day 023

// neatly wrapped breakfast goodies from local prepared foods shop



// asphalt, dented by scooter kickstands



// lunch, supposedly a spot where miuccia prada likes to eat



// gelato-filled fruit

day 022

// now in milan, and rested. one day i will have a closet full of tod's in every color.



// aj doing the touristy thing in front of the duomo

eataly ... the real thing

so, from sf, we went to new york, to taipei, to sapporo, to osaka, to frankfurt ... and then to milan and venice and a day trip to sarmeola.

we decided to include venice because aj hadn't been there since high school and it's a generally romantic city. we included milan because i wanted to go shopping in the motherland of fashion.

well, venice turned out to be only ok. our first hotel was sub-par. if you're going to stay in venice, i would highly recommend staying in a hotel out in venice mestre (first city on the mainland, not on the island). a 1EUR train ticket will get you to venice in only 10 minutes and the hotels seem much nicer (refer to my previous post for a visual comparison of the rooms).

i thought we might check out some murano glass or burano lace while we were out there, but i knew i wasn't going to buy any of it, so we skipped that part. our hunt for good snacks ended up being the highlight of venice.





milan actually ended up being more fun than venice. our hotel was awesome. gelato was excellent. super tasty breakfast self-catered from local delis. and the window-shopping could not be beat. i would have come out with so many new pairs of shoes, if only they had my size! perhaps next time we go, it will have to be before the stores get raided by models and editors in town for milan fashion week.







our side trip to sarmeola (small village in Padova/Padua) was planned entirely around the first "destination meal" of our trip. by "destination meal," i mean i wore a dress, aj wore his sport coat, and we used a credit card. it's the kind of meal reserved typically for celebrations like birthdays or anniversaries. but in our case, it's career research. and this research session left me overstuffed. i'll let aj do the recap, since that's his thing, but i will tell you, my dessert was accompanied by a small video projector.

In Transit (Unrated Director's cut)

Now that I've had more than a few days of fun under my belt, it's time for me to lash out about my least favorite days on this trip. The trip has been amazing in so many ways, but not so much on days like these. And since Steph did such an awesome job with the timeline, I'll just add a little color commentary. Enjoy!

March 16: Sapporo to Osaka (9.5 hours)
7:00A … Leave the hotel and walk 2 blocks up to Sapporo Station
7:49A … Hop on the 36-minute train to New Chitose Airport
8:25A … Go up 2 flights of escalators to the check-in counter
8:35A … Circle around the central gift area for breakfast and settle on a couple fish cakes
9:??A … Head over to our gate and wait for flight, finally buy the Yoshimi Curry Curry Sticks we'd been seeing everywhere (delicious!) A little light to start the day
10:30A … Flight to Haneda (Tokyo) departs Oddly empty flight...just like the flight in, but who knows, maybe people are just avoiding Tokyo?
12:05P … Arrive at Haneda, pick up bags from baggage claim
12:30P … Head down to Keikyu line for the 25-min ride to Shinagawa
1:00P … Arrive at Shinagawa station and make our way to the Shinkansen area
1:07P … Miss the 1:07P train, pick up some unagidon for the ride Beware that unlike most other rail stations, once you pass the gate here, you only have one option for bento...and they were sold out of almost everything when we got to it.
1:20P … Get in line for the 1:37P Nozomi train, 4th in line
1:37P … Train arrives and it's standing room only, we squeeze in shoulder to shoulder
2.5-hour train ride, standing, within arm's reach of the heavily visited restroom
Eat half the unagidon and pass it to AJ who is about 5 people/7 feet away At least I got to sit on my luggage...Steph was totally squished by the b-room. I wanted to kidney punch anyone who climbed over me (and everyone else) more than once. So looking forward to the shinkansen, but it was like a can of sardines in an 225F oven. One school aged dude in front of me was watching Bieber Music vids on his ipod touch the whole time, while his buddy next to him looked at fetishy girly magazines...Pretty sure you can guess which one disgusted me more [ed: As I write this, Steph just asked me "Are you sighing just at remembering this stuff?]
4:06P … Arrive at Shin-Osaka station, head to Midousuji line
4:26P … Arrive at Hommachi station, walk a long detour and then 4 blocks to the hotel
4:40P … Arrive at hotel
We did not have reservations, because the on-line system wasn't working but we did send them an e-mail request. They hadn't looked at our email but were able to give us a room. Score! Highlight of this stretch was our hotel room...too bad we had to use it to be online the whole time to figure out what to do next

