After a full day in Florence, it was time to head to Milan, my last stop on this trip.
Upon arriving at Milan Central, I was really surprised to see how elegant this train station is. I was not expecting that. You could seriously spend some time here just admiring it.
Even though this is my last stop, I am still staying near the train station so that I can take a shuttle to the airport. I am at Hotel Cristallo, which is a mere two blocks from the train station…if you don’t get lost. I did, as always. So it took me about an hour to get to my hotel. I wish I were kidding or exaggerating.
I checked into my hotel and was greeted by the tiniest room of my trip. This is in no way a complaint; I knew it was going to be this small. I picked it for location, price and that it had a refrigerator.
Despite having a full morning in Florence and an hour walk around Milan looking for my hotel, I wasn’t ready to call it a night just yet. There isn’t all that much (for me) in Milan. I had plans to go to the Duomo tomorrow. So tonight I just walked around aimlessly. At one point I found myself sitting in a dog park like some creepy dog stalker. I wanted to take pictures, but I had to draw the line somewhere before someone asked me “So which one is yours?” “Uh…none of them?” I also took pictures of some buildings I thought were really cool looking.
The next morning I allowed myself to sleep in, since all I want to do today is see the Duomo and I do not need to be up early for that. However, I am awoken ridiculously early by my internal clock. It somehow knows it is my last day in Europe and does not want me to miss anything. Go away stupid internal clock, there isn’t anything to see.
I found the Duomo without any problems (take the train to the Duomo stop, walk outside, even an idiot like me can do it). The first thing I noticed was that there was a huge advertisement for cheese on the side of the Duomo. I am resisting commenting “How cheesy” but really, come on now.
For the first time on this entire trip, I got accosted by a scammer! He wanted to give me a stupid string friendship bracelet and then ask me for money afterwards. This was so freaking annoying. I was trying to take pictures and he would not get out of my face. No, I do not want your stupid bracelet. I really wanted to clock him in the head with my camera. I now think that tourists less fall for this scam and more pay the guy a Euro just to get him to go away.
I went up to the top of the Duomo. This thing is incredible. I took way too many pictures, although part of that had to do with me being anxious to use my camera since I hadn’t really had a chance to in about 18 hours. My inner tourist needs its fix dammit!
A few pictures from inside:
Afterwards, I tried to walk around a bit. This place is jammed with tourists. There really wasn’t all that much to impress me. I am sure Milan is a place many people are in love with, but I am not one of those people.
Also, how cool is this? It is a conveyor belt for your luggage so you do not have to lug it up stairs in the subway station.
I went back to my room kind of early. It was my last night in Europe so I had a bunch of stuff to do. Make sure everything in charged for the flight, last time packing. Finding all my liquids and put them all together. This was all so depressing.
The next morning, it was time to say good bye. I am really glad I was leaving from the place I liked the least. It made me actually want to leave, which never happens to me on vacation. I tried using the hotel’s computer to check into my flight and make sure I have no one next to me on my flight. It would not let me check in online. This was so frustrating.
There is a shuttle from Milan Central that goes to Linate Airport. I believe it was only €5 . So incredibly easy.
Linate Airport is pretty small. It still took me a while to find the Aer Lingus counter. It wasn’t open yet and the signage is horrible. A lot of people were so confused by this. A lot of people were also wondering if we were in the right place since it was getting later and there was no one at the counter at all. Finally, someone showed up.
My flight home had a four hour layover in Dublin. I am sure I could have made it downtown for a little bit and then back before my flight. But I opted to just stay put. I didn’t need for anything to go wrong and me to miss my flight.
Arriving back in New York City is always the most depressing part of my trip. I hate it here.
Metered cabs from the airport to my apartment can top out at $70. I refuse this. I travel a lot. If I took a cab every time I landed back in New York, I would be spending over $700 a year on cabs. Hell no. I take the subway home, and arrive at 2:00am. Despite the late hour AND the fact I have to be up in four hours to go to work tomorrow, I sit on my couch and drink a super huge iced coffee. Simply because I can.