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Published: July 24th 2011
After anxiously crossing the days off my calendar I finally arrived in Milan, Italy! I think that after living in rainy England for so long I had forgotten what sunshine was, but I was quickly reminded after being greeted by amazing weather at the Malpensa airport. In fact, the weather has been lovely the entire trip!
I spent the first few days in Italy just outside of Milan at my friend Gabriele's house in a place called Lonate Pozzolo. First off, Gabriele (Gabri) is a friend of mine that I work with at the Bel and the Dragon in Reading, so the first day in Italy we spent relaxing and enjoying the fact that we weren't cooking/serving food. We went to an amazing gelato shop and had the most delicious ice cream I have ever tasted. It is a good thing they don't make ice cream like that in Canada or else we would all be a pretty fat bunch. The second day Gabri took me into Milan and we explored the city. When we came out of the subway we arrived into the Piazza Duomo, a large square in the middle of the city. As we walked around the
streets of Milan it looked as though we were walking through a Vogue magazine....D&G, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, etc. etc....AMAZING! We looked through a few shops, shared a bottle of vino bianco on an outdoor terrace and then headed back. This is the main thing I learned in Milan is I need to make a lot of money so that I can go back and spend it all!
On Wednesday we headed to Rimini which is on the east coast of Italy. Rimini is a beach city which is full of beach side hotels, bars and restaurants! We stayed at a hotel called Regina Elena, which is a hotel where Gabri used to work a few years ago. The first day we were there we went straight to one of the beach side bars called Barrumba and had some delicious cocktails (mojitos to be precise)! In my opinion, drinking mojitos on the beach is the best start to a holiday! On day 2 we soaked in some much needed Vitamin D by laying on the beach for a few hours and lounging by the pool. I didn't realise just how much sunshine I had been lacking in the UK until
I stepped out onto the beach in my pasty white skin next to hundreds of very tanned Italians. I definitely had some catching up to do! I have made an okay start on the tan, but bring on Dubai and Kenya! My slight fear of the ocean was overcome as I risked going into the water, but it sure didn't last long. I ventured out into the ocean up to my knees and suddenly felt a sharp pinch on my foot. I screamed and started jumping about. Luckily, Gabri was there to calm me down and tell me it was probably just a sharp rock. He reached his arm down into the ocean to grab some sand/shells to prove his point, saying "see, the only thing in this ocean is....." only to pull out a massive live crab! I ran out of the ocean as fast as I could! Being bitten on the foot by an Italian crab is enough to keep me out of the ocean for a while! haha! Later on that day we went to the hotel spa and relaxed in the steam room, sauna, hot tub, salt pool and finished it off with an ice shower
Milan
Courtney and Gabri in Milan at Piazza Duomo(brrr!!!). That night we went to an outdoor club on the beach called Cocconuts which was so cool. They played mainly english music except they only played the main bits of the chorus (the bits that people knew the words to) and then cut the middle bits out and replaced it with dance music. It was pretty funny since everyone knew the words (Kind of) but had NO idea what the words meant. On day three we woke up and went to a beautiful little town called Santarcangelo which is built on a hill with a castle on the top. The town is classic Italy....little side streets, bright colored old houses, cobbled stone walkways, etc. We walked up to the top of the hill which overlooked the entire town to take picture....it looked like it was straight out of a postcard!! Gorgeous!! That night we went to a restaurant called O'Maloom which is in a community called San Patrignano. San Patrignano is a community for people suffering from alcoholism/drugs that are trying to get themselves back on there feet, so they work in this area to help them recover and gain skills to re-enter the world once they get better.
Basically, the community is full of restaurants, vineyards, farms, etc for these people to work at. The restaurant we went to is on top of a small mountain and overlooks the entire valley. They are known for there pizza and I got pizza with burata cheese, cullatello and dill, and it may have been the best thing I have ever eaten in my life. Gordon Ramsey watch out!
I am now back at Gabri's and getting ready for the next lag od the trip (Dubai/Kenya). I looked at the weather forcast for Dubai for the next few days..... 47 deg and feels like 51degC. oh boy.....I wonder if my Canadian skin is going to be able to handle this! Don't worry Susan, I have the SPF 50 packed and ready to be applied/re-applied every 3-5 hours as suggested.
I am off to start packing. I will keep everyone updated! Love and miss you all!
Ciao!
xoxo,
Courtney E
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Geraldine Campbell
non-member comment
How interesting
Thank you for sharing your trip with us. It was written so well, could just picture it in my mind. Can't wait to read about your next adventure. Be safe and have fun.