Day 1 of September 2000 - Malpensa to Milan, Verona, Innsbruck
Wednesday, 6 September 2000
Buongiorno! Grüß Gott! Bonjour!
Hello and welcome to the 17 day journey of September 2000.
Today is Wednesday 6th September 2000. I have arrived about 7:30 AM Central European Summer Time, about 9 hours ahead of San Francisco, and 6 hours ahead of Washington, Dulles, at Milano Malpensa Terminal 1. This would be my second time arriving at this airport but not at the same terminal. The terminal that I had previously visited with family was Terminal 2, and that was in June 1987. At Terminal 1, I had my passport stamped with an entry visa to Italy, the black and red Schengen rectangle with twelve stars surrounding a capital "I". The entry stamp was good for 90 days, in particular until about 4th December 2000. Then I proceeded to the baggage claim.
Baggage claim took a bit of time to complete. A Boeing 777 can carry many passengers, and if you are in Economy Class, your priority for luggage claims is low. While I was waiting, I had the Aiwa radio out, and recorded a few songs. The first was "Love Story" by awayTeam [sic] featuring Shirley Bassey on vocals, second was "I'm gonna get you baby" by Jocelyn Brown, third "Frena" by Carlotta, and by the time my checked bag came, the radio had almost finished playing "On a night like this" by Kylie Minogue. I also recorded some of the baggage claim audio announcements.
After I claimed my checked bag, I walked to the rail station where I had to pay about 15,000 Lire, about € 7.50, for a one way ticket from the airport to Milano Cadorna - near the location of the Last Supper painting, and the castle that I prounounced as Sforzeco, which is actually Sforzesco. I think it was about 8:30 AM when I made it to the station platform, and the train had not yet arrived. I boarded the train about 8:40 AM, and when I turned on my video camera, it was still on San Francisco time. I managed to set it to the right time.
On this journey, I had a celebrity "offscreen companion", the longest of which was none other than Roberto Benigni, for the Italian and Ticino portions, so pretty much where Italian was the official language. Arnold Schwarzenegger had a short cameo role for the Austrian side. I did not have anyone for the French or German parts in Switzerland. So in the videos if you watch them, Roberto Benigni will appear now and again, but only in the Italian-speaking regions.
The train departed at 8:47 AM. It went through a couple of tunnels, particularly through Busto Arsizio. The conductor checked my ticket about 9 AM and told me that there was a scioperò in Milan. A scioperò is a strike, and that day it would be for the metro and "passante" suburban railway system but not the train I was on. At 9:08 AM the train arrived in Saronno. Saronno is where they make amaretto, or almond liqueur. They even make biscuits with the flavoring. The train went to Bovisa station, the first station in Milan, and arrived at 9:19 AM. I had been to Bovisa on 26th July 1998 while making a visit from my then-home in Munich to Zürich and Milan and back to Munich.
By the time that the train arrived at Cadorna, it was 9:28 AM. It took about twenty minutes to get a cab, as the metro lines 1 and 2 were not operating due to the scioperò. I managed to get a cab at 9:50 AM, and we went by Porta Garibaldi and Via Melchiorre Gioia to Centrale FS, central station. We made it there about 10:20 AM, with enough time to buy a seat reservation for the 11:05 AM train to Verona Porta Nuova, where I would change to a train to Innsbruck. In the meantime I listened to a few songs, "Sing it back" by Moloko, "Holding on to you" by Heather Small of M People and "Spanish Guitar" Mousse T remix by Tony Braxton. At 11 AM I had the Tam Tam Network on, I think it was on 105.1 FM. There was a news report, before they played "Toca's Miracle" by Fragma, then "Like an Angel" by Web as well as "Around the world" by ATC. I really liked listening to Tam Tam Network when I was in Milan.
The train left about 11:05 AM. I shared a compartment with American tourists, and not by choice. I only had to put up with them until I got to Verona. The train went eastbound and stopped only at Brescia and Peschiera. If you see Lago di Garda, do not get off at the first stop Peschiera. Stay on until you arrive at the larger stop. While the train was between Brescia and Peschiera, I listened to "Gimme some" by Jimmy Bo Horne, "Una questione di sguardi" by Paola Turci - Italian-language cover version of Faith Hill's "This kiss", and "I'm outta love" by Anastacia. I think also “Wrap me up” by Alex Party
The train arrived about 1 PM in Verona Porta Nuova. I had a tight connection to the Intercity train to Innsbruck via Trento, Bolzano/Bozen, Brennero and Innsbruck. I made it on in good time. I had a seat in the first class compartment, this time with Italians. The train arrived about 3:45 PM at Brenner, the border between Italy and Austria. At Brenner there is a very clear distinction as to where the border is, there is a big sign for Italy as "Italia", and one for Austria as "Österreich". Brennero is where the Italian locomotive would be removed and shunted back to the Italian side, and the ÖBB locomotive would be added to the train to continue until about Kufstein at the German border, or maybe at Rosenheim. The border checks were random. The train went on to Innsbruck Hbf and arrived about 4:45 PM. Roberto Benigni departed the train at Brennero and was replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger who was going just from Brennero to Innsbruck. He did not say much. I did not see or hear him any time after arriving at Innsbruck Hbf.
My hotel was in the suburb of Igls, which was in the foothills of Innsbruck. It was where the 1964 Winter Olympics were held, specifically the Men's Downhill alpine skiing events were held. You can read more about this in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patscherkofel. To get there you could take either bus line "J" or the tram line "6", known also as the Mittelgebirgsbahn. The story about the latter is disappointing, especially with the most recent rolling stock. The rolling stock that I rode the 6th September 2000 originally was from Bielefeld, Germany. Also, at the time, tram line 6 was able to go from Hauptbahnhof directly to Igls. Recently it was separated from the rest of the Innsbruck tram network, and operates only from Bergisel to Igls. The German-language Wikipedia page mentions that line 6 was ended but now it runs on a Sunday schedule 7 days a week.
I had to buy a 24 hour local transit pass. It would be good as far as Igls Patscherkofelbahn cable car stop, the last stop in line J, and also for tram line 6 for its entire route to Igls. When I took the line 6 to Igls, It kind of went on the southeast side of Innsbruck, and to Bahnhof Igls on Oberexerstraße. I had to find the Pension Oswald on Badhausstraße 10 from there. I had to wald down Lanser Straße to the Landesbank, turn east onto Bilgeristraße which eventually turned into Badhausstraße. I checked into the Pension about 6 PM. I put my luggage in my room, a single room with a bathtub but not a shower. Breakfast would not be served until at least 8 AM. I had to go into town to buy groceries. There was a SPAR grocery store still open. I bought some ice tea, Erdnußflips (something like peanut flavored cheetos), sliced wheat bread, lunchmeat and cheese, and also some chocolate. I ate in my room, watched TV, some in German and some in English, listened to the radio, recorded "No more turning back" which I think was sung by Brigitte Nielsen and went to bed.
I think I woke up very early, around 3:40 AM and in spite of the weather I chose to go on a morning walk.
I hope you will join me again in the next story, Thursday 7th September 2000.
Buona notte! Gute Nacht! Bonne nuit! Good night!
