Supersonic's all mattering Bon Jovi in Milan review

The Chiesa di San Salvatore. Fun fact (Sorry, I should’ve been using more of these), the church is being used for concerts as well. Imagine Richie playing here. It holds 340 people, so he’d probably be selling it out twice. Like Jon’s desert, you know. Much like many other churches this one was destroyed, rebuild, destroyed and again rebuild. All because of that thing called war we have every few hundred years here. It’s quite odd how churches get rebuild all the time yet houses destroyed by the same bombings are left to rot. The power of religion?

Because we still had plenty of time le brother asked what was left on the list, and I told him there was only one blue balloon left but it would be quite a detour from the rest. LET’S DO IT he said. And we proceeded to another uphill climb passing by loads and loads of scooters. On the top of the hill we found Santa Maria Assunta, yes, you guessed it, another old cathedral. On top of this hill I found out that most of the old center of Genoa has been labeled a UNESCO World Heritage Site, meaning the place has been of great importance for the common heritage of humanity. In other words, many ancient buildings on one small site. When looking at the Santa Maria Assunta I found myself wondering if the building was being restored or something. Lots of places in Italy have been bombed by Ze Zjermans in the second world war, and I wondered if some damages in the paintwork were because of bad restoration work earlier.



You can’t really see it on the picture but the left half round window has a damaged paintwork above it. Also, the top of the small towers in the between the square towers and the dome are of different colour. Maybe one’s in the sun more often? We didn’t feel like asking because of the shoddy English people speak in Italy and we went back to our blue balloons.

Did I mention the plus side of traveling in low season? Emtpy squares. Empty squares everywhere.



Quite positively the most beautiful square I’ve ever been to. The Piazza Ferrari. No Ferrari’s though. I wouldn’t mind having a room or something here, I’ll park the Ferrari somewhere else. After this we walked back to the station, had a bite to eat and got on, what according to everyone’s stories, would be one of the most beautiful train journeys of Europe.

You be the judge, the following pictures are taken from the train:



Leaving Genua…



Every little village we passed had at least one small church or castle in it, clearly showing where each village was started a long, long time ago.




The train followed the coastline pretty much from start to finish, and we got closer and closer to the Mediterranean Sea, which was quite a sight.




Ever seen such a beautiful view from outside your train? The track was just 2 meters away from the sea.



We’re almost entering Ventimiglia now, the place for our transfer. By now our train was 10 minutes late and considering we had no ticket for the next train ánd our transfer already waiting for us I told the brother to go get the ticket while I’d try convincing the staff to wait for us. Sooo with that in mind he ran to the ticket stalls on the other side of the station while I grabbed the bags and ran to the conductor who was waiting for everyone to get on board. “We haven’t got our ticket yet, please wait for my brother”. “You can buy a ticket on board sir, we’re leaving.” I got on my knees and made a begging gesture and said “But my brother’s buying a ticket now, let me please go get him!” “No we’re leaving” “Please we’ve got to get on board of this train.” “Alright you go get your brother.” And I ran down the stairs, to the ticket machines, saw my brother have a chat with someone, yelled to him that he should make it back ‘cause we could buy the ticket on board, ran back to the platform, back up the stairs, grabbed the bags and said “He’s on his way!” and went on board. I sat down, completely out of breath, my brother and this other fella he met got in, train closed the doors and left. And what was the first thing my brother said? Thank you? Nope. Well done? Nope. “WOW YOU’VE GOT A POOR CONDITION BEING SO OUT OF BREATH LOOK AT ME I RAN THE SAME DISTANCE AND AM FINE”. Yeah but you ran it once you fool. Anyway, moving on. He bought the ticket on board of the train and then we had a chat with that other fella. Turned out he was from Dublin and also had no idea how to get a ticket. It was nice talking to someone who spoke English like us Gentlemen do. It also turned out we had the last train to Nice. If that train wouldn’t have waited for us we’d have been ****ed. Well, poor choice of words there but you get the idea. Try getting a hotel at 11 in the evening in bumble**** middle of nowhere. What did I learn? Always check if you’re on the last train, and then book one before that. It was getting dark real fast now, so no more fancy pictures. Once we arrived we checked into our hotel, and went to sleep.

The next morning I woke up, had a look outside the window and enjoyed the view.



Well, at least there were flowers of some sorts. None of it really mattered though, it’s not as if you book a hotel room for the view. Well, I don’t, and with another plan of sightseeing ahead of us we went to the Russian Cathedral. Yeah, a Russian cathedral. In the early nineteenth century wealthy Russians visited Nice often for its fashionshows, and eventually settled there as well. And what do people do when they settle somewhere? Exactly, they build churches. Does this remind you of something? Mosques everywhere? NOOO CAN’T HAVE THAT EVIL EVIL…What do you know, it’s been happening for centuries. Anyway, it is quite odd to see a building like this in the middle of an otherwise quite Western looking city.



It was the first time I was told not to enter though because of wearing shorts, and I wasn’t allowed to take pictures either. I hadn’t noticed the sign though (being the usual ignorant tourist) so I clicked and then was told not to do such thing. I actually showed the staff that I deleted the picture on my phone, which I actually did, much to their delight. Yes, I am such a great example to every one of you.

