This past week has been quite a busy one so far. Tuesday found me waking up in Berlin and by Friday, I found myself in Milan. Granted, I do love traveling - especially when someone else is picking up the tab, but I must admit, I am starting to show a little wear and tear as I sit writing this on the plane headed back home to London.
I was only in Berlin for about 24 hours, but what I did see of it, I found to be quite nice. I think Berlin wins the award of cleanest city I've ever been to. I also admit, I think I have a fond place in my heart for Germany simply because it is the only place that I have ever been where EVERYONE pronounced my last name correctly - the first time!!
I remember when I was younger, my father always seemed to get a bit perturbed whenever anyone mispronounced our last name. I never understood that…back then. Now - totally a different story. My auto-response to anyone that says Vedder - soft e at the beginning - or (my favorite) Vendor (is there an N in there? I don't think so) comes out so quick, I can almost see my father smiling. It just bothers me to no end now and I completely understand his annoyance. Although, for me at least, its not so much the mispronunciation itself, but its more the exasperation of the creative attempts people seem to make in order to actively mispronounce it.
But not in Germany!!!
This may have something to do with the small fact that I am German and Veder is a German name, but really, I don't care about the why, it was just so nice to have every one know how to say it right. I felt like I was in "Cheers" - you know - where everybody knows your name! Now I know what the Smiths, Browns, and Johnsons of the world all feel like!
That said, the Germans - at least every one I met - seem to be so nice. And yes - the stereotype of promptness and efficiency is an accurate one.
Oh, one thing to note if you're ever in Berlin, though…they don't really have any good Italian restaurants…yeah - I found it out the hard way…don't ask - I was just going along with the group…but I did get some good sausage the next day!!
Now…on to Milan…
First off, and I'm not saying that this in anyway influenced my impressions….but I had a 7:05am flight to Milan…translating to me getting out of bed at the unholy hour of 4:30am!! Needless to say, I was maybe not the happiest of campers…or the most awake…when we touched down.
This you may find surprising - I certainly did! - Milan wins the award for dirtiest city I have ever been in…and remember, I have been around Pittsburgh, Philly - and sometimes not the good parts - even a few little villages around Mexico…and still, Milan made all of them pretty much look like the hometown of Mr. Clean himself!!
I couldn't believe it!! The world's epicenter of fashion and I felt skeeved out just riding in the taxi!! Graffiti on most of the buildings throughout town except for the City Center where all the shopping and fashion houses are…this means that really, there are only about 2 sq. km of clean streets and buildings in the whole of the city.
Oh…and the taxi situation….I hesitate to go there, but since I seem to share all my other adventures, this one should be no different….
After work on Friday, Parul (my co-worker and travel buddy for the weekend) and I head to the hotel and then were going to meet up with one of our co-workers from the Milan office for dinner. When we check in, we ask the concierge to call and have a taxi for us at 7:50pm.
At 7:40, we receive a call from the front desk that our taxi will be here in 4 minutes (and yes - I am doing a timeline here for a reason - you'll understand later). We hustle a bit, finish primping and get down to the lobby in 7 minutes, out to the taxi we go. We give the taxi driver (who speaks minimal English) the address of the restaurant - yes Italian since we had to get the memory of the Italian restaurant in Germany out of our thoughts - and off we go.
I happen to look up at the meter only to find that there is already €7.40 on the meter!?! What? Did the driver not turn it off from the last fare? I know that there are minimum starting fares, but they are usually only 4 pounds max - even at the peak times!
So here is where it all started to go downhill….
I inquire to the driver about the fare - in my extremely limited Italian - as to this little issue. He responds - in his limited English - that this is because he was waiting on us for 10 minutes.
WHAT!?!?
So we bicker back and forth a bit about the injustice of this.
My arguments included:
But we didn't ask for you to be here until 7:50
But we didn't know you were here that early
But that is ridiculous
How do you get away with blatantly stealing like that
His argument was:
It’s a law
What kind of laws does this country have? Does Mussolini himself work on the original draft of the regulations for the taxi line of commerce?!!?
Now, to put it out there, I just kind of quieted down after a while about it, what are you going to do, really? I need to get to dinner, and besides, I'll expense it anyway.
Now Parul, though, she took it as a personal affront and kept mentioning the various flaws she saw in the laws, the driver, and the country itself.
My only hope was the that poor driver didn't understand what she was saying….we weren't in a great area and I didn't want him kicking us out or anything.
