Day 5
Day Trip to Bergamo
Saturday, August 24, 2024
Buongiorno,
Neither of us got much sleep last night. Our colds and runny noses have kept us awake. We both feel like we are on the mend, if we could just get some decent sleep it would make all the difference.
La Milanese, our apartment, has very good air conditioning. That's part of the problem. The heat and humidity at night in Milano are so high that you need the air-con. But it is also easy to have the air-con just a teeny bit too strong and you and up freezing yourself.
Those who know Koro, also know that he is partial to an ice cold Peroni beer at Alpino Restaurant in Cambridge. And, of course, they make the very best pizza in Cambridge.
Riccardo is the very nice man who is the driving force behind the success of Alpino Restaurant.
When Riccardo learned that Grandma & Koro were flying to Milano, he was very excited. “That is where I am from”, he cried. Then Riccardo told us of his hometown, Bergamo, of how beautiful it was and only an hour by train from Milano.
Today we travelled to Riccardo's home town of Bergamo.
Getting there is always half the fun. We took the Metro to Centrale, the main train station in Milano. It is a big, busy, noisy place. Half the people look like they know exactly what they are doing and where to go. The other half, like us, are studying every sign and map hoping for a clue that will tell them what to do next to get where they want to go. From what we could understand this was the last weekend of the school holidays in most countries in Europe. The station was filled with families travelling home.
For some reason we decided not to use our phones to buy our tickets for this trip. We decided to buy the tickets at one of the ticket machines. There only seemed to be one machine, so there was a bit of a wait to use it.
Milano Centrale is filled with shops. And while waiting to buy our tickets Koro spotted a store called "My Family". It sells Italian made collars, leashes, tags and clothing for your precious pet. The way some people we know love their pets, they'd spend a fortune in this place. Shoes for those damn kids? Oh we'll get them from The Warehouse next time they have a sale. Collar for my precious puppy wuppy? Oh, only the best for my little darling puppy wuppy.
Anyway, we bought our tickets, found the right platform, hopped on the train, found a seat for Buzzy Bee and off we went.
Bergamo
Riccardo is not wrong, Bergamo is very beautiful.
The city is split into two levels. The Città Bassa is the lower level, which is where we departed from the train station. Città Bassa is the more modern area of the city.
A short, but beautiful walk took us to the funicular. Who doesn’t love a good funicular? The funicular took us up to the oldest part of the city, the Città Alta. This part of the city dates from medieval times. It is surrounded by walls built by the powerful Venetians. The five kilometres of walls are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Today was a stinking bloody hot day. You can see the heat haze in some of the photos. 33C according to one sign. Very humid. There is a walk you can do around the walls. We were tempted, but the day was not yet at its hottest and we were already melting, and we didn't want to make our colds worse by wearing ourselves out. So we wisely elected not to do the walk.
As we were walking through the city Grandma kept wondering, “why would Riccardo leave such a beautiful place?”. I guess we take Cambridge for granted, because it is also a beautiful town. You just have to look past the road cones.
We seem to have got ourselves into a bit of a routine. Below our apartment, on the corner, is a pub where the locals meet for an afternoon drink. And to discuss all of their solutions to the problems of the world, as happens in pubs all around the world. We stop in here while the neighborhood is quiet for a beer, before heading up to our room for a siesta.
We head out for dinner at about 7:30pm, just as the day is starting to cool a little and the sun has almost set.
We can't get over the number of food delivery bikes that race around the streets in the evening. These guys ride e-bikes with small diameter wheels and fat tyres, ideal for the uneven and cobbled roads. And boy, do they race! They must have extra battery packs on those bikes, because they hardly pedal. And they do not stop for anything. Watching them take the round-a-bout at the end of the street is hilarious, there's no giving way, these boys just charge out and whoever is on the round-a-bout has to give way. No helmets either, they're not required in Europe.
There's an area on Via Pietro Borsieri where the delivery guys gather to study their phones, wait for their next order and (since they're all males) talk shit.
Tomorrow we need to start thinking about where we go to next.
Love to you all from Grandma & Koro & Buzzy Bee.
