Transit Strike

Every once in a while, the transit system strikes for various reasons relating to expired contracts, renewals and salary renegotiations. It's complicated. Often you will have advanced notice that it will occur. The strike usually affects bus, metro and trams. That being said, the thought that you cannot get somewhere can be quite an inconvenience if you rely upon mass transit for your mode of transport. A shared frustration among thousands of people. Luckily the strike lasts less than a day and then the pace resumes back to normal. Yesterday, I automatically thought to myself "yikes, this never happens in Portland." Suddenly I realized...it is not exactly the same, however it does remind me of the "jam sessions" of commuting to/from Portland everyday. How "taking your place in line" was just part of the day. And by "jam sessions" I don't mean turning up the music and singing along to ease the pain of the wait. (Ok, perhaps that was also done a time or two). We've all done it. I mean each and every lane, side street, off ramp, on ramp jammed with cars. Having a car in Milan is possible, but the parking...nearly impossible! You may have heard my short stories of double, triple parking and even on sidewalks. The Milanese can be quite creative when it comes to parking! They use every.inch.available. Summing it up, I guess the occasional inconvenient strike is not so bad after all. I would happily take the metro* any day. Stay tuned tomorrow for my observations & adventures of driving in Milano. :)

Tram in Milan

* metropolitana/subway