Moving on to the coastline it turned out they were preparing for the Tour de France. I had no idea because all the news reported about over here is Armstrong, as opposed to the actual start of the tour, but it was quite a sight to see all the barricades being setup in less than an hour, and then all the sponsors having their stands at the beach. I’d never visited the tour before but the amount of money involved is mind blowing, just as the behavior from people when sponsors offer something for free. GOTTA HAVE THOSE STICKERS. FIVE, NO SIX OF THEM. Grown-ups acting like children when being offered a sample bar of soap, quite amusing really.

We walked to what was probably the highlight of Nice, the view over the city from the ancient cemetery. Yes, that does sound weird but I’ll explain. On top of one of the hills near Nice is an ancient cemetery, including a bit of foreign ruins. The hill is now a tourist attraction and although a bit of a climb if offers a beautiful view over the city. On maps it indicates that there is a watchtower on the hill which is supposedly a beautiful sight, but this turned out to be bullshit. I reckon the only reason its portrayed on every map is because of there being an elevator in it, and this bringing in money with all the tourists too lazy to climb. BUT NOT US. Once on top, this is what we got to see;




Not bad eh?

Going back down on the other side of the hill we got a look over the small harbor and with plenty of time left we decided to visit the museum of contemporary art in Nice. The thing with contemporary art, and in fact most art, is that you should get rid of the thought that you need to understand something in order to like it. It’s odd how people can understand this thought process with music rather easily (not many know how it’s composed) yet with something they see it’s a completely different thing. More often than not you hear “I can make that as well!” when something simplistic is on display. Yet can you also come up with the idea itself? With this in mind we went inside and although a lot of it is still garbage to me, we enjoyed the visit. Afterwards we had a few hours left to spare so we took the climb to the monastery on top of the highest hill in Nice. But first, dinner. Or lunch. Breakfast maybe? I can’t remember, I eat when I’m hungry, not when it’s time.

The climb was long, very long. For my brother. Because although he said he was starving, the burger he had was not properly cooked, so halfway through our wonderful walk up the mountain, the burger wanted out. But who’s complaining? Well, he was. You know that kid that’s always nagging you in the backseat of the car asking for the toilet? Yes, that was him. He didn’t really appreciate my jokes though (honestly, I made pretty good ones), and by the time we’d arrived at the monastery it turned out to be closed for renovation.



I laughed, he didn’t, oh we had such a good time. The walk back was better though, and the houses and hotels build there are just stunning.



By the time we were back in the city we had to go pick up our bags to head to the airport. We took the bus, and it turned out it’s 2 busses driving up and down all the time. When the one arrives at the airport, the other one heads back into the city. Considering how it was rush hour, needless to say our bus was a bit late. No worries though, we were very much on time, and the weather was great so no need to complain. We checked in, and our plane left on time. When taking off I thought it really was the most beautiful place to be taking off. The airport is built on the sea, so when taking off you first fly over the sea and then directly to the mountains. Really nice.




By the time we got home it was late in the evening. We took the train back to the parking garage, I dropped my brother off at his place and drove back home. This truly was a great holiday. No one was bitching, great weather, a good night out in a beautiful city and just all around really, really great. If you’re still reading, you can probably figure out that this holiday didn’t have much to do with Bon Jovi at all. Sure, there was the concert there, but without it I think it’s fair to say that it would’ve been great anyway. So yeah, for those wondering why I travel abroad for Bon Jovi shows, it’s mostly because the Bon Jovi show can be the icing on the cake, but if they’re not, I’ll always have enough things that’ll interest me so I don’t wind up spending all that money on a few concerts. I’ll never understand fans who’ve seen nothing but airports and stadiums while travelling all over Europe or America. By now, I know how to travel pretty much everywhere in Western Europe. I recently found out how cheap Eastern Europe can be though, so if the band are coming back I’ll most likely spend my time there. As for now, this’ll be it for a while. Like most of you, I’m completely done with Bon Jovi, hence this review taking ages to finish. It’s done now though, and with Metallica, McCartney, Stereophonics, Clapton and the Stones heading to Europe this summer, and a trip to Cambodia for September, it’s going to be tough getting it all together. Then again…with a bit of planning.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

When reading this review it's all coming back to me again and it reminds me of the beautiful weather we've had. I would not rate Torino that high compared to Milan but in the end I enjoyed Genova the most with the good weather, nice streets, beautiful churches and overall relaxed atmosphere.

I salute you,
TS
'The Brother'

Great review and travel tips/guide. I appreciate your insights into the show. Sounds like an amazing encore. I loved the travel pics too - someday I'll make it to Italy...

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A nice read.

You should write for a Music / Travel magazine. I'm sure one must exist somewhere

I need a day off to read this

Too bad this whole review took you more than half a year. Not a bad attempt though .

A little bit self obsessed - I'd much prefer more gig content and less Judith Chalmers. Sounds like a bog standard city break with a cracking gig in between. I've recently come back from Amsterdam at the weekend. Who wants to see my holiday snaps?

Here's my concert trip routine.

WAKE UP AROUND 1PM

EAT A FRIED BREAKFAST

GO TO A BAR NEAR THE VENUE AND GET ABSOLUTELY PISSED

ATTEND CONCERT AND CONTINUE TO DRINK HEAVILY

LEAVE CONCERT - HEAD TO BAR AND CONTINUE DRINKING

PASS OUT SOMEWHERE

THE END

Or you could be boring and do what the flying Dutchman did in his million word ode to middle age.