So, after finding my way to the friend's place, and parking my backpack there, it's off to the Roialto. The system here is that you order at least one drink from their menu. And all the food in the restaurant, prepaid and served from their counters, comes free. They call this, aperitivo I would think the drink, by itself, was overpriced. But taking into account the spread, it was well worth it. The food were what one would get in a restaurant in a four-star hotel during their buffet hours. And it was spread between two level of shop space. And the decor was not too shabby at all. The servers and waiters all looks to be from the Indian subcontinent. I couldn't tell if they were from India, Sri Lanka or Bangladesh. Anyway, they were rather strict that THEY serve the food, they snap at me to back off when I attempt to lift one of the tray cover to check what was on offer.
Over dinner, we were discussing how such a business model can take off here in Italy. We reckon anyone daring, or stupid, enough to offer such a dining concept (at this price range) in Singapore would very soon go under. My share of the bill couldn't have come to more than S$20. Just look at these Japanese restaurant here in Singapore, they are offering food and free-flow liquor with a top. Exactly the opposite of what the Italians are doing. Giving food for free with a purchase of drinks felt so counter-intiutive to my Asian brain. Maybe the scientists are right, that the Caucasians have enzyme in their body that can break up the alcohol better than us Asians. And maybe it is in our gene that we Asians gobble up our food as quickly as possible in preparation of the next impending famine. And our woman-folks have a seperate stomach for dessert. Political correctness aside, that would make sense of why this concept thrive here.
I ordered a Sake with cucumber. The family just next to us (Ozzies, as it turns out), were curious what the drink was.
Me: Sake (Sa-Kay).
The proud soccer mum whose son was a junior Socceroo who recently played in Singapore: Sa-kay?
They had a short discussion among themselves what the bloody hell Sa-kay is, until the lightbulb came on above one of their heads. "Oh!! Sa-kee!"
Well, you say to-ma-toe, I say to-may-toe.
After dinner, I notice that was what-looks-like a railway station just facing the Roialto. The facade says Ferrovie Nord Milano. I guess it means Milan North Railway. It is. Well, if there is a railway station, there must be hotels nearby. The other hotel I stayed in when I was last in Milan was fully booked when I checked earlier. The last time I was here, it was shoulder season, by now, the summer holiday was in full swing. The station is one of those "heritage building", which no longer served its original purpose. Well, if the hotels around survive the closing of the station and railway, that's my ticket to a good night sleep .
There were at least three within walking distance. Unlike Paris, the room rate here aren't posted by the entrance, but how many stars they are graded are. It makes the choice for one within budget easier. I settled for the Hotel Parma. The receptionist, on the midnight shift, was a serious-looking quiet man who wore a thick frame glasses and pants that went up above the belly-button (the way only men of a certain age and waistline here would. Think Moses Lim.) Well, he spoke English and the place look good enough.
I guessed it was a good place for while away the morning. Boy, I was wrong. The place was big and there is enough in there to while away the whole day. We may know Da Vinci as the Renaissance master, but he was a polyglot to be exact, and was therefore also a man of science. It is then quite right for the museum to be named after him.
On the way there, I saw a girl with an accordian strapped on her shoulder. I thought she was on her way to her lesson. Turns out, it was actually a little business of her. She board the same tram, then would walk down the lenght of the three-cabin tram playing the accordian 'for' the passengers. A plastic cup hangs from the accordian at the height about the neck of a sitting passengers. I think the idea is to drop a few coins in for her to move on to the next passenger.
Getting up to streetlevel from the subway, the loud graffitti caught my attention. Behind the wall was the MOST. Wonder what the grand master think about the graffitti. Turned out, I found the exit of the MOST instead.
The receptionist ask me to cross a small garden outside and go around the block for the entrance. The real entrance was actual a non-descript doorway by the side of a courtyard.
I headed to the railway pavilion.
It was a quiet morning here. Me being the only one in it, while at the back of the pavilion, a rock band and techinicians were putting up a stage for an evening event. The quiet was only broken when some school kids on a field trip came in.
On display were hugh steam train engines, placed next to the trains, the kids were no taller than the wheels. There were some electric trains, though I failed to find any diesel trains. I tried to recalled if I was on any diesel trains in Italy, but couldn't remember once. Maybe the Italian railway skipped their "Day of Diesels" entirely, their evolution being from steam straight on to electric.
There are some replica of Da Vinci's artworks here, but from the real thing, you would need to go somewhere else in Milan or Italy. The museum display mainly his work in the field of science, including sketches of flying machines, or anatomical sketches. There is a mock-up of Da Vinci's steam engine prototype.
The museum is housed in a collection of buildings that, over the years, were put to different uses, including as a monastery.
There also used to be a catacomb under the compound.
There is hall dedicated to Italians' pioneering work in the field of telecommunications. The curators entice the visitors to enter with the question: "Did you know it was an italian that invented the fax before the telephone?" In fact, as you walk through the display, the Italians were also pioneer in the field of electricity.
But not all displays were old and staffy stuff. The display brighten up the halls for material engineering and industrial designs.
Although the world don't see the Italians at the forefront of science and technology these days. The MOST is a reminder that once, some of the greatest discovery and breakthrough in science were made by Italians, name like Galileo and Copernicus.
What they couldn't house in buildings, the MOST display in their courtyards.
By the time I left, it was almost closing time. Crossing the street I went into a supermarket. Bottled water of 1.5l were going at less than a third of the price of a small bottle in the vender machines outside. Unless you are going for an Evian, a 1.5l bottled water can go for less than 1 euro. I bought one and promptly finished it on my way to the D'uomo. Italy was playing England that evening, and I have heard that the match would be on a giant screen right at the doorstep of the Duomo. There were no screen, nor the expected crowd, in sight when I arrived. And neither was s.h.e there.
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| Taken from web |
By that time, my bladder needed to be emptyed, FAST. But there were no public toile in sight. And even there were, it always amaze me how you need to pay 1 to 2 euro per visit just to empty that 30 euro cents worth of water. I tried the McDonald's. No toilet, damn! I was getting desperate, the best options was to hop on the tram back to the hotel and hope I could get there in time to reach my own toilet. I waited at the tram station right outside a Bata shoes shop. Through the shop windows, I could see workmen covering the merchadises with plastic sheets. The roof was leaking. I kid you not.
I survived the trip on the tram without wetting my pants. Got to the hotel and snatched the key from the receptionist without a thanks. He didn't look very please when he saw me again the next morning. I wouldn't blame him for that. Neither should he, if he knew I was trying to save him the hassle of mopping up his lobby.
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