People we meet on the train

The morning in fashion-conscious Milano dawned way too late after another night of jetlag deprived sleep. Before long it was time to say goodbye to Hotel Atena and head for the station. Italy really is a great place to visit and enjoy all things Italian. A country that has definate priorities. I noticed in the classic hotel breakfast room that the drinks on sale were priced E2.50 for soft drink yet E1.50 for beer.

Outside the hotel the slow but steady Number 9 tram pulled to a halt and I boarded for the start-stop journey to the Central Station for my train to Zurich. Being Monday morning it seems that half the populaiton of Milan was at the station. The other half were about to arrive on the arriving trains. The ticket windows were barely open, the queues were long and it was just 2 minutes to departure before I had my ticket for Zurich.

The trian was soon filled to capacity and I found myself sitting next to, not surprisingly, an Italian. Turns out he too is involved in the coffee industry and was visiting Milan for the SIC. Andrea Greco is a green bean coffee trader based in Sicily. Having completed his economics degree he has started work in his father's business learning the ropes for the past two years.

At the Milan show he was visiting clients and meeting the other show attendees. He already has very good English language skills but is hoping to travel to perhaps England where he can more intensly develop his languages.

Today is a day of rest for him before flying back to Siciliy this evening. For his day of rest he is catching the train to the Swiss lakeside town of Lugano. He enjoys travelling and seeing new places when he isn't wotking 6 days trading gree coffee beans.

When at home in Mascalucia he enjoys fishing, tennis and of course is a keen supporter of Milan Football club. He had even managed to fit in a visit at a suppliers box at San Siro soccer stadium on Sunday afternoon.

After he left the train I detected some other Australian accents "in range" on the time. Two adventurous ladies from Hobart were on an 8 week Eurail trip of Europe. They seemed pretty happy and I was pretty jealous as I recalled my months of backbacking across the continent.

Trains - just didn't have enough tme to meet everone in the carriage.