We finally arrived at our hotel - what a relief! The only issue is I am missing one large piece of luggage - MY BIKE! I have done my legal research now and based on the Montreal Convention, even if Lufthansa did lose my bike they would only be liable to pay me around EUR 1,100 - HELP! That bike has carbon Campy on it and a lot of 'chi-chi's! Any lawyers out there willing to help me. . . . . ?There wasn't much point in getting upset. I'm in Milan!Alex and I travel quite a lot, and quite well together. Usually our first day in a new city is filled with 'the walk'. Quite simply, we just put our shoes on and walk. There is no plan, no destination, we simply aim to get a feel for the city.First impressions of Milan are brilliant - beautiful people. Alex commented that it seems like the milanese men are more beautiful than the women! (Note to self: do not take future wife to a city where she makes comments like this. . . ). As we have started to explore you start to notice what makes this city so special.There is a surprising mix of architecture that puts modernism beside Renaissance beauty, and Rococo beside art nouveau.One thing we have already fallen in love with is dropping by a bar in the late afternoon and discovering a spread of beautiful snacks laid out - all you have to do is order a drink (or 2) and you eat for free!Similar to Shanghai, the beauty in Milan comes from taking a detour past the designer shops and chic boutiques and having a look at the beautiful green courtyards hidden behind the buildings. There are many surpises inside the churches, museums and cemeteries.
The beautiful tiny details of Milan seen here under the soffits of a local home
The Duomo - Italy's throw down to the gothic!
So! To get back on track - what do you do on your first proper day in Milan - GET A HAIR CUT! O.K. so I'm sure there were other ideas, but I went straight for a Milanese barber. In Milan appearance is key, so I wanted to tidy up. As well, you don't want to have a bad haircut on the podium . . .
I would like to introduce everyone to Mr. Tommaso Gagliardi! The man, the legend. . .
I couldn't resist the barber with the painted picture of the Venus de Milo on his sign. The shop was called Acconciature Maschili - Pulizia Viso -. Now I speak NO italian so we had to make do with French - I think this means "Mens Hair - Face Shave or Clean Face" and this is exactly what Tommaso gave me! We discussed that because I am too skinny that I needed a specific type of hair cut! He also explained that he had studied in Rome under a master coiffeur many years ago. The man was a legend - and lets be honest I still have 3.5 weeks until my wedding - I can stand a bit of a risk. When Tomasso finished he explained that the spiky look was very 'moderne' and that all the men right now are wearing it forward which was a terrible mistake. . .I should keep the spikes!Ok, I haven't worn my hair in spikes since I was 6, but Tomasso is a proper professional!From here we said Arrivaderci! And walked to one of Milan most famous spots:
The Galleria - one of the most famous shopping centres in Europe - check the dome!!
Here you can see the most recent and cutting edge fashion for some of the worlds top fashion brands. . . . . . .
As many of you may know I am spending the month of April in Italy. I will be aiming to bring you the sites, and culture of this beautiful country with a distinct caffeinated SV twist!
To bring you up to date on what has happened so far:
I arrived at Shanghai Pudong airport at 9:30pm on Tuesday the 31st of May.
I was dropped off by Mr. King the lovely lorry driver/minivan pilot who always assists me to move my bike box to and from various airports
I spent 35 minutes in a line-up to get on Lufthansa
When I finally got to the check in I was greeted with "Hi, What do you want?" (quite obviously I was waiting in a nasty twisting line for 35 minutes just to see your pretty face love - nothing to do with getting on a plane. . . .)
I was told they had recently changed their policy and I needed to give them $200 USD to get my bike on the plane . . . even though I was underweight (not me, my luggage. . . )
I told them that was a huge amount of money, and that I had flown with them before and had not been charged.
They told me that I could simply leave the bike there if I didn't like it. . . .
I paid $200 USD.
I arrived in Milan after a brief stopover in Munich where I was pushed in front of by almost everyone from Shanghai. Some of those who traveled with me even went under the barriers to jump the queue. This really upset the Italians who started pushing and yelling at them. The Munich airport police looked on like they had seen this 100 times.
When we finally got through the mayhem of the customs in Munich - our customs lady seemed surprised we spoke English. . . we literally RAN to our flight as it was scheduled to leave 25 minutes BEFORE we got through customs. Luckily we are both fit young attractive people, and running with 300kg with of luggage was good training.
An interesting fact: if you run around Munich airport, stand in line, are pushed and shoved and RUN to catch your adjoining flight for 3km's, you will find that your departure gate is literally BESIDE the one at which you arrived.
We arrived in Milano at around 9:30am in the morning after a beautiful flight over some of the most majestic mountains I have ever seen. The weather in Milano was a bit rainy, but it was a beautiful feeling just to arrive. . .
By the way. . . . . Lufthansa has lost my bike. . . . and I still don't have it. . .
Stay tuned. . . "day one - Milano" will be posted soon. . .
Gothic architecture at its finest at Il Duomo. .
Fresh rasperries from the market down the street from our hotel - offered up to us in a crisp brown paper bag to trap the freshness!
Extremely cool street art down an alleyway . . . .
Il Duomo. . . .
Pigeons near the church.
The FIAT Panda - a classic