March 18: Osaka to Frankfurt (21 hours)
[ Booked flight and hotel the morning prior ]
3:30A … Wake up, shower, pack and head down to lobby MISERABLE
4:35A … Our taxi is ready to take us to Namba Nankai station, quick drive (trains not running at this hour)
4:50A … Buy tickets and wait on the platform/train for departure Clubbing hoes out in full effect waiting for trains home to start up!
5:15A … Train departs for 43-min ride to Kansai Airport
5:58A … Train arrives, walk across skyway to check-in counter
6:10A … Walk around dining courts and realize shops don't open until 7:00A, sit around no place to nap
7:00A … Windowshop our dining options and decide on one with toast on the menu, last minute purchase of Osaka Mini Choco Banana Kuchen
7:30A … Head into gate area and wait
8:35A … Flight to Narita departs
9:55A … Flight lands, walk over to international terminal, dump our full bottle of shikwasa juice (domestic flights allow full-size bottles of liquids through security) that one was whack, luckily we drank all of the good one.
10:??A … Realize we're in Tokyo and can finally buy some Tokyo Banana! buy 2 kinds: original and kurobe (chocolate), wait around gate area for flight
12:30P … Flight to Frankfurt departs
12.5-hour flight, flying mostly over Russia, watch at least 4 movies in a row I watch Battle Ship Yamamoto (again), and Partners: The Movie 2, she watches stuff with Katherine Heigl, we both watch Morning Glory...Harrison Ford is terrible in that.
4:45P … Land at Frankfurt Main, wait in passport line, wait in baggage claim, grab taxi 20- to 30-minute drive to hotel
5:30P … Check in at hotel in the suburb of Griesheim (don't stay there, just don't do it) Don't be fooled by the nice pictures and seemingly nice accommodations, this is as business as it gets, more expensive than our $30/night place in Sapporo, except the combo soap/shampoo is on dispensers bolted to the walls. Internet is free, but hella slow and only in the lobby, and you have to ask for a new login every hour. Eats are pretty limited and a walk, but a local Doner Kebab saves the evening. Oddly, a super high proportion of italian places in the area (we're not that near the border are we?) plus a Thai buffet that looked oh so tempting... We wanted to do laundry, but there are no facilities in the area...to do it we took a tram ride into the city (15min) plus hiked another 35 min to a laundry. It's right next to a super discount grocery store and chinese restaurant that wasn't open. Nothing else in the area. If you ever get stuck there, maybe the russian deli would be a better option? After laundry, wanted to mail some heavy ass books home...but we missed the post office by 30 min. Boo. My hand will continue to be cut by the bag, and I'll have to carry that shit for a few more days. One consolation is that we hit up the local brew house for some delicious beers and tasty meatz.

March 20: Griesheim to Milan (13 hours)
8:53A … Get to tram platform one block away from the hotel I wanted to print out our train tickets, since there are clear instructions to do so on the ticket itself. Ask the front desk at this "business" hotel if we could print out our ticket. Clerk, with laserjet printer directly behind her says, "sorry, that is not possible, we are only allowed to print out our own stuff, and there is no printer available for the guests. However, please let me see your ticket? *I show her the .pdf*, Ah, yes, you should be fine, you can print out these tickets at the station. I've done so myself. "Okay", I say...and off we go!
9:02A … Tram arrives to bring us close to Darmstadt Hbf station, walk a couple blocks to actual station
9:19A … Get train tickets to Frankfurt Hbf
9:30A … Train to Frankfurt leaves (had planned on taking the 10:30A train, but wanted to get out of Griesheim asap)
9:48A … Arrive at Frankfurt
Ask ticket counter to print our ticket for us. It is against their policy and they suggest an internet cafe at the end of the station. Instead, we walk to a nice-looking hotel across the street and they happily allow us to use their printer. Then back to the station. LYING BITCH! Our hotel couldn't possibly print our ticket for us, yet this random ass hotel right next to the station so kindly lets us print it out...doesn't ask for a charge, and they even ask if we'd like to use their internet for free. Umm, we're staying there next time.
Walk around, check where our platform is, look for lunch
10:15A … Sit down for lunch of bratwurts
10:45A … Get a couple seats at Starbucks and enjoy the 2 hours of free wifi The most productive 2 hours online in the past 2 days. Speed and reliability = less headaches. Props to Starbuxo!
12:42P … Scheduled departure time for our train
12:52P … Actual departure time for our train (10 minutes late) And so the dominoes start to fall.
1:15P … Scheduled arrival time at Mainz Hbf
1:20P … Departure time of next connecting train
1:35P … Actual arrival time at Mainz (20 minutes late)
1:40P … Catch later train at Mainz (20 minutes later)
2:10P … Scheduled arrival in Koblenz Hbf
2:16P … Scheduled train from Koblenz
2:35P … Actual arrival at Koblenz
3:16P … Catch later train from Koblenz to Bonn Hbf (1 hour later) Ugh, what happened to German reliability?
3:59P … Arrive at Bonn Hbf, take overpriced taxi instead of bothering with bus (at this point, who knows if they're reliable?!), 20- to 30-minute ride
4:30Pish … Walk back almost the full length of the terminal because the cab driver missed our airline stop Die, Allied Schweinehund!, check in, go through security, wait at gate
6:25P … Flight departs Eva, auf Wiedersehen!
8:00P … Flight lands and the cabin erupts in applause, head to baggage claim, follow signs to the Malpensa Express, wait in line to purchase tickets, get on train
8:33P … Train departs, direct transit to Cadorna station in Milan
9:02P … Train arrives at Cadorna, make our way to the Metro portion of the station, figure out how to buy tickets, get on train to get 2 stations away
10:00ish … Find and check in at hotel after initially walking in the opposite direction of the hotel (difficult to navigate when you're tired and it's pitch dark out in an unfamiliar city) Fortunately, our room was a lovely oasis. Comfy bed, large bathroom, wifi (not free, but good signal) and switches for everything including the window curtains. Ahhhh

