Marie Javins's Blog, page 15

Holiday Hack

I tried a little experiment at Newark Airport today. Had a Lyft drop me at the Airtrain station at P4, to avoid the traffic on the loop around the terminals.

Massive success. Empty drop-off point, only one stop to Terminal C.

Time Lapse

A day or so of catio action.

Action!

Squirrel!

Fun to Watch, Though

I had to go into Manhattan on a Tuesday morning, so I got a Blossoming Hot Chocolate. 

The novelty lasts only seconds.

Cat HOA Approved

I got a fancy new house for the semi-wild cats who live in the convent yard (and by extension, on my patio/catio).

It's basically an insulated barrel with some vents and a doorway. I took out the cushion and replaced it with the straw from one of the DIY Rubbermaid bin houses, so it would at least smell familiar.

The gray cat, Gigi, was instantly on-board. Our orange buddy Jay Garrick is still working it out.

Triple-Vaxxed

I went to Hoboken CVS to get a Moderna booster based on various articles about what a twice-vaxxed Pfizer gal oughta do.

My main post-booster side effect seems to be a deep desire to eat cookies.

Heading Home from Newark Airport

I shooed a pigeon off the PATH train, so that kinda makes up for me letting one into that coffee shop in Venice.

A Real Visit This Time

Twenty years ago, on December 1st, I boarded a train in Rome, connected via Milan, and spent the night on a couchette headed to Zurich. I had one or two cracked ribs, was on antibiotics for a respiratory infection, and my left side was still covered in bruises from the Ethiopian Isuzu crash. But I was recovering after the aid of an Italian doctor, and I had just enough energy to leave the Milan train platform to walk outside to see the grand hall of the station, and then walked out front to glance around.

The area in front of the Milan train station at night didn’t tell me much about Milan, and after 11 months of local transport travel, I was uninspired by my quick glance around. Plus, I was looking forward to my trip on the Bernina Express through the Alps. I wasn’t really there for Milan.

I still haven’t been to Italy for Milan, but I did manage to leave the station this time. I’d booked my Thanksgiving journey to Venice on Monday for a Tuesday night departure, which didn’t give me much leeway on availability and price. Flights to Venice were expensive, and Milan flights were cheap, so my path forward was clear. I bought my roundtrip ticket to Milan and caught the Venice train out of that same station I was in back in 2001.

Saturday afternoon I finally left the train station, checked into a nearby Best Western (chosen for being two blocks from the airport bus), and headed onto the Milan metro to go to the meeting point for a walking tour with a group called City Wonders. https://citywonders.com/milan-tours/l...

Three hours of walking around tourist attractions was plenty, but worth it for the 15-minute viewing of The Last Supper…which was pretty weird once I thought about it. A bunch of Jesus guys all dressed in contemporary styles of the time in which Da Vinci painted it. But okay, it’s still an amazing painting with so many stories stuffed into a single image. Like a comic.

What a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. I’m so glad I finally got out of the Milan train station.

Try Something New

This seems to be a ball of pistachio cream. Gonna investigate as soon as I find my titanium spork.

From Venice to Milan by Train

Buon giorno. My time in Venice has drawn to a close. Taking the morning train back to Milan.