of our Italian efforts than the French were of our feeble attempts at their mother tongue. In a perfect show of Italian planning, the enormous station waiting room had only four seats, meaning that the vast bulk of waiting passengers had to stand or find a spot on the floor to sit.
We were fortunate that we made it onto our next train unscathed - two tourists in our carriage were robbed as they boarded! Four hours later (thankfully without a grizzly child in earshot) we arrived in Milan. I had hoped to do some sightseeing in the old quarter of the city, but it did not take long to realise that the most fascinating sights are actually the shops and the shoppers! I knew that Milan was Italy's fashion capital, but hadn't appreciated how glamourous it would be. We walked down a beautiful cobbled street lined with the gleaming shop windows of Tiffany's, Roberto Cavelli, Dolce and Gabbana, and a number of Italian designers I didn't recognise the names of. Entire stores dedicated to fur coats, leather gloves, or fascinators. Around the corner Louis Vuitton and Gucci. It was Saturday, so shoppers were out in force. A whole street of luxury cars double-parked as chauffeurs waited for their employers to exit whichever exclusive store they were spending their money in. Dolce and Gabbana actually had a crowd of plebs outside with cameras waiting for whoever was shopping inside!
There were Cathedrals and grand buildings aplenty, but these didn't hold our attention as much as the goings on around us. A woman in a cobalt blue shorts suit and fluro orange stilettos walking hand in hand with a gold chain wearing Italian in pointy shoes. A teenage couple leaning against a church wall, passionately kissing, his hands firmly squeezing her bottom. A rock band set up in a square performing Chilli Peppers. Apartment dwellers out walking dogs that looked like shaggy carpet off-cuts with legs! We eventually found an outdoor cafe with one of those "misting" machines that sprays a fine sheen of water across the seating area to help cool its patrons, which was a welcome relief after all our walking in the heat. (Dale was also pleased that the beer in this local haunt was 2 euro cheaper than those on the menus of the touristy cafes.)
There was, of course, another Eurocup match to be watched that evening, so we went for an early dinner at an osteria near the hotel. We ended up being the only people in the restaurant! An artichoke risotto and tomato gnocchi later, we were still the only people at the restaurant. Dale joked that he had booked the whole place out, just for me! (We were still the only people there when we left at 8:30pm!) Either people in Milan eat really late, or it must have had some really bad write ups on trip advisor!
The following morning was a Sunday. Even if we hadn't known we would quickly have guessed from the church bells ringing everywhere, the sounds of Sunday schools taking place in churches we walked by, and the shops being closed! We had time for a coffee at a small footpath cafe (best coffee we've had do far!) before making our way to the train station and on to our next destination - Verona!
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