Then after a few minutes, the driver starts talking in a highly animated voice. It took us a minute to realize he was on the phone…it took us less time to figure out - even with the language barrier - that he was talking about us!
Hhmmm…if there was a thought bubble above my head, it would have read, 'this can't end well.'
Then all the sudden he hands the phone to me!!! HUH!?!?! "You talk to my friend. She explain to you."
Thought bubble now says, 'Oh - this ought to be good.'
What I am expecting is his boss or dispatch on the line - probably some big gruff guy that smokes a pack a day and has a big salami sitting on the desk right next to him in case he needs a snack.
What I get….is a little old lady!!! She was really sweet, too! How can I fight with that?!?! Part of me wondered if this was some sort of ploy to scam a crazy tourist - get his wife on the line to add to the story, etc.
I realize I might be a little too distrustful…don't judge me.
Anyway, his lady friend begins to explain that the law is that the fare meter starts whenever the driver gets the call for the car, not when the car actually picks the passenger up. She says that she has been all over the world and she knows that it is only that way here. She know that is upsets the tourists and she thinks it’s a bad thing as well.
Come on, seriously, how was I to respond?!!? My mind was saying, 'Whatever lady 0 that’s crazy and it’s a ploy to rip off the tourists - maybe they ought to use the money to actually clean the streets!!' But out of my mouth came, "Oh, yeah, I agree, that’s not a good thing for tourists. I'm sorry we argued with you friend. I know its not his fault, its just a bit unfair all around."
This woman took me on a better guilt trip than my mother could ever aspire to take me on!! And trust me, my mother is one of the few people in this world that can make me feel guilty about anything! She's good!
Oh but this little only lady - through the phone no less - could make Mother Theresa herself feel like a heel for not helping enough!!
The whole time that I am on the phone, Parul is just looking at me with an incredulous look on her face. Her thought bubble would read, 'Have you lost your mind?!?!'
To be quite honest, I would have doubled his fare just to get off the phone with this lady! If she had asked me to stop off and but the driver a cup of coffee - I would have done it!! That lady could be classified as a national weapon!
Anyway, I finally get off the phone with her and hand the phone back to the driver - all the while profusely apologizing - in my limited Italian - to him for the misunderstanding.
Parul is still just starting at me. So I explain to her the little old lady and her explanation and how she said it was the law, etc., etc., etc.
I just want this little ride to be over!!!!
Then we get close to our destination…I say close, because at one point, the driver had to pull out a map to find the street. This after he had circled the block twice - meter still running!
I didn't care at this point, though - I said nothing!!! I just wanted off this little ride - the last thing I need to do is raise any concerns and then him get his lady friend on the phone again!!
Parul, though - was not as quiet as I an kept making little comments - luckily they were pretty quiet!
Then, suddenly, the car stops and the driver points out the window and says that the street is over that way and we have to walk the rest of the way.
Fine with me!!!
The meter says €21.60, but the driver say 20 is fine. I throw 20 euros his way and we both all but fly through the door to get out of the car.
But now we have a bit of a situation…where are we? How close to the place are we?
So we head in the direction of where he pointed and start off. We walk a little way and decide to ask directions.
The lady we asked was very nice - and thankfully, spoke more English than the driver - but said she wasn't sure of the street name and thought it was back in the direction that we had come.
So back we go. We pass this little place on the corner and I casually mention that we should just go there, call Laura (one of the friends we're meeting for dinner) and have her meet us there - I was hungry!!
We keep walking though and hit another corner…still no signs of Vaile Pio Quarto - the street we need.
So we decide to call Laura and get some better directions.
Guess who doesn't answer her phone though!!!
We see a family walking past and ask them if they have heard of the street or the restaurant. Unfortunately, they have not though.
So we decide to head back towards where we came from since it looked like there were more places that way.
We get about 10 steps and the mother in the family that we had just asks is walking back towards us. And she is pointing at the very same little place that I said we should just stop at…
Oh - apparently my sense of direction is good, its my literacy level than needs some work!!!
Sure enough, we get back to the place and Laura is just walking up out front!!
Here the driver was right - it wasn't just that he was so ticked with us he dropped us anywhere - he actually dropped us where we needed to be.
The rest of our trip was uneventful - thankfully! We had a great dinner - the best lamb I have ever had!!
We spent Spend Saturday meandering around the City Center - a.k.a. The only clean streets in Milan. There is a castle in the middle of Milan that we were able to walk through. But of course, we shopped most of the time.
Yes mom - I now have a beautiful Italian leather bag…this doesn't mean you're getting the coach any sooner, though!