4 days, 2 people … 20 scoops of gelato

don't feel too bad for us. we've had some fun in the past week. fun which included lots of gelati.

after a full day in milan with zero gelato (shops appear to close early, like 9:30P), we went on a mission to find some. and made sure not to pass up any promising-looking shops, just in case they'd be closed later.

first stop, gelateria marghera, only a few blocks from our hotel. we had some chocolate and strawberry. delicious. and they had other pretty frozen desserts too, but figured it'd be too much for breakfast.



then after lunch and walking around some, we came across bottega del gelato, just off corso buenos aires, south of loreto station. it looked like their specialty is gelato stuffed back into the fruit skins (you can kind of see the stuffed limes behind my right shoulder). we just went with the straight gelato: banana, strawberry and kiwi. again, delicious.



then further down corso buenos aires, there was one of grom's locations in milan. i had already hit my gelato quota for the day, but someone else went for some more. crema and nougat. ok, i stole a few licks. yummy.



the next day, we took the train to venezia/venice. we found a spot for lunch and enjoyed the sun. and then realized we had not had any venetian gelato on that fine day yet. so we walked along the main road and picked a gelato shop. stracciatella, ciocolato, and variegato nocciola. boo, big thumbs down. it tasted kind of weird and there was lots of air turned into it. that was the last poor gelato for me. no more choosing just any shop. unfortunately, a shop we wanted to visit to make up for that mishap was closed.



the next day, we took the train to sarmeola, a small town in the munipality of rubano, in the province of padova. i repeat, small town. the only attraction there was a family-owned compound consisting of a hotel, a restaurant, a bar restaurant, and a shop. at the bar restaurant, we found delicious (and the cheapest!) gelato in all the land. pistachio was my first choice. so creamy, so true in flavor.



aj followed that up with a scoop of crema (custard with a hint of vanilla). mmm, why can't all gelati be this good?



the next morning, after breakfast, we had to have one last scoop. chocolate.



later that afternoon, we found our way back to venezia. and the shop we were looking for the other day was finally open! aj got some fruit-flavored one (apple?) and i got zenzero (ginger). icy but nice clean flavors. i really liked the ginger.



aj liked it so much, he went back for a third scoop. coffee.



we walked around the rest of the evening, and capped it off with two scoops of artisanal gelati: lemon and milk. so good. oh wait, now that i'm recounting it, aj definitely went back for another cone. what was the flavor?



and the next morning, while waiting at the airport gate for our flight to barcelona, aj walks over with a scoop of pineapple sorbet. pretty decent. but mental note, sorbets should be eaten in a cup, not a cone.

In Transit

You know how during job interviews or small talk, people usually ask what you like to do? Well, I usually respond that I like to travel. And what do you know, I've been mistaken the whole time … Traveling is not fun, especially when you do it for 3 long days within a 5-day span. So correction, I like to discover and enjoy other interesting cities. Please let me know when someone figures out the whole teleporting thing.

