Upcoming train and plane strikes in Italy

Can't find anything on the web about the local public transportation strike rumored for tomorrow, Thursday, June 19. In Milan, bus, tram and metro strikes are usually from 8:30 A.M. to 3 P.M., with a brief break, and then again from 6 P.M. to the end of service. Let the traveller beware.

While trying to verify that, however, I did find information about proposed upcoming strikes for planes and trains in Italy:...More......

--22 June, Meridiana airlines (from midnight to midnight) and ENAV (the union for flight stewards and stewardesses, from 10 A.M. to 6 P.M.),

--5 July, Livingston (whatever THAT is, from 12 or 12:30 noonish to 4 or 4:30 P.M.) and both Meridiana (again) and AVIA (ground assistance...so that also might mean bags...for Linate and Malpensa, from midnight to midnight)

--12 July, trains from 9 P.M. on the 12th until 9 P.M. on the 13th

--20 July, Meridiana airlines (...), for 24 hours...probably from midnight to midnight.

To cheer you up, here's a snap in a train station in, I'm pretty sure, Chennai, India, that I snapped in the days right after Christmas, last year.

Want to check for yourself (in Italian)? Go to the strike page of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation (Ministero delle Infrastrutture e dei Trasporti).

Enjoy the snap...endure the strikes, what else can be done?

Like dogs and cats? 7-8 June "Paws" festival!

This scruffily cute Fido isn't too sure he wants to be on the tram, but you can take him, anyway, to the "Quattro zampe in fiera" (Four Paws in a Trade Fair) in the neighboring city of Novegro, pretty easily reached with public transportation....More......

As the organizers say, 'it's not a competition, it's a chance for dog lovers to get together, share their experiences and buy stuff.' This last point crucial to the continuing success of the event, of course.

All in Italian, but there's fun stuff to be experienced: free dog school lessons, a dog dance, dog agility, retrieving, lots of cat breeds to discover, seminars, a red carpet area for special viewings and...a restaurant where you and Fido and Fluffy can eat, together.

The entrance fee is E. 10, online pre-sale E. 6; kids, dogs and cats enter free-of-charge.
Saturday hours: 10 AM to 8 PM
Sunday hours: 9 AM to 7 PM

To go with public transportation (BEWARE, you'll need the regular ticket AND the supplement), take the 73 to the Linate Airport, then take either the 923 (direction: H.S. Raffaele, i.e., S. Raffaele Hospital) or the 930 (direction: Peschiera Borromeo) for just a few stops, and get off at the Via Novegro/Parco Esposizioni stop, then walk the short distance down via Novegro to the entrance. (These two last busses go only once a half an hour [!], so check the ATM web site for departure times, or you might even want to hoof it, I'm guessing that it would take about 15 minutes on foot.)

Quattro zampe in fiera

Parco Esposizioni Novegro
Via Novegro (no street number), Segrate
tel. 02 70200022

Thinking of going by car? The parking fee at the nearby official parking lot is E. 2.50 for all day. BEWARE of the illegal and unofficial parking farther from the center and more costly. For a map, go here.

I snapped Fido on the 2nd of March of this year.

Enjoy!