Countdown 'til the covers are pulled back from the new metro trains and eco buying

Looking for something to do this weekend, maybe with the kids? Curious about new technology, or just nosy? Want to know more about the little and big things you can do to live a more ecologically sustainable life? Here you go!

From the 29th of March to the 13th of April, 10 A.M. to 7 P.M., the new trains of Milan's metro will be on display free-of-charge in the Duomo's piazza.

Not your style?

How about eco consumerism? You can see (and, I'll bet, even buy) new and favorite products on display at the 11th national commercial show of conscientious buying, ecological concepts and life styles, "Fa la cosa giusta!" (Do the right thing!). Where? Fiera City in downtown Milan (MM1 Lotto-Fiera). You wanna know something more, like how much it costs to get in? Their web site is in English, too!.

For your personal, non-commercial viewing pleasure, I snapped this shot on the 20th of May 2013, and then retouched it this morning with PhotoShop thanks to all I'm learning from my teacher, Beppe. Thanks, too, to my sweet friends Etta and Giorgio who encouraged me to take the class. I'm having lots of fun and learning lots of useful stuff!

Enjoy!












FIRST FEW LINES HERE...More......REST OF MESSAGE HERE

May Day, May Day...! Will the public transportation be available?

May Day! May Day!

The public transportation service will not be normal on the first of May, a public holiday. Instead, it will run in Milan from 7 A.M. to 7:30 P.M. (too bad that the ATM English language pages of the web site are not complete...you would have missed this news, had you depended on THEM!).

Beware, too, on the 30th of April...Saturday hours will be in force on this pre-holiday day.

Check the websites for the public transportation of other cities.

Hope this helps!

Enjoy!

Freshen up your house at the international furniture trade fair, April 17-22, Milan

That sofa looking a bit ragged? Living room looking a bit drab? Brighten things up on a big scale at the international furniture trade fair in Milan (April 17-22), in the 'new' fairgrounds and convention center in the suburb twin city of Rho-Pero: http://www.cosmit.it/en/salone_internazionale_del_mobile (hey, it's in ENGLISH!).

NOTE: "Open to the general public only on Saturday, April 21, and Sunday, April 22." (P.S., April 21st is Rome's birthday...happy birthday, Rome!)

Take the handy subway out...but forewarned is forearmed. The convention center is outside the circle of the standard public transportation fee, so there's a surcharge on the basic round-trip ticket. Get the skinny (in English, yeah!), here: http://new.atm-mi.it/en/ViaggiaConNoi/Biglietti/Pages/BigliettiRhoFiera.aspx.

Taxis waiting next to the Cadorna station...yesterday

Taxis waiting at Cadorna's side exit, mid-morning yesterday.

Don't expect to see them waiting, today.

There's a national taxi strike, today, from 8 A.M. to 10 P.M....More......

Arriving in Milan's Linate Airport? Take the Linate Express, bus X73, E. 1.50, Monday-Friday, 7 A.M.-8 P.M. For the price of a regular bus ticket (E.1.50), in about a half an hour it goes nonstop to Piazza San Babila at the other end of Corso Vittorio Emanuele behind the Duomo. On normal (non-strike, non-trade fair) days, there are taxis at the stand, there, waiting to whisk you to your destination. The general area is well-served by bus, tram and metro.

Arriving at Milan's Malpensa Airport? Take the Malpensa Express: http://www.malpensaexpress.it/en/index.php. It's a fast and easy "trenino" (little/light train) that costs only E. 11 one way. Some are nonstop, some stop at a few places along the way. Some get into the Cadorna station (in the general area of the Sforza castle, so still quite central), some now get into the Stazione Centrale. At both, taxis usually are waiting just outside all exits...but not today. From either train station, bus, tram and metro transportation is easy to the rest of the city.

New to town, and worried that the tram, bus, metro (subway) and "passante" (urban light train) indications on your map may be old? Have an iPhone? Then you're in luck. There's an app for checking Milan's public transportation system, see my: http://mymilanitaly.blogspot.com/2011/06/photoless-friday-16-got-smart-phone.html.

A word to the wise is sufficient...no matter how tired and frazzled you are, do not give in to the temptation to take a pirate taxi.

How do you know?

If someone comes up to you furtively, whispering "taxi, taxi," you can be sure it's a pirate taxi.

These are private individuals working under the table without licenses, without safety controls, without training and without insurance.

I think you get the picture.

Good luck!

Ghosts of riders past, present and future

While I confer with my artist friend about which pictures I snapped in his studio yesterday to put on my blog, here's another of my metro snaps....More......

People in bright colors, especially red, are eye-catching, and while the (slow) mechanism of my digital camera was going off, someone in bright yellow walked past, leaving a ghostly trail, a superimposed soul.

I saw the person in yellow coming towards us out of the corner of my eye, and--now that I'm familiar with the rhythm of my camera--pressed just in time for the snap to be taken just as the person was passing...one example of my "light painting" techniques for your personal, non-commercial viewing.

Enjoy!

Milan's metro...again

I love taking purposefully blurry shots that capture the perpetual motion of living in a big city. Here's one from that misty day a few Sundays ago.

Enjoy!

Hopper-ish in Milan's Metro

For privacy reasons, I (usually) avoid snapping people...unless they're unrecognizable for one reason or another.

Here, the folk are too far away...and too busy to look at the camera...to be identified.

A Hopper-ish moment in Milan's Metro.

Enjoy!