Day 58 - A Football Pilgrimage to the San Siro

Although still on a high from watching a thrilling Blue Jays victory on my computer last night, I was still not feeling quite A1 this morning. The pesky mozzie bites are VERY annoying!

Still, the mission for the morning was achieved - i.e. catch the train to Mestre and then onto Milan. I can’t lie, the train journey did not move me closer to A1-dom - it was very busy and noisy and my attempt to reserve a window seat did not quite work out….

Still, the train got me to Milan in good time, and I enjoyed lunch near what is an indisputably beautiful station.

I found a few geocaches in the station area, and then set about following the instructions to get into my apartment, that was a short walk from the station.

The technology blew my mind - I was sent a link by the apartment host, and opened doors by pressing buttons on my phone. It felt a bit like Fort Knox with the amount of doors to unlock and get into.

The apartment is a little strange but exactly what I need - close to the metro to get into the city, close to the station for Tuesday, and with a good bed and washing machine!

Over the course of the day, I made the decision to go to the AC Milan vs Bologna match at the San Siro this evening. I had been umm-ing and ahh-ing for various reasons, but figured that as a football fan in Milan, I definitely should.

Luckily I left plenty of time to get to the match, as I did not go the most direct route on the metro. I was also being super careful, as someone tried to grab the bag of a man in the carriage up from me (or that is what seemed to have happened). They weren’t successful, but it does seem like pickpocketing is very much something to be aware of on the Milan subway.

Anyway, I got to the San Siro, and immediately concluded that the stadium is a bit larger than Peterborough’s. It is genuinely impressive. I managed to get a hot dog outside the ground, and I can safely say that this was the first time I was offered, and accepted, broccoli in a hotdog. It was then into the ground!

The match - a Serie A match between AC Milan and Bologna - was a physical one and kept the ref busy. AC Milan were on top in the first half, but it was Bologna who had a goal disallowed for offside. The second half continued in a similar manner, and AC Milan broke the deadlock through Luka Modric - not bad for a 40 year old! AC Milan should have scored again, and also had a penalty overturned by VAR, but it stayed at 1-0.

The stadium and the quality of football were the best I have seen on this trip (sorry Helsinki!) but I was surprised by quite how little atmosphere there was. I went to a Roma game a few years ago, and it was a very different vibe (Dad did not like how close I was to the ultras!).

Match over, I once more did not follow the most direct route back to my apartment! Still, it all worked out, and I was just back by midnight, so no turning into a pumpkin for me :)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 1 - It Starts……..

Image
Having been thinking and talking about this adventure for months, today rather crept up on me. As well being a little hurried in actually packing a rucksack for up to three months of travel (I had been organised with packing lists, just not the actually putting things in a bag bit), I was also a bit last minute in tying up loose ends at home, mainly the boring things, like sorting out my car tax that I realised expired whilst I am away. It was therefore also a bit of a late night doing the really important things, like finishing the hardback book I had no intention of travelling with, and downloading some shows to watch onto my Chromebook. But, after a bit of last minute re-packing (Do I really need that extra T-shirt? Probably not. Where did I put that charging cable?), my rucksack was ready to go, and I had sorted everything I needed to in my flat. I am pleased to report that I have not left anything in the fridge that is likely to be gross on my return. Then off through the rain to ...
Read more

Day 2 - Touristing it up in Brussels

Image
The Eurostar journey was pretty uneventful yesterday. Despite looking out of the window, I did not see any fish 🐠 as I crossed the Channel, and I made sure I was on the look-out for small boat crossings too.....  It was early evening when I arrived in Brussels. The metro system took me a few minutes (and one journey in the wrong direction) to figure out, but Google Maps did its thing and got me to my hotel safely. The hotel is near the Royal Galleries, close to the Grand Place, and it is pretty busy around as apparently this is a big weekend with Belgian National Day tomorrow.  An evening quest for food (success) was followed by a walk through said Royal Galleries and then a test of my photography skills at the Grand Place. It is, as the name suggests, pretty Grand. Pleasingly for me, there were lots of Geocaching AdLabs around for me to use to learn some history. My visit here was then followed up with some good wandering around, with the highlight undoubtedly the Brussels D...
Read more

Day 3 - Happy Belgian National Day!

Image
Yesterday evening was fairly quiet - a stroll to see Jeanneke Pis, all in the name of gender equality.... and then an ice-cream and soaking up some of the holiday vibes.  Today, in case you did not know, is Belgium's national day. I had read a bit about some celebration events, some of which I am hoping to see this evening, but I did not know that as I walked to find some breakfast this morning, within 100m of my hotel I would stumble upon the whole Belgian royal family arriving for the Te Deum mass at the St Michael and St Gudula Cathedral. Having previously sat opposite the Swedish royal family at a concert in Stockholm when visiting with Lizzy, I am starting to appreciate European royal families turning out for my visits.... Apparently it was King Philippe, Queen Mathilde, and their four children (Elisabeth, Eleonore, Gabriel and Emmanuel) who were there. You can read all about their outfits on the Daily Fail Online, if that's your thing.  Anyway, I enjoyed the experience, ...
Read more