1st Stop : Milan

We left Moscow on the 23rd of January, a day after our final exam, OPX. The night before, I did my last minute packing and wrote down some phrases to be used for conversing in Italy. Turned out it was of good use! :) With simple greetings like 'Born Journo' or 'Ciao' did made the whole trip a lot more fun and entertaining.

The trip to Italy was taxing and tiring! It was the longest journey ever. This is the 1st time I actually backpacked to Europe. Last year I did my Euro road trip (car) with my cousin so that did not really count as backpacking. 4 of us were late for our scheduled train to Riga where we were suppose to catch our Ryanair flight to Milan. There was massive jam on the way to the train station and when we reached it was 10 minutes too late. I was severely worried that we might not be able to board the flight the next day because there is only 1 train a day to Riga and the journey was freakishly long, 16 hours to be exact. Finally a bunch of us resorted to checking out the bus station to see if there was any bus to Riga. LUCKILY, there was! One was leaving in 40 minutes time. We collected money and bought bus tickets just in time for us to go Riga. But we wasted 1600rubles for our unpunctuality.

Slumbered all the way to Riga because of insufficient sleep the night before. Finally we reached Milan airport. It was already 10pm. We decided to bunk in the airport and waited till dawn. Again, it was a torturing 7 hours of waiting. It was the 3rd day since my last shower. I was groggy, foul tempered, angry, and emotional. Felt so dirty but what to do, it was inevitable. Finally clock struck 530am and we boarded the bus to the central whereby we took metro to our hostel. It took us quite some time to find the hostel as it was well hidden. Not to mention it was cold and the jacket I brought with me was sufficient only to mild weather. Blame me!

Found the hostel but we couldn't check in till 12pm. We were rejected and were sent down the streets to freeze to death. LOL. Went to a cafe and hung out there till 12pm. I had my 1st meal in Milan and fell asleep in my dirty attire. At 12pm we could finally check-in and we quickly rush to the shower and got ready for our 1st day out in Milan, Italy.

Eurail train.

Croissant and milk latte.

First view of Milan downtown.

All ready.

Coincidentally it was the eve of Chinese New Year. Obviously there had to be a reunion feast with Chinese dishes! We found a Chinese Restaurant and decided to splurge for a day to remember.

Funny name for a Chinese Restaurant.

Its interior with Juan in the picture.


The girls: Lonny, Eekim, Amy


The scrumptious dishes! Not enough!

Satisfied with good lunch, we went to Duomo, the infamous tourist attraction in Milan. The place was beautiful.

The pigeons and me.

Nearly got conned by the Pakistani men standing around the area. They targeted on us because we were naive tourists. One of the men came over and poured rice on my hand. Pigeons flew to me and he offered to take pictures and snatched my camera away from my hand. Then they tried extorting money from me. The man demanded 20 euros just to have a few pictures taken. I was shocked but I did the first thing that came to my mind that time. I deleted the pictures he took right in front of him. He cried in frustration and left me alone. The rest of us got away unscathed even with the pictures intact in their camera. I was a little sad cause the pictures that he took were nice.

So guys be careful when you're traveling!

The kid with pigeons.

Was actually kind of scared they were going to peck me with their sharp beaks!

Beautiful balloons!

Some exhibition was held there with 4 temporary statues. We took with them.

The Milan Cathedral in the background. Beautiful church.

Live show.

Clown.

Duomo di Milano.

Picture session. Need skills to take pictures man! LOL

Poser Amy.

Again. More to come in future posts! Haha.

Stupid poses in front of the door of the Cathedral.

Imitating the sculpture on the door. Try finding the one that we posed for.

On a bicycle. Nearly fell down. LOL

The shopping street. HAVEN!

Some statue in the Duomo Square.

Milan Cathedral at night~

Snacks anyone?

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Young Street Performers.

We went to do our own respective shopping and I bought quite a few great buys! Went back to the hostel and rested early for Venice the next day.

Next up: The Romantic Venice!