Milan
Trip Start
May 07, 2005
1
21
117
Trip End
Ongoing
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Milan,
Italy
Saturday, June 18, 2005
(Dave)
We made it to Milan three times but didn't really se much. The first time was on the way to Bergamo/Martinengo. We had to buy tickets and there was a lot of chaos and confusion but we made it. The second time was on the way to Biella and we spent four or five hours looking around. The third time we met Priscilla and had our bikes stolen, but I wrote about that in the next entry.
When we had a chance to look around we rode our bikes down to the duomo. It was so beautiful! It's my new favorite church, and in Italy that is saying a lot. It's very famous so look to google for a better description. It has hundreds of little spires and it's very large and gothic with many figures carved into it. The inside is awesome. There is so much space and the huge ceilings are imposing. Kim has a fascination with dead people on display and was pleased to see a past archbishop of Milan.
Outside the duomo is a nice piazza and a famous shopping gallery. It's like a high-end shopping mall but with no outside doors and a lot of style. We had espresso and tiramisu at the fanciest McDonalds I have ever seen. We were able to find some unencrypted public WiFi so we took advantage of free internet access. I hope someday I have a chance to visit that church again.
2005-06-24 Milan and the Bikes
(Kim)
I guess we knew the bikes wouldn't last forever. Our last moment with them was in Milan. Here is their story.
We kept using Milan or Milano in Italian as our central focal point for catching the train and making connections.
Duomo
The original plan was to leave the bikes locked up at the train station make our 3 day visit to Biella, a nearby town west of Milan and retrieve them prior to going North to Domodossola. While in Biella we found out it was cheaper and easier just to go straight to Domodossola without having to return to Milan. After a tiny bit of agonizing we choose to do this instead of return to Milan. We figured we could always retrieve them the same day we planned to meet Priscilla. This meant the bikes would be locked up unattended for 4 days rather than the original 3. We used all of our bicycle locks and tied both together in the covered parking area special for bicycles. We thought it was worth taking the risk of leaving them as we'd left them for hours unattended before. This would be the first time leaving them overnight. Our hosts in Biella told us not to expect the bikes to be there as Milan like many Italian large cities was crawling with thieves. The railstations are a thief's central headquarters. Sure enough they were correct. We arrived by train on Saturday morning and rushed out to the covered bike parking area to nothing.
I think together we were both a bit ambivalent. I mean we weren't sad about it but we weren't exactly happy about it either. The bikes had proven to be useful on occasion but there was definitely the hassle factor of dragging them onto trains. Even in their folded position they could be cumbersome (mostly for me) and attracted attention. Dave felt the bikes would mostly be useful in Europe but we weren't sure how we would manage for Asia or for that matter even how we would pack them for the plane.
Gallery
We spent some time at the police station filing a report which is conventiently located in the train station. The police officer didn't speak English but he had forms in all languages including English. I filled the forms out while Dave went off to meet Priscilla's train. The office made me a copy of my signed form and sent me on my way.
We reported the loss to our insurance. That started with a phone call and then we were contacted through e-mail. We spent some time mailing back and forth with pictures. It was the first time I've had to make a claim because something was stolen. We bought the bikes used and didn't have receipts. I half expected the insurance company to laugh at us but sure enough they ended up reimbursing us the replacement cost for two Dahon folding bikes with accessories.
Do we get new bikes or not? We've been talking about it and we are leaning towards not buying new bikes. The Dahons in Europe seem to be about 25% more expensive than the US and maybe worse with the exchange rate. I didn't worry as much about the original bikes as they were used but I think with brand new bikes that might interfere with peace of mind on the trip. Also, it seems you can get bikes for free. In Bern, Switzerland they "rent" bikes if you just leave a form of identification with them. It doesn't cost anything. Also, some countries like the Scandanavian ones have bikes sitting around in public places for anyone to use.
