A Plane, a train, and a bus ride to Paris

I woke up SUPER NERVOUS the day I flew out of Rome.  We had to get up early because we were driving back to Rome from Milan.  A five hour drive is NOT the ideal situation to catch a flight.  Of course anything can happen, and I thought of every scenario.  Luckily my bff knew I would be a mess, so we quickly checked out of our apartment and hit the road.

Our drive there was fine until we got closer to the airport.  That’s when it started to rain HARD.  I tried to remain calm but my friend kept talking to me to get my mind off of the weather.  Once I arrived at the airport, she helped me with my luggage and even waited in line with me for a bit at the ticket counter.  We hugged goodbye and then I was on my own.

I killed some time with a glass of wine at a restaurant and bought a souvenir for my mom.  I felt a sudden urge of guilt since I forgot to get something for her in Milan.  Hopefully she’ll understand…

I boarded my flight and off I went.  Luckily the rain wasn’t severe and I landed two hours later in Paris.  By now it was after 6:30pm and I wanted to reach out to my Parisan friends to see if they would put me up for the night.  Unfortunately, they were not available.  I found a spot at a café and tried booking a hotel at the airport.  After a frustrating 40 minutes I settled on a good price for a hotel but wasn’t quite sure where it was.  I knew I made a costly mistake.  My hotel was an hour and a half away from the airport!  I had to catch my train.

I rode the train for a while.  It was now dark and I had no idea where I was going.  Once I got off a stop I had to catch a bus.  I have never done this before in Paris.  According to google maps I had to ride through 17 stops before I get off!  Oh my goodness.  Traveling with a suitcase didn’t help either.  I felt so exposed.  I couldn’t hide the fact that I was a tourist.

To make matters worse, my stop was at the end of the line for this bus route.  I finally got off on a nearly empty bus and saw a Holiday Inn.  I did not know where my hotel was, but I knew I was near.  I went inside and asked the concierge if they had an idea.  Luckily my hotel was right behind the Holiday Inn.  I felt relieved.

I checked in and got to my room.  It was now 10pm.  I still had no idea what part of Paris I was at.  I asked the front desk man if I was still in Paris and he looked at me strangely.  “You are in the Business district of Paris”, he replied.  My hotel was a French version of an extended stay.  It had a small fridge and stovetop.  I actually was impressed because it was very roomy and wide.  I decided to venture out in the morning and call it a night.  I was exhausted. 

Milano giorno due!

I’m recapping my trip in Milano!  Believe it or not, I will be going back shortly to Italy again, and I am very excited!!!  This time I will be meeting up with some friends in Rome.  This will be a different trip for me, since the last few times I’ve traveled I’ve been on my own.  I am already jotting down new restaurants and shops to look into.  I can’t wait!

Back to day two in Milano.  Me and my friend woke up and got ready.  We had an appointment to go to, and luckily it was moved up to an earlier time.  We decided to get that out of the way first.  Once we were finished, we made our way back to Milano.  My friend wanted to go back to the Chanel counter to exchange some makeup she bought the night before, so we went to Rinascente again.  We shopped around some more at the Galleria Vittoro Emanuele, and I found my souvenir T-shirt of Milan.  I am getting in the habit of looking for souvenirs more often because I love to see what cities have to offer. 

I had a craving of gelato and finally got the chance to have some, but I didn’t want to spoil my appetite.  We had dinner plans again.  This time my friend suggested sushi and I was down for it.  Once we finished shopping around we decided to go to a nearby shopping mall to look at some jewelry.  A side note:  Italians prefer 18K gold than 14K.

We went back home to get ready.  I bought a cute button down blouse from Other Stories and wore my black skinny jeans with studded ankle boots.  My friend wore her new black suede ankle boots and a white silk tunic with black leggings.  I wish I would master the-art-of-walking-in-heels in Italy, but it’s impossible for me. 

We went to the Navigli neighborhood and looked for sushi restaurants.  We decided to have a cocktail beforehand and found a cute bar to kill some time.  This bar had a menu of cocktails based on your horoscope sign! 
We settled on Temakinho sushi restaurant and it was delish.  We were seated by the chefs and got the chance to see how they prepared the food.  It was very entertaining!

Afterwards we took a brisk walk over to Gin 012 and had more cocktails.  Considering it was a Monday night, the usually lively neighborhood was pretty quiet that night.  We also assumed the weather had a factor in it as well.  It was cold that night!

Milano giorno uno!

Me and my friend woke up later than anticipated from our long day before.  Luckily we didn’t stay out too late, but we were both tired from traveling.  Me on 3 flights and her driving to Rome.  We showered up and made some coffee in our room and slowly got ready.  We didn’t want to drive out too late and get caught in traffic.  We met up with the owner’s mom to return the keys.  Off we went on a 5 hour drive!

We stopped halfway to grab some lunch and fill up on gas.  Only in Italy will you find a market at a gas station that serves food buffet style!  Lol.  Our 30 minute stop also brought on the rain, and unfortunately, never left us the rest of the time I was there.  Oh well.  What can you do?

We booked another apartment this time in the vicinity of Milan.  Since my friend had her car, we could drive into the city within 15 minutes.  For the most part, the prices for hotels are pretty high and we wanted to use the savings for our trip.  Again, meeting up with the owner was another ordeal, along with the fact that we couldn’t find the place.  These are things that come into play when planning a trip.  Some situations are time consuming, and packing too much into one full day isn’t reasonable.

Once we got ourselves situated in our new apartment, we decided to get ready then and there for a night out.  Shops in Milan close later than most cities in Italy, and we wanted to do that first.

I was hesitant in wearing my suede ankle boots because it wouldn’t stop raining.  I wore my leather sneakers and graphic tee since it was Sunday.  I didn’t think we would go anywhere fancy.  Sunday is very slow in Italy, like anywhere else, and I was curious if we would be able to shop more comfortably with not so many people around.  Yeah right.

Again, trying to find legit parking in Milano proved to be another time consuming task.  We settled on parking in a garage once we found one available.  Despite the rain, I was surprised how many tourists there were!  The Duomo plaza was filled with people everywhere.  We took some pics and made our way to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele right away.  It was cold and we needed some shopping shelter.  My friend needed new makeup, so Rinascente was the place to be.  This high end department store that had everything imaginable.  We went upstairs to check out the market to grab a light bite but ended up at Terrazza Aperol instead.  I completely fell in love of the rooftop view of the Duomo Cathedral!  Despite the bad weather, it looked beautiful at night!

I forgot the tradition of the aperitivo coming with a cocktail, so we made sure we didn’t eat too much since we still had dinner to go to.  We made reservations at 9pm to be on the safe side.

We lucked out with our night so far, so of course we would have trouble with something.  We couldn’t find the uber we ordered.  It seemed that the driver cancelled on us.  At this point, we were worried we might lose our reservation, so we ran all the way back to the garage and got the car.  Off we went!

Luckily my friend called the restaurant and told them we were running late.  23 Risotti was super sweet to us!  We were seated right away once we got there.  The restaurant was pretty quiet to my standards, but again, we were in Italy, and Italians take their dining experience VERY SERIOUSLY.  23 Risotti is known for their different variations of risotto, but because it was just the two of us, we had to order the same thing.  We settled on the risotto Milanese.  IT WAS DELICIOUS!!!  THE BEST RISOTTO I’VE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE- HANDS DOWN!  After a cold and rainy day, this is just what the doctor ordered.  Me and my friend finished our bowls completely and decided to call it a night.  What a great meal…