The Neva Endin Journey

The Next big trip after Paris was Italy! Was it worth the wait? Oh Hell yes!
This was a carefully planned trip with places like - Milan, Rome, Pisa, Florence and Venice. 5 days - 5 places - 7 people. ( damn, 5 people would have been cool ) :P.

Expected Budget - 250 Euros - 300 Euros !!! Got totally wrong in the end.

Anyway, We were 7 in number. Now it sounds amazing to go with so many people. But it has its disadvantages -> "People Getting tired at different times Walking"! So we literally stopped every 5 minutes. We knew we were gonna walk a lot so we were mentally prepared. But sadly the body was not ready for it. We were tired and exhausted and stopped by for water, coke, beer or anything that could fulfill the thirst.

The advantage being in Europe are the low cost flights which is hardly about 5 - 10 euros (350 rs) if booked in advance. Long live Ryan Air! We booked about 2 months in advance so got amazing deals for the flights. For a change, we reached to the airport on time though it was at about 7 AM. Every other trip, someone used to come late, but as this was flight, no one could possibly do that.

Another problem while travelling is carrying the passport. If ya lose it, Its game over!

Anyway, we started off from Eindhoven to Milan. Milan is the second largest city in Italy but it does not have many attractions to offer in terms of history, art. Milan, in Italy is called as Milano. Weird. What it offers is a ridiculously expensive shopping experience. We got down at the main station and started walking to a few places we could possibly look at. We had about 6 - 7 hours for the next flight to Rome. So we had to hurry up! Hurry up means, walk faster, as fast as we could. We stopped at a hotel to eat some good pasta, pizza's. Italy supposedly is the home for pizza and pasta. So we decided to not try an Indian hotel for a change but instead go with what Italy offers. Well, it sure did taste good.
Milan is one of the most famous fashion cities of the world. You will know why! Every second guy is dressed in suit and ties and every girl - OMG! ;)

Well dressed and very rich!

We started walking about 2-3 miles to check out the shopping complexes and some famous church called "Duomo of Milan". On the way, We stopped by a square where we saw the statue of Leonardo (only to realize he was Italian). I wonder if he made his own statue! :P Around this statue were a lot of people, probably like us, admiring this statue for the only reason that they were tired walking to the same place we were walking too I think.


Leonardo's statue

Weird thing about Italy: There are too many Super bikes and Scooters. There is hardly any place for the cars to park. You see a lot of men with suits driving scooter's in full speed like its a superbike ;). Looks funny. You expect them to be in a BMW or a Merc. Guess they give up a good car to shop in Milan!! Italian Girls = Slim and very pretty. Not kidding. =] Netherlands is nowhere close.

The roads are not exactly the typical ones you see elsewhere but nicely cut stones with cement binding it, I guess. There are like trams, bikes, cars coming from every other direction. It is so confusing :P. We had to turn ours heads literally every possible direction for each of our step while walkin.

Bikes , bikes and more bikes.


We first went to the Piazza del Duomo. Well its stunning and its architecture is amazing. It must have taken years to do something like this with so much precision. It has about three thousand statues. If you wear shorts, sleeveless, you aint allowed inside the church. This gothic cathedral will take your breath away by the size of it.

Piazza del Duomo - Stunning!

Glass Paintings in Piazza del Duomo - Massive and beautiful


In front of this cathedral is a massive square for people to sit and admire this place. But there is a small problem which turns out to be a big problem. There are like a billion pigeons in this place because of tourists feeding it, so make it a point to wear a cap else you will be drenched in White Shit! :P With every step you take, you are assured to have a white sole by the end of your trip to this place. :P


In the square, outside the Duomo , posing for the camera! Beware of the pigeons shittin!


We next went to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele which is the worlds oldest shopping mall. It must be old but it had amazing showrooms like Merc, Ferrari, Louis Vitton etc. Everything is so expensive and the only thing we could do is, look at the prices. Thats the best we could do, i.e Laugh about how expensive it is. I was wondering if there is any day I could buy/afford something from this shopping complex. Well , i realized, never!


World's oldest Shopping Centre - Unimaginable prices!


After this, we dint know what to do. We had planned just two places in Milan. Then we decided to go to some fort close by called "Sforza Castle". Sounds great but it wasnt really. It was supposed to be built for protection. But it did not look like it offered any kind of protection. Just a simple fort with nothing else inside. There were people selling some bands and forced one of my friend to buy it. He just tied it to his hand telling it looks good on him and started asking money. The cops came and chased him out of the fort. It was fun watching the dude run for his life! :P

A fort built for protection with no protection at all!


We wanted to check the painting " The Last supper " but did not wanna enter a museum as we had no time. WE started walking back to the bus stop and it took about an hour again. We stopped at some designer shops to admire it ! :P Not that we bought anything there, we atleast wanted to get the feeling that we shopped. ;)

One of the shops we dared to enter and came back with the feeling of shopping! :P


We hurried up to the bus station to catch a bus that took us to the same airport we came from in the morning. Well but there was something special for me that night. It was my birthday the next day - Sep 4th. I celebrated my birthday in Indian timing in Milan Airport waiting to catch the flight to Rome. Now there is something funny about it. My dear retarded friends did not find a cake in the airport. Instead they got me a Muffin with a candle. Now let me explain what a muffin is. It is the size of a cup cake or the smallest sweet bread. The candle was bigger than the Cake. I was asked to cut it and give it to all my friends. How the hell do you divide a cup cake into 7 pieces. Well it was a struggle but we managed it. ;) But it was really sweet of them to do this. But i can assure you, it is defn the smallest cake anyone has ever cut. :P

The size of my birthday cake! God!!!! The smallest cake ever! ;)


Before when I was in India, i used to wait for my birthday. Because my parents, aunts, uncles used to give me money! A Lot of money!!! I miss that! =[ and this is the second time in my life I have not been with them for my birthday.

In India, people have this craze of wishing you at 12 in the night. Well some of my near and dear friends started calling up at 12 and as my mobile was on roaming got charged minute by minute. If you think, roaming is expensive in India, compare the cost of recieving a call in Europe while in roaming. =] Wow, it was a good feeling to be ripped off! lol!

Our Next destination was Rome. We reached Rome at about 11, caught the bus and reached the Rome center by 11:30 in the night and we celebrated birthday in Rome timing at 12 at a small Pizzeria. This was the the second celebration the same night. Feels awesome celebrating birthday in Indian timing in one city(MILAN), Netherland timing in another city(ROME). We had some pizza's, juice n etc and started walking to our hostel.

Ohww, cmon How can there possibly be a good day. There has to be something sad. Well you will know in the next post! =]

Motto Of Milan should be: Go to Milan, if you want to feel Poor!