Day 4 (30 May)

Today was a transition day, and those are always messy. This one included doing a run to the laundromat, making sure the flat was left in good condition, and getting evacuated from the Gare de Lyon (and a pretty shambolic evacuation it was too -- good job it apparently turned out to be a false alarm...).

But there were some treats.

A walk through the lovely area around Rue de Mouzaia was one. Its narrow walkways climb the hill very prettily, and there seems to be an agreement that if you live in one of the houses that border them, you cultivate plants that will tumble exuberantly over the fences on either side.





An almond croissant was another of the day's highlights...

And the Gare de Lyon is itself pretty impressive, even if the Hall of Frescoes is being renovated, and we can only afford to stare in at the famous Train Bleu restaurant.




The train we were catching was the Thello sleeper to Milan, and we'd booked couchettes in a 6-berth compartment. I'm not sure whether we just didn't realize we had options, or were seduced by the price (very good value, especially as you save on a night's accommodation), or had memories of 6-berth compartments in Chinese trains. But if I was doing this journey again, I'd heed the advice from the expert, and book a berth in the 4-berth configuration (exactly the same compartments, just with fewer berths in action, and therefore more expensive). Italian trains are significantly less roomy than their Chinese equivalents, and six people in this space means that you are constantly ducking out of each other's way.



Otherwise, no complaints. They take your passport just after leaving Paris, to avoid waking you up for the border. They provide a pillow, a dinky little sheet (you think: "this is so tiny, and it will never stay on" -- but it's fine, and it does), and a blanket (although with six people in this small space, you don't really need it). And you do sleep at least a reasonable proportion of the night.

Day 5 (31 May)

Your passports come back 30 minutes out of Milan. This gives you time to eat the fig jam sandwiches you have brought with you from Paris, while enjoying the passing vistas of rice fields (yes, really), bell towers, and -- as you roll into Milan almost exactly on time at 6 am in the morning -- the shiny buildings of the Porta Nuova district.

Back in Italy... The last time I was in Milan, I was celebrating (slightly late) my 21st birthday, so that was huh-huh-hmmm years ago... Milan and environs were the last leg in a mega-tour of northern Italy that I undertook with a friend when we were both students in Germany. The whole thing was definitely one of the formative experiences of my life. I returned to Italy in 1983 for a beach-package-plus-elective-excursions with another friend. My last visit, a working trip, was in 1994 for the Bologna Book Fair. So it's been a while...

Airbnb, although admirable, has one big disadvantage for travellers arriving early. If you're staying at a hotel, you can usually at the very least drop your bags, and sometimes they'll even manage to find an early room for you. With Airbnb, that's not so easy. We couldn't access our apartment key until 1 pm. So we had to pay a stonking EUR 14 to leave our two rucksacks at the station until 12.30.

But never mind. We saw a lot of interesting things in those few hours.

1.
Strolling the station

It's easy to see why Milano Centrale station, inspired by the Baths of Caracalla in ancient Rome, and inaugurated in 1931, garners descriptors such as "megalomaniac", "pompous", and "muscular".





2.
Hitting the bar (Italian-style)

Having ordered a "caffe lungo", we remembered what it was (a still terribly tiny coffee -- but bigger than an espresso, really good, and only EUR 1 each).

3.
Visiting the church of Santa Maria alla Fontana

Beautiful stained glass, an extraordinary echo, and a story of healing water.





4.
Pondering mortality (again), this time in Milan's Cimitero Monumentale

Surprisingly different from the French style of Pere Lachaise... Here there's a predilection for grieving or fallen figures on the tombs, and there are none of the tiny "telephone box" vaults. Some of the modern ones, with their glass panels and stairs down to the graves, came across -- at least to us -- as a little odd. But there's some wonderful funereal art here.














5.
Tracking Milan's path to modernity








Our Airbnb is another interesting one. It's on the ground floor of a lofty old house that has a single loggia-like balcony half-way up. The huge height of the apartment has been divided up by a mezzanine, where the bed and a set of wardrobes live. It's right alongside Milano Centrale, so you can hear the rumble of the trains.




For tea, we've had Italian pasta, Italian cheese, and Italian sparkling red wine (I had forgotten such a thing existed, but it was pleasantly refreshing).

A relatively short train journey, and we're in such a different world already...