March 16: Sapporo to Osaka (9.5 hours)
7:00A … Leave the hotel and walk 2 blocks up to Sapporo Station
7:49A … Hop on the 36-minute train to New Chitose Airport
8:25A … Go up 2 flights of escalators to the check-in counter
8:35A … Circle around the central gift area for breakfast and settle on a couple fish cakes
9:??A … Head over to our gate and wait for flight, finally buy the Yoshimi Curry Curry Sticks we'd been seeing everywhere (delicious!)
10:30A … Flight to Haneda (Tokyo) departs
12:05P … Arrive at Haneda, pick up bags from baggage claim
12:30P … Head down to Keikyu line for the 25-min ride to Shinagawa
1:00P … Arrive at Shinagawa station and make our way to the Shinkansen area
1:07P … Miss the 1:07P train, pick up some unagidon for the ride
1:20P … Get in line for the 1:37P Nozomi train, 4th in line
1:37P … Train arrives and it's standing room only, we squeeze in shoulder to shoulder
2.5-hour train ride, standing, within arm's reach of the heavily visited restroom
Eat half the unagidon and pass it to AJ who is about 5 people/7 feet away
4:06P … Arrive at Shin-Osaka station, head to Midousuji line
4:26P … Arrive at Hommachi station, walk a long detour and then 4 blocks to the hotel
4:40P … Arrive at hotel
We did not have reservations, because the on-line system wasn't working but we did send them an e-mail request. They hadn't looked at our email but were able to give us a room. Score!

March 18: Osaka to Frankfurt (21 hours)
[ Booked flight and hotel the morning prior ]
3:30A … Wake up, shower, pack and head down to lobby
4:35A … Our taxi is ready to take us to Namba Nankai station, quick drive (trains not running at this hour)
4:50A … Buy tickets and wait on the platform/train for departure
5:15A … Train departs for 43-min ride to Kansai Airport
5:58A … Train arrives, walk across skyway to check-in counter
6:10A … Walk around dining courts and realize shops don't open until 7:00A, sit around
7:00A … Windowshop our dining options and decide on one with toast on the menu, last minute purchase of Osaka Mini Choco Banana Kuchen
7:30A … Head into gate area and wait
8:35A … Flight to Narita departs
9:55A … Flight lands, walk over to international terminal, dump our full bottle of shikwasa juice (domestic flights allow full-size bottles of liquids through security)
10:??A … Realize we're in Tokyo and can finally buy some Tokyo Banana! buy 2 kinds: original and kurobe (chocolate), wait around gate area for flight
12:30P … Flight to Frankfurt departs
12.5-hour flight, flying mostly over Russia, watch at least 4 movies in a row
4:45P … Land at Frankfurt Main, wait in passport line, wait in baggage claim, grab taxi 20- to 30-minute drive to hotel
5:30P … Check in at hotel in the suburb of Griesheim (don't stay there, just don't do it)

March 20: Griesheim to Milan (13 hours)
8:53A … Get to tram platform one block away from the hotel
9:02A … Tram arrives to bring us close to Darmstadt Hbf station, walk a couple blocks to actual station
9:19A … Get train tickets to Frankfurt Hbf
9:30A … Train to Frankfurt leaves (had planned on taking the 10:30A train, but wanted to get out of Griesheim asap)
9:48A … Arrive at Frankfurt
Ask ticket counter to print our ticket for us. It is against their policy and they suggest an internet cafe at the end of the station. Instead, we walk to a nice-looking hotel across the street and they happily allow us to use their printer. Then back to the station.
Walk around, check where our platform is, look for lunch
10:15A … Sit down for lunch of bratwurts
10:45A … Get a couple seats at Starbucks and enjoy the 2 hours of free wifi
12:42P … Scheduled departure time for our train
12:52P … Actual departure time for our train (10 minutes late)
1:15P … Scheduled arrival time at Mainz Hbf
1:20P … Departure time of next connecting train
1:35P … Actual arrival time at Mainz (20 minutes late)
1:40P … Catch later train at Mainz (20 minutes later)
2:10P … Scheduled arrival in Koblenz Hbf
2:16P … Scheduled train from Koblenz
2:35P … Actual arrival at Koblenz
3:16P … Catch later train from Koblenz to Bonn Hbf (1 hour later)
3:59P … Arrive at Bonn Hbf, take overpriced taxi instead of bothering with bus (at this point, who knows if they're reliable?!), 20- to 30-minute ride
4:30Pish … Walk back almost the full length of the terminal because the cab driver missed our airline stop, check in, go through security, wait at gate
6:25P … Flight departs
8:00P … Flight lands and the cabin erupts in applause, head to baggage claim, follow signs to the Malpensa Express, wait in line to purchase tickets, get on train
8:33P … Train departs, direct transit to Cadorna station in Milan
9:02P … Train arrives at Cadorna, make our way to the Metro portion of the station, figure out how to buy tickets, get on train to get 2 stations away
10:00ish … Find and check in at hotel after initially walking in the opposite direction of the hotel (difficult to navigate when you're tired and it's pitch dark out in an unfamiliar city) Fortunately, our room was a lovely oasis. Comfy bed, large bathroom, wifi (not free, but good signal) and switches for everything including the window curtains.