Milano

At this point I've told this story a shit-ton of times, so I'm going to put it down once more in blacn and white (white on black?) before this blogs becomes more of a tidbits of the day/rant space:

The girls downstairs were going to be away for my birthday last Friday (2/15) in Milano and had mentioned a few times the possibilty of me joining them.

I was a bit reluctant as I thought I'd want to spend my birthday somewhere I know (at least a little) rather than a completely new city. As the week progressed they told me they'd be in a hotel (rather than hostel) which had the reservation as 2 beds rather than 2 people, therefore leaving the loophole for me to go.

The first 4 girls (Dana P, Dana G, Kate & Niki) took RyanAir flights out on Thursday morning while Jacquie and Jenna stayed behind for the Thursday evening class and were to take the midnight train overnight arriving in Milano at 9am.

Mid-Thursday I decided I would join them. That evening (after an insane Wednesday night for all 3 of us) the girls were attempting to convice me to go in the morning instead, but we got our shit together and got ready to take the 12:47 train out of Tiburtina. We had no idea how to get there and were going to leave on public transport at 11:35p latest.

When I got to their apartment, a guy Jacquie has been talking to was there and we sort of hung out for a few minutes before leaving. We rushed out and took the tram to Largo Argentina in hopes of grabbing a cab to Tiburtina as none of us had ever been there. Arriving in the center at about 12:15 we didn't get a cab until about 12:25.

We arrived at Tiburtina at 12:31. My credit card didn't work on first try so I helped Jenna then Jacquie with their tickets. Jacquie's printed out 2 tickets so we thought we may have selected 2 so I took it as mine and we ran to the track. Once there we realized that Jacquie did not in fact have two tickets but we should all have 2 tickets. I ran back to get Jenna's and purchase mine. Jenna's was still there but when I attempted to purchase mine, it wouldn't allow me because it was within 10 minutes of when the train was to depart.

I asked someone (in the Italian) on the platform if I could buy one onboard and they said something along the lines of "yes." We boarded and found a nifty cabin and started scrounging our money together to make sure I had the €28.50 for a ticket. 2 hours in the ticket woman finally came through. [sidenote: from here on out if I say "said" or "spoke to" it normally denotes that we were speaking in Italian to the best of my ability] Luckily the woman had a credit card machine so we didn't have to worry about the exchange of money and had money for food. The problem was that in order to purchase the ticket onboard, there was a €50 tax, which therefore brought my ticket up to €78.50 (roughly $115). Already being on the train there wasn't much I could do so I had to suck it up and consider it a birthday gift to myself (as it was past midnight).

She was nice about it, thought, saying that if she could she wouldn't charge me. Idk, if she really didnt' want to she shouldn't have.

We arrived at 9a and went to the "hotel." Where we were "greeted" by a pretty rough looking Milanese man who informed us that the reservation was for 2 people not 2 beds. I told the girls just to go along with it and that I'd figure something out. Once in the room, we got a call and I went out where he informed me that I couldn't, in fact, be in the room.

I got my wits together and went out there to talk to him and explain that we came with the impression that as a hotel and a reservation for 2 beds we assumed I would be able to stay in their room and that we were friends (and lied and said Jacquie and I were cousins). He told me that there as a single available next door to them (and in front of his desk) for €60 a night. I told him that was impossible so he offered me it for €40 and I took it.

After a quick nap we headed into the center (with the already there 4 girls whose room was upstairs). We went to the center of Milano to the Duomo to see the church, the view from the top and shop.

We came out of the metro to the above view which was astounding. We were split on what to do as me and J-squared were still a bit overwrought from the ride there and wanted something slow and good to eat while the others opted for Burger King then the Duomo and its church. We stopped in a cafe and sat in the downstairs eating area for about an hour and ate a panini, some chips, cappucino and killed off some sodas/teas as we were all parched.

It was at this sitting, after spending nearly $115 on an 8 hour train ride & paying €40 for a room in the shittiest hotel on earth that we coined the phrase of the trip:"Whatever, buy it, I'm rich bitch!"

