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Published: April 14th 2012
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Sorry for the delay in getting this out, but my computer got overly protective and woiuldn't connect me to the big bad world of the internet until I told it I was using a nice friendly home connection, not a public one.
After 24 hours (for me, less for Sally) of sitting on airplanes and schlepping through airports, with airplane traffic backed up on the runway waiting to take off from Newark airport, and lots of switching of trains underground from Milano’s Malpensa Airport, Sally and I arrived at our “cozy loft” on Via Lancetti. We showered ourselves, did laundry, and headed out for food, which we called lunch since it was mid-afternoon here. We ate at what seemed like a quaint neighborhood restaurant and let the waiter/co-owner, an Indian guy born in Australia, named Ash, serve us whatever he thought would be good. He was very entertaining, and wanted to practice his English, so we got a lot of attention. Then people began arriving in hoards, and we realized the place had lots of rooms going in different directions. There had to be nearly a hundred people there. The strange meal we got, all on one plate,
not served Italian style in several courses, consisted of a batter fried, thin but large pork chop, a mass of saffron risotto, and a few French fries, but it revived us. Sally later read her Rick Steve’s book and discovered that the saffron rice is a specialty of Milano. The batter fried pork chop had no such excuse. However Ash brought us a complementary bottle of wine that redeemed the chop. I asked Ash what he knew of my favorite Italian singer, Anna Tatangello. Turned out he knew her personally and liked her singing, but thought she was arrogant. I jokingly called him a
buggiardo (liar). I didn’t want to hear anything bad about her.
After dinner, we shopped at the super market, so called for the large variety of things it carries, not because of its size, which is miniscule compared to any grocery store in the US. We bought fruit, cheese, yogurt, breakfast cereal, prosciutto, and laundry soap. That was about it for the day, except for a stop at McDonald’s to use their WiFi and have a small ice cream cone. We each had taken a nap, then slept 4 or 5 hours during the night, and we were ready to face the day today, with included getting tickets for a tour tomorrow that will take us many places and get us in to see the
Last Supper. We then had a great seafood salad (see photo), walked a couple miles to the
Naviglio, a canal off the Ticino River, that was used to carry sand and marble to build the Duomo centuries ago. The cruise down the canal in a sightseeing boat, was pleasant, with the added bonus of getting to talk with an 82 year old man who kindly answered some questions I had about how Italy now views WWII and Mussolini.
We’re getting better at figuring out the little tricks to making things work. The dryer has no exhaust hose, so one must empty water from a water collector in the bottom so it has a place to put the water it is extracting from your clothes. Also, you have to turn the power on behind the washer and dryer before pushing the start button, and even then, the washer won’t start until you turn the handle to let water flow to it. To get off the bus or train, you need to push a button to open the door. You need to buy a bus ticket at the tobacco store before you get on—they don’t take cash. When you get on, yu also have stick your bus ticket in a machine that time stamps it unless you want to get a $40 fine if you’re caught without a stamped ticket. It also seems that tipping is really not done very much.
We’re finding people to be very friendly and helpful. A woman at Mcd’s, who is a travel writer and spoke really good English, took a lot of time telling us all the places we should go and marking them on the map. McDonalds seems to be very popular here. So far, I haven’t seen any Starbucks. Tomorrow, we go on the major tour. I brought Flat Stanley with me on the trip for Daniel, a young friend of mine in Rochester NY. Check the photo and you’ll see him there from time to time.
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