Saturday 11, October: Bought another sciarpa before leaving Varenna...a girl can never have too many sciarpe...Jim was cursing the train schedule that left us time to shop one more time in the five available stores!! Arrived in Milan...it's warmer and that's nice, but way more people than tiny Varenna...many more stores though (sorry Jim!). Went for a walk and located a restaurant where we ate when we were here in 2000. Looks like it is no longer run by the same people, but the food is still good. Spent most of the day trying to get away from the crowds...it's people Jim just can't stand!
Sunday 12, October: Went and made a reservation at Da Bruno. It's a restaurant owned by a man from Volterra (thank you Rick Steves), it's just too much of a coincidence so we are going to celebrate our one month anniversary there tomorrow. To escape the crowds we did like the rest of the Milanese...we went to the Castello Sforza and it's beautiful, huge, surrounding park. On the way Jim said we should pick up a picnic lunch at the bakery suggested by Rick Steves that is near the castle entrance...a couple hours later after talking to two grumpy giornali guys and one very kind little old lady walking her dog...we got some bread at different bakery (thanks a lot Rick Steves!) and went to the castle. It was beautiful. We sat under the trees (like the rest of the Italians) and listened to the concert going on in another part of the grounds. It was so peaceful and reminded us of our visit to the Borghese Park in Rome (it seems so long ago!!). We returned to our hotel...TV is back and we watched two episodes of "Amici"(Friends) and an episode of "Colombo" (still Colombo). Jim went to bed dreaming of Starchini & Hutchollo....
Sunday 12, October: Went and made a reservation at Da Bruno. It's a restaurant owned by a man from Volterra (thank you Rick Steves), it's just too much of a coincidence so we are going to celebrate our one month anniversary there tomorrow. To escape the crowds we did like the rest of the Milanese...we went to the Castello Sforza and it's beautiful, huge, surrounding park. On the way Jim said we should pick up a picnic lunch at the bakery suggested by Rick Steves that is near the castle entrance...a couple hours later after talking to two grumpy giornali guys and one very kind little old lady walking her dog...we got some bread at different bakery (thanks a lot Rick Steves!) and went to the castle. It was beautiful. We sat under the trees (like the rest of the Italians) and listened to the concert going on in another part of the grounds. It was so peaceful and reminded us of our visit to the Borghese Park in Rome (it seems so long ago!!). We returned to our hotel...TV is back and we watched two episodes of "Amici"(Friends) and an episode of "Colombo" (still Colombo). Jim went to bed dreaming of Starchini & Hutchollo....
Monday 13, October: It has been a true Luna di Miele...one month and they said it wouldn't last (mostly Jim): The day start with...yes, Starchini & Hutchollo....the post office can't be far away! We went on a walk along the Golden Triangle of shopping, every high end, name brand, "oh my gosh can that really be the price", store you have ever heard of is in this area. Lucky for Jim, Milan...is chiuso (closed) on the Monday morning. He seemed to have misplaced the free map by the afternoon. We went to dinner at Da Bruno. They treated us so special and when dinner was over and we were finally able to communicate to the waiter why we had chosen this restaurant for our dinner, the owner came over and brought us a glass of prosecco for a toast, sat down and over a plate of cantucci (I have so missed the cantucci) talked about Volterra with us. He was born in Volterra (his family owns and runs the big alabaster store at the entrance to town) and lived there until he was 26. His job was to bring the alabaster into Milan. One day he had lunch at Da Bruno, and then bought the restaurant. Walked home under a full moon and to complete the evening we found the Grom gelateria of Milan (yum, Pam!!)
Tuesday 14, October: Yes, Starchini & Hutchollo again. We went shopping where we could actually say the prices. Totally irrated the man at the local Cafè over some espresso cups. And then put on our walking shoes for some culture. We went to the Ultima Cena (the Last Supper). We saw it when we were here last time, but it is much more popular now (since Da Vinci Code). The author Dan Brown believes that the painting portrays Jesus sitting next to his wife, Mary and that their bodies form the feminine "V". Jim believes that they are a couple who have been married for a month and a day and are trying to get away from each other.
1 comment:
Sounds like so much fun! Your anniversary meal was just perfect and then to have a private chef later! Did George call ahead for you?
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