Last Night in Milan

This is the point in the trip where I don't think I'm doing as good of a job keeping the blog up to date as I probably could be.  My excuse?  We've been going and doing or working or reading or eating, which is why we came.  So, I can't say I'm sorry, but I know that at least a small number of folks back home want to know what we're up to and that we are safe.  For the latter part, I can assure we are and have been.

Since my last long post, we left Paris.  The night before we left was the solstice.  I have to say I just cannot party like a Parisian.  My prohibition against excessive public drunkenness and urination just keep be a bit gauche (not cool, but I think literally, left).  Still, that evening we'd had a lovely dinner in a truly authentic Parisian cafe and strolled down by the Eiffel Tower in what proved to be a great send-off.  Sorry, we forgot the camera.  Which I'm sure was a relief to the drunkards that evening, if they had any shame at all.  Also that evening, we encountered a strike which caused the metro to overflow as people were unable to board the regional trains as normal.  I still haven't fully understood the Paris Metro but what I do know is that the people seem to take it as a community challenge to see how many can fit into the cars, which were laid out by someone who clearly had never actually traveled on the Metro.  Me and the Paris Metro?  Not good friends.  I'd love to go back to Paris and try again.  Next time we go, we'll make sure to stay somewhere chic, eat lots of pain au chocolat, hire a driver, rent the Louvre to ourselves for the day and hit the fromagerie when it is open.  Oh, and more crepes and fallafel.  I really did have a good time, but it was a city of extreme highs and lows for me.

On to Milan.  Milan has exceeded my expectations.  I thought it was going to be super expensive and stodgy. While we had some travel issues getting here, and had to secure internet via Vodaphone, we soon discovered that Milan was unique, beautiful, and even welcoming.  Their Metro is easy to navigate, there is excellent (and reasonably priced - nothing is cheap in Europe) food, and even some lovely churches.  We've been to the Duomo, which every city has, and this one is quite impressive.  We also went to the Brera museum which was nice, if not a little strange and Castello Sforza.  Emily will correct my spelling when she tells her harrowing and ultimately happily-ending story of getting to the Michelangelo they have.  Oh, and Milan has Grom.  And Milan has a Neapolitan pizza place that, I don't know how else to say, rocked my shorts.  I'd come back to Milan in a heartbeat.

What's more, today we went to Padova.  It was a two hour or so train ride through the foothills of the Alps.  In some spots it was breathtaking.  Padova is a bigger city than I realized and seams to stretch out.  We visited for the brief 15 minute stay in the Arena Chapel aka Screvigni Chapel.  It has a Giotto fresco series that was way too much to take in during the time allotted.  We'll have to go back.  It is amazing.  And Giotto, if you aren't aware, was a really mysterious and fascinating guy, without whom the Italian Renaissance of painting would have been completely different.  Disclaimer, this is my opinion, and does not necessarily reflect those experts with whom I'm traveling.  Also in Padova are some very nice Donatello sculptures and the tomb of St. Anthony.  Padova was also a city where there is a stark reminder that Italy was a major site of WWII.  It made us both want to learn more about Italy's role as they're always the third country mentioned in the Axis.  One chapel we visited was completely rebuilt and crucial works were all but lost.  While this is just art, and history, it is a reminder of the lives that people lost from that war whether they survived or not.  Also, Padova has Grom, too!

Tomorrow, barring the strike and computer failure of the regional train services, we're on to Florence.  It feels almost like a homecoming and, no exaggeration, a majority of the Emily's peers are currently there.  It should be excellent to revisit the city that was my introduction to La Dolce Vita (yes, it isn't Rome, but it is still coming up).   We'll check in from there tomorrow to let you know we've settled in.

Also, we've been taking fewer and fewer pictures.  It is a funny thing to take pictures once we're in the thick of it.  We've seen so many tourists behaving like nimnulls to get photographs, it just makes the process sort of a turn-off.  We'll keep trying, but only if it doesn't spoil our memories as we're making them.