*Warning I can sense this is gonna be an insanely long blog, just so you know!*
So lets start at the beginning, which for me begun at 6:00am, I got up at 6:00am after only getting 2 hours sleep, I had wasted an hour trying I decide what to wear today (I only get to visit Milan, one of the world's fashion capitals for the first time once so I was beyond excited!) I got up, put my face on and rushed out the door, and seeing as it was 6:45am, instead of making me walk to the bus stop and catch the bus, my host dad, Michele drove me to the train station, on a Sunday morning! (Thanks heaps! Big ups for you :D)
I was meeting up with Sophia, a fellow au pair which I had the great privilege of spending the previous Sunday with, in Genova Piazza Principe at 7:45 to catch the 7:53 train to Milan, her train to Genova Principe was cancelled however leading us to missing the 7:53 train. My phone had chosen of all days to run out of credit the night before, making this whole thing that little bit more stressful but thankfully by 8:20 we were both on the next train out to Milan! :D
We arrived in Milan, pretty much expecting to be in Piazza Duomo, amongst all the shops and where everything is kinda 'happening.' We were both surprised when we exited the station at 10am to a very deserted and freeeeezing cold Milan. We then spent the next hour or two trying to make out way towards the piazza Duomo or at least where there were some kind of activity going on.
Along the way we found a gorgeous fun park, put up for the Christmas season and the layer or snow made the park absolutely enchanting, very much a winter wonderland.
We continued on, stopped in a few shops here and there and then reached D magazine outlet, a designer store outlet that I had read about online, there I bought the most beautiful pair of leather shoes ever! Yes Italian leather shoes in Milan, an absolute dream come through! We wandered down Via Della Spiga, one of the many stores filled with designer stores and their beautiful window displays! (Window shopping, one of the many great things one can do in Milan!) and finally we reached Piazza Duomo where I laid my eyes on the Duomo cathedral of Milan, which is, so far the most amazing building I have ever seen! It took 500 years to build and It is so insanely intricate, I'm so in love!
Now this is where things get interesting, if you've made it this far, snaps for you! So as I left I bought some souvenir stamps for my mum and I distinctly remember putting my wallet back into my bag, zipping it however, I can't confirm whether I did that or not. You can see where this is going can't you? Yes, I, Florence Lam, despite being warned time after time, got pick pocketed in Milan! I couldn't believe it! I've been fairly careful, when it comes to my bag and never once let it out of my sight let along hands and despite thinking long and hard and I have absolutely no clue who it was, no one remotely suspicious even sticks out! It's actually rather funny, if I think about it, I've always said to my friend Georgia, whose warned me numerous times about pick pocketers in Europe (yes it's the same Georgia that warned me about motorbikes, that girl is rather wise, I really should listen to her more often!) that if anyone ever decides to pickpocket me has the absolute worst luck and couldn't possibly pick a worse target as I carry no cash, ever, and I'm broke as heck, I have no money in any accounts, so good luck trying to get any money from any of my cards. Today was no exception, after the shoes and the stamps I had absolutely no cash, and when I say none, I mean none, I had less than 20 cents in my wallet! Hahahah! Getting my wallet stolen was actually more inconvenient than anything, I had to make my way to the police station to make a police report, all my cards are in my wallet meaning they all have to be cancel and my drivers licence, my main form of ID was also in there, so that's a giant pain in the butt to have to get replaced! As well as that Sophia and my train ticket back to Genova was unfortunately in my wallet meaning we had to get new tickets.
Massive shout outs today to Sophia for being so so so much fun to spend the day in Milan with, and for being so supportive, helpful and understanding when things turned all crap! I couldn't have asked for a better person to deal with this with! And this is just a girl I've known for a week! You're amazing, thanks so much!
Also shout out to my host mum, Maria Rosaria for being so helpful, via the phone and knowing and telling me what to do when this happens and for just caring a big amount, it means a lot to me when everyone else that I would usually turn to and rely on is halfway around the world and asleep. You're fabulous!!
All in all my day in Milan was absolutely fabulous and the pros definitely outweigh the cons, whoever told me than Milan was boring and could be done in a day, in my opinion is very wrong, I absolutely loved it and think its a great city and for a fashion and shopping enthusiast like me, an absolute dream. I could easily spend several days and find myself still wandering and gawking at the window displays and the amazing buildings!
I've said this many times, that this trip that I left for in August 2012, has been a trip of many firsts, it was my first time out of New Zealand by myself, my first time in Europe, my first (and hopefully ) the last time to be hit by a motorbike, just to name a few and today I can add first time in Milan and my first (and hopefully last) time being pick pocketed (I will now be extraly careful with my stuff almost to the stage of paranoia). I'm absolutely loving myself despite the ups and downs! Hey it makes life that much more interesting ay?
Til next time
Flo xx
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