Milan

Christina and I decided to take a spontaneous trip to Milan, Italy this week. We had Tuesday off from softball and we still have Andi's car, so we figured a road trip would be good for us. Milan is about 4 hours away, driving through the Alps. I had researched google maps so we wouldn't get lost... but of course when driving in foreign country that is bound to happen.

We crossed the border from Switzerland to Italy just fine. Now they don't even pull you over or talk to you, the border patrol just waves you through, but Ch and I always get nervous when we do this. Our joke is to "act normal," turn our music down a little bit and put on something European sounding (not the American Hip Hop CDs we usually listen to), and give the boarder patrol a friendly head nod as we drive by. So far this plan has worked for us! I guess you will know when it doesn't because I will no longer be able to blog a foreign jail... ha just kidding.

The Border.

Our plan was to drive to the outskirts of Milan, leave the car at a park and ride and then take the metro into the city from there. I had read that driving in the city was a pain and parking was impossible so this seemed like a good option. While driving in Italy there are tons of toll roads.

The confusing toll station.

We tried to get into the lane to pay cash at the toll but then, all of a sudden we were exiting the freeway and on a different freeway going a completely different direction. Now, if we were at home in the Bay Area or LA, this really wouldn't be a problem because the next quarter of a mile would have an exit, we would get off there and then turn around to go back and retrace out steps. But NOT in Italy. There are exits sporadically at best that are not well marked, and when you do get off you are in some traffic circle with no clue which exit to take! We drove around for a while really not sure how to get back to the freeway which would take us to the metro station. All of a sudden I saw a sign for the park and ride that we were looking for in the middle of this random industrial area that I don't even think we could have found via the map I printed out. PURE LUCK. WIN.

So anyway, when we started our trip it was 6 degrees. No clue what temp that is but I know it is cold and not summer weather! We were happy to make it to Italy where it was a balmy 28 and def shorts and tshirt weather. Perfect for a day of sight seeing. We parked the car and took the metro into town.

When we came up the stairs of the metro station, we had landed right in the middle of Milan in the Piazza del Duomo. BAM, big gothic church right in your face. Yes, we had officially made it to Italy and we were very pleased with ourselves.

Ch went inside the Duomo, but I couldn't because I was "inappropriately" dressed in a tank top and shorts. I forgot that in Italy you have to be dressed modestly to get into the major cathedrals. That was a total rookie move that I made, even though I was the girl who carried Adidas pants and track jackets in my back pack all over Italy last summer to be able to see all the churches in the blazing sun. Oops. But oh well, I still liked seeing the Duomo from the outside...

We had lunch in the Piazza and people watched. Everyone in Milan was incredibly well dressed and there were tons of business people mixed in with tourists, although I didn't get the feeling that Milan is as touristy as other Italian cities. I heard people speaking Italian instead of English if that gives you a clue.

After lunch, we had no plan, so we wondered around. We stumbled upon a castle that I don't know the name of or the history behind it. We looked at it for a few minutes and then did what Ch and I do best when visiting big cities: we found the shopping area. Milan is known for fashion and we had fun checking out the stores.

When our feet were tired and we were ready to head back to Switzerland, guess what we found? The Italian version of Jamba Juice! I was stoked. I had a strawberry mango smoothie (close enough to Carribbean Passion from JJ) that hit the spot. Very cool. Thank you Italy!

Italian Jamba Juice.

Smoothie in hand we went back to the metro station and managed to find our park and ride after taking the wrong metro line three times! The line we needed to take forks off into two directions and the first time we didn't realize that and wondered why everyone left the train. We got a clue at the next stop when I didn't recognize the name. So we went back one stop. The second time we got on what we thought was the correct train, but then it turned out to be the exact same one we had just exited. Third time is the charm, I carefully read the signs, saw that we needed to take the second train that shows up at the stop instead of taking the first one we see. Good reading, Claire! (Better late than never)

At the metro station we picked up our car in the parking lot. I had no idea how much it was going to cost to park there all day, but I was tired and didn't care at the time even if it was going to be 100 euros. Money well spent in my opinion, but it only cost 1.60 euro for parking there for 6 hours! Not joke. Cheapest parking garage of the summer! And totally worth it because our metro tickets were only a euro too.

The drive home started off rocky. We had found the park and ride because we were lost, so when we got back into the car, we continued to be lost. Ha. Perfect. Finally after about 20 minutes of driving through residential areas we found one smallll green sign for the autostade. This sign lead us on a wild goose chase from green sign to green sign for 10 more minutes to actually find the freeway entrance. AND then, when we finally got to the freeway it went back toward Milan instead of the border. I was nervous, but at the last second before entering the city there was a sign for Switzerland, the road did a big loop, and we were home free to take the road all the way back to Lommis. (Well almost home free, we had to "act normal" one more time for the Swiss border patrol).

All in all, it was a fun day trip. A little bit long for one day, but Ch and I sang in the car, talked, laughed, and reminisced about the summer. We think it is funny that we are together constantly and still find stuff to talk about. Pretty cool to have a friend like that where you can be in Europe together, have nothing to do, jump in the car on a whim and go to a totally different country with. We have tons of "remember when" stories and I wouldn't want it any other way.