Often before I go to a city that is new to me, people will give me their opinions of the city and whether or not I should go. Generally, I listen politely, nod a lot, and pretend to hang on every word when, in reality, I am playing Beynocé tunes on the internal CD player in my brain, firmly grasping the fact that in the end, I am going to do whatever I want to do, anyway, advice be damned. Lots of people told me not to bother with Milan because it’s not an attractive city and there are plenty of other better places in Italy to visit. I listened politely, nodded, and played the internal Beyoncé tracks while, without acknowledging as much, treated those people’s words with the scorn and ridicule that they rightly deserve.
Upon reflection, after a day in Milan, it turns out those people may have been right. My first impressions of this city are not very high. True enough, I have only been here for several hours and have not traveled very far in the city. I arrived at the train station and walked a few kilometers to my hotel. Then, I walked around the neighborhood for an hour or so.
When I was in Munich, I read in a few places that that city claimed to be the northernmost Italian city. Oddly enough, Milan thus far reminds me of a German city. I don’t mean the good part of Germany, i.e., Austria. (Just kidding. I loved Berlin.) The architecture is pretty bland. Rather than concentrated areas of commercialism, there appears to be a bunch of neighborhood establishments that are pretty small and limited in offerings. Since my hotel doesn’t have wifi, or anything resembling an internet connection (as I said in my last post, there will be more on the hotel later), I went around parts of the city looking for free wifi, to no avail. Even the dependable McDonald’s, who does have free wifi of sorts, requires me to fill out a form requiring more information than the Virginia state bar required just to tell me that they would text me a password, but only if I had an Italian phone. I don’t. Thanks.
It doesn’t help that the weather is lousy. That’s not Milan’s fault, but I’m in Milan, so I’m blaming Milan. Because the weather is bad, I got back to my hotel earlier and turned on the television. It’s got about fifteen channels and they are all in Italian. It’s not like I expect English, but one English channel would be nice. Hell, in the United States, you get a handful of Spanish channels on basic cable. Something other than the native tongue would be nice in a hotel.
Speaking of Milanese television, did you ever wonder where 1980s American television shows and movies went to die? They come here. And I’m not talking about the good ones. Do you remember Knot’s Landing? How about Hunter? A) If you do, you’re at least my age. B) If you don’t, you can come to Milan and watch them for the first time while learning Italian from the dubbing. Currently on the tube are movies starring Richard Grieco and Cyndi Lauper. Seriously. There also seems to be a 24-hour lottery channel as well as a channel that looks like it is dedicated round the clock to something like a combination between The Gong Show and American Idol. People keep coming on stage and performing a multitude of variety acts followed by a series of talking heads looking either bemused, entertained or downright angry. I assume they are talking about the acts that they just watched, but it’s all in Italian, so I guess I can’t be 100% sure. I also haven’t been able to force myself long enough to see if there’s a winner or if somebody is voted off or even if there’s commercials. I just don’t care.
At least there is football, which is what I came to Milan for, though I haven’t found any on the television yet. I have a ticket to see my favorite European club (Inter Milan) play on Sunday night, so as long as I get to go to that, Milan will be saved in my eyes. (They’re calling for a possibility of snow during the match, by the way.) Besides, Milan’s got to get better right?
No comments:
Post a Comment