August 22, 2016
Three Days in Milan
I've decided to consolidate our three days in Milan into one page and just hit the highlights:
Monday, August 22, 2016
We had two missions today: wash clothes and get bike boxes. Easy, right? Maybe, maybe not. We had picked our hotel based on two criteria. Be near one or more bike shops and be near a metro line. The self-wash laundry was an afterthought. I did not feel compelled to formally wash clothes before getting home, but Mark had other ideas. So after breakfast, off we went. There were a few close by, but they turned out to be either closed, under renovation, or only doing dry cleaning. The last lady told us (in effect) to go up Corso Buenos Aires for about 5 minutes. At least that's what I think she said.
Well, no luck. Another Google search turned up something that was an 18-minute walk further. Off we went. It was closed! In fact, a lot of places were closed. Maybe we were out too early. Actually, it should have been super clear to us. Everyone is on holiday. Vacation. Like us. And in Italy, and probably more so here than where we had been to date, they seriously close down their businesses for extended periods in August.
So another search. The next prospect was 1.3 miles south, back in the direction of the hotel (but as it turned out, still 1.1 miles away from it). OK, not the end of the world, but not exactly the best way to spend our time. And no assurance it was open either. But it was, with a very nice guy running it. So we got that started and began looking for bike stores. Well, there was one across the piazza . . . but it was closed for holiday, not to open again for another week.
So Mark and I cut a plan. I would go on the hunt and look into a few other bike shops we had identified, and he would watch the laundry. We would meet at the hotel by about 1:00 or 1:30. Agreed.
I had three or four shops in mind . . . and all were closed for the holidays. Not a good feeling. When Mark got back, we put the freshly laundered clothes away and struck out for shops a bit further away. We hit four more, all clustered together about halfway back to downtown. No luck. At least two were open. But a lot of these shops are small, do not carry big inventories, and are just gearing up for business after the holiday season, so not a lot of bike assembly going on. And one shop said we were the second query they had had . . . so there was competition out there someplace. Egad, what were our alternatives?
The airlines (Air France in our case) might have bike boxes, but there was no guarantee. And no one to call to confirm there were boxes at Linate Airport (anyway, I've been down that route before without success). So further downtown we went, to one of the "big" shops we were advised to check out. Well, Decathlon was a disappointment. But they were willing to sell us bike bags at 72 euros a pop. Check. We'll get back to you.
At this point I was thinking we might have to ship them "naked" (i.e., without a box). A Google search of that was not encouraging. But maybe we could wrap them in plastic? So I started hunting for hardware stores. Those only had plastic wrap for suitcases, which I deemed too thin. They had nothing in a heavier gauge . . . or they were just closed as well. Or maybe just closed between 1:00 and 3:00. It was hard to tell sometimes.
Finally, being late afternoon by now, it was beer time, and Bar Castello fit the bill. They had Wi-Fi, too, so Mark was diligent enough to do one more search. Biciclette Rossignoli was only 1/2 mile away, so off we trotted (by now it was more like dragging you know what). Well, they have two shops, one for clothing and one for bikes. The bike shop was closed, but the nice guy in the clothing store told us to come back tomorrow; they open at 9:00 AM.
That was enough for today. Another beer down the street, and time to think about dinner. I was not overly hopeful but always try to stay the optimist! Still, alternatives were racing through my mind. Maybe I could get scrap cardboard to wrap the thin plastic around and present something I won't be laughed out of the airport with . . . haha.
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
After breakfast, off to Rossignoli's. We actually didn't get there as early as we should have, but I think we were there by 10:30. And there was a crowd, mostly aging cyclists hanging out, shooting the bull, and taking care of minor, but I'm sure important, business. Finally, time for us. What's great is that almost everyone we had dealt with to date spoke relatively good English, and this guy was no exception. After explaining our situation, he was sympathetic and said to come back tomorrow . . . and he might even have two by early afternoon.
Wow, that was the most encouragement we had had. Time to relax. Time to play tourist. Time to go to La Scala!
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We also toured the museum in the Castello Sforzesco, which, on Tuesdays, has free admission! So all of that, plus our walking around, was enough for the day. We headed back to the hotel, relaxed, and had dinner at a restaurant we had passed earlier that day. Next day, hopefully, bike boxes.
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
One day before take-off. So off to Rossignoli's. We arrived late in the morning with visions of our competition hauling our boxes down the street in the opposite direction. But that did not happen. I'm not sure the guy remembered us from the day before, but he would look. He was gone an inordinate amount of time. Then came back empty-handed. He needed keys, then was gone again. Minutes later we heard him returning, with that distinctive dragging noise signaling boxes! Two boxes. Two big boxes!
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When we were back at the hotel, we determined the boxes were almost too large. Certainly too tall. Cutting them down was easy, but we decided against shortening them and, instead, paired the two wheels side-by-side in front of the front fork. While we could have left the rear wheel on, this minimized the height and helped fill the box. With that done, we went and had lunch next to a hardware store we knew would be open, and at 3:00 PM bought tape. By 5:00 we were cleaning up, arranging for a cab the next morning that could carry two bikes, and went out for our last beer and dinner. We were getting up early. The cab was scheduled for 8:30 AM!
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