On this day theoretically nobody works in Genoa but as I've learned some parts of the city have other patron saints and on those parts it may happen that this holiday is on another day. If you're not lucky (or maybe you are ;-) ) it may happen that for you this day is a holiday but for your wife it isn't.
The company where we work now, is trying to do some cost cutting so since this day is free they forced their employees to take 25 and 26 off also and closed the company on this period. For us this means that we can not work so we searched for a cheap flight and went to Amsterdam.
Genoa is a big city but it is not really frequented by low cost airlines so this is what it means a cheap flight to Amsterdam:
You wake up at 4:45 and go to take the bus to the train station. There you have the pleasant surprise that the ticket machines which are supposed to make your life easier do not accept cash at this early hours and none of your credit cards is suitable for them so you have to wait while the ticket office opens.
Probably not all of you are familiar with the TV Show IT Crowd but there is a part in that show that really matches the behavior of the lady from the ticket office. Check it out to understand what I mean ... especially the first part.
OK! You have the tickets jump on the train to Milano and arrive to Milano Centrale. From there you have to take the shuttle bus to Orio al Serio airport, the base of low cost flights form Milano, which actually is a lot closer to Bergamo.
Another interesting thing is that to save money you have the possibility to make an online check-in but this doesn't mean that if you have a baggage to check in you do not have to stay in the check in line.
Finally up on the cheap plane (you see the irony in it? :) ) from where the view is fantastic as you cross the Alps.
After a smooth flight which took one and a half hour we landed in Eindhoven (still not Amsterdam). As in the joke with the old lady we weren't sure if we landed or were shut down. It was the worst landing I ever had in my life until now and although my colleague told that there was some wind during landing I really do not remember feeling it when we got off the plane.
Eindhoven.
After passing through this city twice, once when we arrived and once when we came back, it really made me curios. Your feeling at the airport, waiting some spaceship called bus over there, the luxury cars with blue plates (these are the cabs) and the buildings and streets you see on your way to the train station, is that you're on another planet. The people form Amsterdam are saying that it is not too much to visit in Eindhoven beside the city center but for me it seems that for sure worth living there. Philips has its headquarter in Eindhoven and they say that Philips made Eindhoven a big, modern, clean city since in the old times it was a small dusty town. I have to check this ... you can check the pictures.
At the train station hundreds of bikes are waiting their owner to ride them home, which gives you the feeling, which later becomes a fact that Netherlands is the country of bikes.
Buying a train ticket in Eindhoven from the ticket machines is also an adventure since those are not accepting cash by default and beside Maestro cards nothing else is good for them.
The positive thing is that in contrary to Italy where at a train station you can find very few peoples speaking English, you will learn in Netherlands, that most of the people speak English and are very helpful, so finding the ticket office and buying the tickets there is not a big issue.
Trains are going at almost every 10 minutes from Eindhoven to Amsterdam and after an hour you finally arrive in Amsterdam after more then 12 hours of travelling.
But is cheap ;-)
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