Hi everyone!
I've been unimaginably busy after our 5-day adventure, which, by the way, was more of a misadventure. Nevertheless, I enjoyed every bit of memory I have imprinted in brain. From our escapade, I have gleaned numerous lessons in life which I can never learn inside the four classroom walls. I learned how to read maps! I also learned how to act tough and look cool even though I felt so lost (literally) and betrayed by the whole world.
Our misadventure started in the dirty and noisy Milan Central station. My friends and I were looking for the Hotel which, according to the website, was located a hundred meters away from the central station. True enough, after walking a hundred meters, we spotted the lovely hotel. Before checking in, we decided to eat at the nearest cheap restaurant. The nearest cheap restaurant happened to be serving Chinese food. My friends and I love Chinese food, so we all decided to sit down for a bowl of noodles and platter of spicy pork with tofu. The taste wasn't what we really expected! And I can cook better! So you can just imagine how bad it was. We ate hastily because our taste buds could no longer stand the weird Italian-Chinese food. And I was also dying to leave because I broke the toilet flush. The flush wasn't working, I hit it hard and accidentally broke it! HAHA! I hurried out and urged my friends to move faster so we can leave the exotic restaurant.
Bringing our luggage, we slipped inside the hotel and presented ourselves in the information desk. Then our friend, with all pride and honor, told the staff, "Good afternoon. We made a reservation in this hotel." The staff glared at the reservation document. Then after a minute of scrutiny, he blurted out, "I'm sorry but this is not the hotel you booked." It turned out there was another hotel with exactly the same name but built in a different location! It was miles and miles away and we had no idea how to get there. We took the metro and got lost, then got lost and lost again. We were also fined for not using the correct metro ticket! We had a ticket but we bought the wrong one because we had no idea we had to use different metro tickets for different metro lines. We got used to the organized metro system in Belgium where we only have to use a single ticket for all metro lines. There were also no English translations in the Italian metro ticket machine (unlike Belgium). We tried to explain our situation but they never listened. It felt like they only wanted to get our money. And they did. Unfortunately.
In general, Milan isn't tourist-friendly. Very few people are willing to help. They don't speak good English and there are no English translations for many significant instructions. There are also lots of pick-pockets and swindlers especially in tourist sites.
I don't think I will go back to Milan again! I think it's the ugliest city in Italy. But I can't conclusively say that though because I've only been to 5 Italian cities. But yes, among the five, it's the ugliest and the nastiest. And I'm never going back.
Nevertheless, the best pizza I have ever tasted in my whole life was in the expensive restaurant somewhere in Milan. So when you go to Milan, try their pizza. Preferably eat at an expensive restaurant. They often serve high-quality pizza and pasta.
So that's one story of the the many stories I can share regarding our Milan misadventures. I did learn a lot of things which, at that time, nearly broke my heart. But now, every thought makes me smile. It was one hell of an adventure! haha
Good night Everyone!
