We left our home in Calgary at 3:50 pm on Wednesday. Sarim gave us a ride to the airport. On our way, we stopped to buy a few last minute things. We experimented with a shorter route but google maps tried to use a non-existing road for the shorter route so it ended up taking us an extra ten minutes to the airport but we were still well in time for our flight and dropped off our bags by 5 pm. Our flight was at 6:35 pm and took off on time. It was a direct flight to London's Gatwick airport. It's a new trans-Atlantic service started by Canada's second largest airline WestJet. It's a relatively cheaper airline and you don't have to wait long after boarding the plane to find out the reason - they don't offer complimentary meals, only paid ones and there's no entertainment system but you can rent tablets to watch movies or TV shows. The saving grace is that at least they have charging plugs in front of every seat so we were able to fully charge our phones. Samia used the WestJet app to watch a movie on her phone and I read a book about Pakistan's cricket history. We knew about the airlines not offering complimentary meals so had purchased a couple of chicken wraps at the airport gate before boarding. Half way during the flight, we also purchased a couple of meals for dinner - chicken tarragon for me and cheese cannelloni for Samia.
It was a relatively uneventful flight except for the lady sitting in the seat in front of us, the emergency exit seat incidentally, getting so drunk to overcome her fear of flying that she started crying and then had to be escorted to another seat. For a few minutes, when she was crying, we were terrified that if she has a panic attack, she might try to open the emergency exit door to escape! The short lived drama finally ended with her seat being changed. After that, we were able to get some shut eye time too and since we had made sure that we got up and walked every couple of hours, we didn't feel too tired after the 8.5 hours flight.
Immigration was smooth at the London Gatwick airport and after collecting our bags, we took a train shuttle to the South terminal to catch our next flight to Milan. We had made a few Kabab sandwiches at home before leaving Calgary and had one before the flight. The flight was delayed by about 15 minutes because of a labour strike in France that had resulted in all flights flying over French airspace being affected since their air traffic controllers were also on strike. Our pilot took a different route to avoid flying over French airspace so because of the longer route and leaving 15 minutes late, our flight landed in Milan around 4:30 pm local time, about half an hour later than the scheduled time.
Samia and I both fell asleep in the plane even before take off and kept sleeping straight through the two hour flight. After passing immigration and collecting our bags, we took a cab to our hotel and were in our room before 6 pm. Our hotel is located centrally and all the attractions that we want to explore in Milan are either within walking distance or a short one or two stop metro ride away. We napped for a couple of hours and then woke up around 9:15 pm. We walked to the Brera area that isn't too far from our hotel and had gelato ice cream at a geleteria recommended by our hotel reception. The Brera area is quiet except for the bars and restaurants where people were enjoying their evenings. We spotted a so-called "Disco Tram" in Brera that had music blasting full volume with neon lights illuminating the dancing passengers. Quite an interesting concept! After having our gelato, we felt hungry for real food and stopped at a restaurant. We had tomato soup with basil and a thin-crust pizza with pumpkin, zucchini and eggplant toppings. It was a refreshing yet filling meal and a satisfying end to a day that started in Calgary and ended in Milan. We walked back to our hotel and went to bed a little after midnight. Tomorrow's going to a busy day with lots of Milan sightseeing.
Some first impressions of Milan: They say that for every church in Rome, there's a bank in Milan. You do see a lot of banks in Milan. Through Italy's history, Milanese banks and Milan have played an important role in shaping the country. The unification of the country in 1871 was spearheaded by Milan. Milan has the feel of a modern big city, unlike the ancient vibe of Rome. There are slot more nicer cars in Milan as compared to Rome. The people are well dressed, fashion conscious, fast talking, no-nonsense Italians who still love to enjoy life but also work hard. It's the industriousness of Milan that has powered Italy to the 10th largest economy in the world, by GDP. Milan may have a modern vibe but it is still a very old city with a wealth of history. We will see some major historical icons of this Northern Italian city tomorrow. Till then, take care and good night!
It was a relatively uneventful flight except for the lady sitting in the seat in front of us, the emergency exit seat incidentally, getting so drunk to overcome her fear of flying that she started crying and then had to be escorted to another seat. For a few minutes, when she was crying, we were terrified that if she has a panic attack, she might try to open the emergency exit door to escape! The short lived drama finally ended with her seat being changed. After that, we were able to get some shut eye time too and since we had made sure that we got up and walked every couple of hours, we didn't feel too tired after the 8.5 hours flight.
Immigration was smooth at the London Gatwick airport and after collecting our bags, we took a train shuttle to the South terminal to catch our next flight to Milan. We had made a few Kabab sandwiches at home before leaving Calgary and had one before the flight. The flight was delayed by about 15 minutes because of a labour strike in France that had resulted in all flights flying over French airspace being affected since their air traffic controllers were also on strike. Our pilot took a different route to avoid flying over French airspace so because of the longer route and leaving 15 minutes late, our flight landed in Milan around 4:30 pm local time, about half an hour later than the scheduled time.
Samia and I both fell asleep in the plane even before take off and kept sleeping straight through the two hour flight. After passing immigration and collecting our bags, we took a cab to our hotel and were in our room before 6 pm. Our hotel is located centrally and all the attractions that we want to explore in Milan are either within walking distance or a short one or two stop metro ride away. We napped for a couple of hours and then woke up around 9:15 pm. We walked to the Brera area that isn't too far from our hotel and had gelato ice cream at a geleteria recommended by our hotel reception. The Brera area is quiet except for the bars and restaurants where people were enjoying their evenings. We spotted a so-called "Disco Tram" in Brera that had music blasting full volume with neon lights illuminating the dancing passengers. Quite an interesting concept! After having our gelato, we felt hungry for real food and stopped at a restaurant. We had tomato soup with basil and a thin-crust pizza with pumpkin, zucchini and eggplant toppings. It was a refreshing yet filling meal and a satisfying end to a day that started in Calgary and ended in Milan. We walked back to our hotel and went to bed a little after midnight. Tomorrow's going to a busy day with lots of Milan sightseeing.
Some first impressions of Milan: They say that for every church in Rome, there's a bank in Milan. You do see a lot of banks in Milan. Through Italy's history, Milanese banks and Milan have played an important role in shaping the country. The unification of the country in 1871 was spearheaded by Milan. Milan has the feel of a modern big city, unlike the ancient vibe of Rome. There are slot more nicer cars in Milan as compared to Rome. The people are well dressed, fashion conscious, fast talking, no-nonsense Italians who still love to enjoy life but also work hard. It's the industriousness of Milan that has powered Italy to the 10th largest economy in the world, by GDP. Milan may have a modern vibe but it is still a very old city with a wealth of history. We will see some major historical icons of this Northern Italian city tomorrow. Till then, take care and good night!
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