July 24, 2023 - Monza, Italy

Today we traveled from Naples to Monza in the north of Italy.  Monza is a separate city or town, but it is so close to Milan, it blends nearly imperceptibly with it.  There we will meet up with and spend the rest of our trip with our Italian friend Rose and Rose's friend/cousin, Maria (Maria is the daughter of a close family friend that Rose always thought of as an aunt and they grew up like cousins to each other).  Rose and Maria both came to Italy almost a full week before Lisa and I and had been visiting family in southern Italy (where it was even hotter and less air conditioned than our experience in Naples!) and flew into Milan this evening.  We were renting a hotel room for four in Monza.  We were staying in Monza instead of Milan because it was close enough to Milan to still sightsee there but this trip began when Rose, who is quite possibly the world's biggest Bruce Springsteen fan, started talking about seeing Bruce Springsteen in Italy.  Lisa and I had a great time in 2007 seeing Genesis in England and thought that sounded like fun.  We had been to different parts of Italy before and both really liked the idea of seeing different parts of the country with Italian friends (both Rose and Maria speak Italian, which was very helpful), and so we agreed to come along!  The concert is scheduled for tomorrow night.

It's about a five-hour train ride from Naples to Milan and they left about every hour.  From there we still had to get to our hotel in Monza (options included changing trains for Monza, but the Monza train station was still a mile and half from the hotel or 20-30 minute cab ride from the Milan train station to the hotel).  Although Rose and Maria weren't scheduled to land in Milan until 8, we wanted to get in more around dinner time and check into the room (the reservation was in our name), so we really wanted to get a train around midday.

We had planned to go to the archaeology museum in Naples this morning.  It opened at nine, but we agreed last night that we probably didn't need to be there right when it opened.  We didn't set an alarm and didn't really sleep that late, but perhaps a little later than ideal due to exhaustion after yesterday and some residual jet lag.  Anyway, by the time we finished breakfast, we started to feel like we'd be a little rushed at the museum and we decided to just go to the train station and figure out the train to Milan.  Fortunately, we were now familiar with the main train station and tickets for the national rail lines can be purchased from machines that can be switched to English, so it wasn't too difficult.  We bought premium class tickets, rather than standard, to be in a car with some space for luggage and were able to get seats on the 11.30 train.  I had read that there would be snack and beverage service on the train and Lisa and I bought ham and cheese panini sandwiches at the train station to take with us for lunch on the way to Milan.  The train was spacious and comfortable and it was a pleasant ride.  The snack service included a small bag of potato chips and water that complimented our sandwiches well and the latter were quite tasty.  We also later bought soft drinks at the adjacent bar car.  

Lisa and I on the train to Milan

We got into the train station in Milan around 4 PM.  The train station in Milan was gorgeous, evoking the style of old European train stations and with some decor using ancient Roman imagery.  It was immense, chock full of stores and, we would find out later, attached to an amazing food market.  We figured with our suitcases it would be easier to catch a cab to the hotel in Monza right from the Milan train station rather than transfer to what was probably as smaller commuter train without luggage space only to still have to get a cab from the Monza station to our hotel.  This turned out to be a good decision on multiple levels. The first being that severe storms had rolled through the area a couple of days prior to our arrival and another one just prior to our arrival.  There were trees down all over the region.  Our cab driver had to detour around a closed road due to fallen trees and we had no idea whether or not trees might have impacted train service.  We would also learn later that cabs are much easier to come by in MIlan than Monza and we had no trouble getting a cab.

The difference between northern Italy and Naples is large.  In the north, traffic is orderly and behaves established laws and norms.  Busy crosswalks have signals.  Milan, in particular, feels like any central European city.  It is the financial capital of Italy.  Its city centre is clean, it has a metro that goes everywhere, and cabs are plentiful.  By contrast to Milan, Monza seems a little sleepy - there is one cab company, but not enough cabs to make it easy to get one.  There are buses in Monza, but we did not use them.  The area around the train station in Monza seemed a little sketchy.  It was also about 10-15 degrees (Fahrenheit) cooler in northern Italy and very comfortable.

The hotel (Hotel Helios) was nice.  Very modern and the staff were wonderfully nice and helpful.  The included breakfast was a fantastic continental breakfast (freshly cut ham and tomatoes were among the most savory items) and I discovered another delicious beverage: ace (pronounced Ah-Chey) juice.  Bright orange in colour it is a combination of orange juice, lemon juice, and carrot juice.  It is called ace because it is rich in vitamins A, C, and E.  Both the cappucino and the cafe americano were fantastic.  The room was a little funky.  We knew it would have one double bed and two twins.  However, without paying attention to photos online, I thought it would have a room with a double, which Lisa and I would use, and a room with two singles, that Maria and Rose could use.  Instead, there was a small room right inside the door with one twin and a back room with the double and another twin, so we decided I would have the front room and the ladies could stay in the back room.

We learned on arrival that because of road closures and house damage from the storms, several of the restaurant staff for the hotel did not come in and the restaurant was closed.  We also learned that more storms were expected later than night, but weather for tomorrow, the day of the concert, was expected to be good. 

Specials at Ristorante Villa Realle

The hotel was not near city centre (we chose it for proximity to the concert venue as well as the availability of a room for four - most Air BNBs wanted to us to rent for the whole week, Saturday to Saturday) and without much obvious nearby and the hotel restaurant closed, I wasn't sure what we would do for dinner.  I asked at the desk for a recommendation and the gentleman at the desk asked if we wanted pizza or something else.  After pizza on two consecutive nights, we wanted something else and he recommended a local restaurant about a ten-minute walk away called Villa Realle.  It was a real rustic restaurant for locals, but very good.  The fresh Italian bread they served with the meal was amazing.  They did have English menus, although the specials board brought to our table (pictured left) was only in Italian.  I had sausage and pasta in a tomato and black pepper sauce that was really good.  Lisa ordered the spaghetti on the specials menu presuming the, "ragu di polipo," was some kind of red sauce although neither of us knew what polipo meant.  Her dish was very good.  I really liked it, although not as well as mine.  When I tried it, however, it had a little bit of a briny taste, like seafood.  I asked Lisa if she liked and she said she thought it was good, but I am not sure she was enthusiastic about it.  I didn't want to trade entrees entirely, but I gave her a fair amount of mine and ate a fair amount of hers because I wanted to make sure she had enough to eat if she really didn't like hers that much.  We found out later that polipo is octopus, which was used as a flavouring for the sauce!  As other diners filled the place, many got various grilled meats, which looked and smelled wonderful and which the restaurant was known for.  We capped the meal with some excellent limoncello and espresso.  As I paid for the meal, we learned from the owner that he used to have family that lived in Baltimore!  Small world.

We had heard from Rose and Maria earlier that their flight into Milan would be delayed about an hour.  Around 9 we were walking back to the hotel and were no more than two minutes from making it back before the heavens opened up and in a torrential downpour and we were completely drenched!  We didn't envy Rose and Maria trying to land in that mess.  We learned later from Rose that their pilot had to circle above the storm for a bit, but when he landed that it was not very rough.  Unfortunately, once they landed in Milan they were told they couldn't get to Monza that night due to road closures from the storms.  They called to let us know and they were also hearing the concert might be cancelled due to trees down and storm damage in the park where Springsteen was supposed to play.  They were going to be staying with a friend in Milan that night and in the morning we would figure out whether they would come to Monza or we would all find another hotel in Milan since everything else we planned to do for the week was basically in Milan.

So, if your keeping score: Pompeii tour nixed.  Museum in Naples nixed.  Springsteen concert questionable.  Vacation not getting off to a great start so far.