We then headed to the Duomo where we checked out the church inside which was breathtaking:
At first the girls were not keen on going to the top of the Duomo but 150 stairs later, we were up there and it was insane:

After il Duomo we headed shopping to the two H&Ms in the area, Zara and a few other shops. We re-met up with the other girls to try and find somewhere to have dinner but that was proving difficult as most of them don't open for dinner until 7p. We opted to head back toward the hotel and hope to find somewhere in the (sparce) area to eat. We ended up at the New York Bar & Grill and all ate huge cheeseburgers which was a nice birthday dinner for me.

At the hotel, we napped and prepared to go to Plastic at the suggestion of a really nice cashier (Miguel) at H&M. The girls had gone to the pizzaria the night before for pizza and cheap wine so we did the same thing that night to pre-game for heading out. The waiters wanted to take us out somewhere else but we opted to stick to Plastic so they offered to drive us. We also got some wine out of it which was a good deal.

Plastic proved more difficult to get into, so we ditched the Italians who got us in as we were 6 girls and 1 guy who they were willing to let in. The place was interesting having been described as 1/2 straight and 1/2 gay. The back room was a rock band and so grungy looking people.

According to the girls the bathrooms were hardly prepocessing. The other room was where the real fun was and the good 80's pop and techno. We decided to leave later in the evening just as I started seeing my first glimpse of a few gays in the mix.

To get back we ended up getting split up (myself and J-squared leaving to find a cab). The first cab refused to use the meter so we got out, but were lost in the middle of no where. That was interesting. We got back and played in the hotel room for a bit before going to bed at around 5a.

(attempting to find a cab in the middle of no where)

The next morning I was rudely awoken by a phonecall at 10:30a telling me I'd have to be out by 11a. I packed up and put my bags in J-squared's room and we headed out for american coffee. We hit up the center again. I texted a friend Mirko I had met online who said he wanted to meet up with us in the center. He did and showed us around the Monteleone area of expensive designer stores as well as an outlet in that area. He suggested I go to the gay clubs with he and his friends and could chill at his place until our train at 7am the next morning. The 4 girls upstairs were staying in and J and J were going out with respective guys in Milano they knew.

After shopping I headed back to the hotel and snuck upstairs with the girls to grab my bag and take a shower before heading over Mirko's. They went to grab a pizza and Jacquie came to use something in the room. While in the shower she knocks on the door and says,"Don't say anything, the mean one is here." The man from the desk and, I'm assuming, his wife worked there as well as a very nice older man who worked the desk at night.

I came out of the shower and she said he had left but the old man was standing there who I explained to that I was there to pick up my bag and then head out.

Out of no where, the woman comes tearing into the room screaming at the top of her lungs that I had to leave and that the police were on their way. She was asking me who let me into the hotel and who I walked by at the desk in order to get in and that I was going to jail. She literally had flames coming off of the side of her face

I then went downstairs and spoke to "the mean one" who was decidely more calm. He told me how if someone is in the hotel without their documents registered with the front desk and something were to happen, the hotel is held responsible and they don't have anyone to tell the police about because they don't know who was in the room. The woman, still screaming, was still fuming. I explained to them that in the US when you get a hotel you can have a party or an orgy and it doesn't matter as long as its been paid for. I secured that the girls wouldn't be charged or have any problems then left.

I'm now absolutely frightened anytime I hear an Italian woman raises her voice. This woman was a lunatic.

From there I moved on to Mirko's where I met some of his friends and went out to a gay bar (where I saw Miquel from H&M) then on to a gay club. The club was the run of the mill gay club. Good music and hot people. The downstairs had "la stanza di bugo" ie the Shadow Room where there was just dick all over the place. One section was a maze with doors that went into little rooms where people were doing there thing. There was also a big stone room that was completely dark and there was all sorts of things going on in there. One walk through there and I was done.

We got in around 5a and then had about an hour to get me a cab and to the train station. With a little frantic running around, due to our final destination not being printed on our ticket and only the stop we were getting off at, we found the train and headed to Pisa which was quite cool, but a short trip.