Late Night Bite is part of Punxsutawney TPOL Trip Report.
TPOL’s Tip: Upon arriving to a new city, proceed with urgency to the hotel. You don’t know how a few minutes wasted can affect an evening (see all TPOL’s Travel Lessons here).
I arrived in Milan at 9PM. The Hyatt Centric Centrale is one hour by bus. Instead of going right to the hotel, I thought it was cute to stop by a small bodega for a beer located in the square of the central train station. Not only did I encounter questionable characters but also found myself walking around central Milan with an open container, wondering if it were illegal as it is in the US.
When I finally arrived at the Hyatt, I was hungry but it was 10:30PM. I was told of a nice restaurant around the corner that closed at twelve. I was told that I could leave my bags and check-in after I went for a late dinner. Since I wasn’t going to be long in the room, I thought I had plenty of time. It was not until I got to the room that I realized that my watch did not sync to the new time zone. It was in fact 11:30PM.
Despite arriving at 11:40PM, I was told that the kitchen was closed. As we wandered around the city, we were turned away from one restaurant to the next. With only one night in Milan, I began to curse my decision to stop for a beer and lament my failure to account for the change in the timezone as Milan is one hour ahead of Manchester.
Finally, we came across a restaurant with a red awning that said ‘Grill’ & ‘Hamburger’. With no other choices, we decided to give it a try. Since we did not have a green QR code and since they did not understand that our US vaccine card was technically sufficient, we were forced to eat outside. Fortunately, it was a warm evening and there were space heaters.
TPOL’s TIP: The location is Via Ruggero Boscovich, 22, 20124 Milano MI, Italy.
On the one hand, wine, cheese, and pasta bolstered my belief that I could live in Italy. On the other, the inflexibility with time and the hassle of the QR code reminded me of Puerto Rico, undercutting my belief that I would want to live in Italy.
Thank you for the report – how was the Hyatt? Benefits? Breakfast?
During our 6-weeks Italian trip last summer (Rome, Florence, Cinque Terre, Pisa, Venice, and Milano), we encountered many questionable characters, rude service, and thieving taxi-drivers, especially in Milano. In fact, in Milan, we were thrown out of one restaurant for requesting a more extensive menu. Nevertheless, the trip as whole was one of the best we have had, and Italy not only amazing but also a prefect travel destination.
https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=17726320%40N03&sort=interestingness-desc&text=Italy&view_all=1
Comes out tomorrow. Nice pic!