Italy: Milano

Sunday, May 26

Our business class connecting flight to NY Kennedy was an hour late, and we got to New York just 45 minutes before the plane to Milan was scheduled to leave. We tried to sleep, but with little success. They feed you dinner shortly after you reach cruising altitude, and they feed you breakfast an hour and a half before landing. It doesn't leave you much time to sleep, even if it were possible to do so.

Monday, May 27

We landed at Milan Malpensa airport at about 7:00 AM local time (Central European Time), and searched around for the office where we could pick up our MilanoCards, which I had bought on line prior to leaving. Once we bought the card, we bought 4 trips on the shuttle, since the card afforded us a "buy 3 get 1 free" offer. It was rush hour in Milan, everyone going into the city to work at the same time we were trying to get there; therefore, the bus took somewhat over an hour, dropping us at the Stazione Centrale (pronounce that "statsion chentraleh).

From the stazione, we took a taxi to Hotel Sanpi, about a km distance. This is an actual hotel, although small, with a lift, and with keys on a heavy weight, that one leaves at the front desk when going out. The room was small but comfortable.

The 3-day MilanoCard (they don't have a 2-day card) includes unlimited public transport for two days. In Milan that is a great advantage, since there is a wonderful streetcar network, as well as trolley buses and regular buses. Many of the streetcars in the central area are the older models. In fact, when New Orleans needed cars for their streetcar line, they bought them from Milan. We would seldom have to wait even 5 minutes for a streetcar.

Without much rest we went out to explore the city, taking the streetcars everywhere, and quickly learning the lines. First we went to the Piazza del Duomo and visited the Cathedral after taking in the magnificent square and the impressive facade of the church. The Duomo is the second largest in the world (after St. Peter's in Rome), with a capacity of 40,000.

We spent a few minutes at the Mercato Via San Marco, one of the many open-air markets we visited during our trip. We had lunch at a cafe on the street, across the piazza from the Duomo. We eventually learned about the several types of eating establishments.

• a bar has drinks (including coffee), snacks, possibly pizza, and simple (usually frozen) meals.
• a cafe has coffee (and soft drinks, beer and possibly wine) and baked goods plus panini and pizza
• a trattoria is a restaurant, less formal than a ristorante
• an osteria is a restaurant less formal than a trattoria
• a ristorante is a relatively formal restaurant.

But all three types of restaurant have begun to morph into restaurants.

From lunch we strolled through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a very upscale shopping gallery in an end-of-the-19th-century arcade. There we saw what appears to be a minyan on the first (that's 2nd) floor. We entered the arcade at the Piazza del Duomo, and exited on the Piazza dela Scala. We bought tickets to visit the Teatro alla Scala Tuesday morning.

On the Piazza San Marco we entered a small old church that was intriguing to us because the rose window has a 6-pointed star in in.

We took the tram to the Navigli district to walk around. This area was the freight center when canals were a major method of transport. Now its just a scenic cityscape, with cafes and restaurants. We bought bread in a bakery, and later bought fruit and cheese in a grocery. When we got back to the hotel, we left our stuff and went to the Giardini Publici to eat our picnic.

It has been a L...O...N...G and tiring day, but we did a lot and began to acclimate ourselves to Italy.

Tuesday, May 28

Our first (included) breakfast was a very pleasant experience: croissants, all sorts of bread, yogurt, cheeses, cereal, fresh fruit, and a fancy self-serve coffee machine that made every kind of delicious Italian coffee you could imagine. And we went back for refills -- available hardly anywhere.

Since we would spend only 2 days in Milano, we figured we should squeeze in as much as we could handle.

We visited the Teatro alla Scala as early as we could get out. The theater is beautiful; a great place to appreciate opera. When we visited the attached museum, we saw historic costumes from productions of Aida, as well as paintings and busts of famous musicians and composers.

At the Mercato Papiniano I left Yoyi to shop. My tablet had stopped working, so I searched for a Lenovo dealer, where I might get service. I had identified one earlier and went there on the tram after making specific plans where and when to meet. When I got to the site, there was no building with the address. A helpful person showed me the building (no address). There was no shop.in the directory, and I worked with the concierge to learn that the store had left 3 years earlier. He mentioned that there was a computer company in one of the suites, so I rang their bell. The fellow that answered went out of his way to try to find a Lenovo-related person that would even talk to us about warranty -- unsuccessfully. A day or so later, I determined that the problem may have been a bad electrical outlet that didn't allow the tablet to charge properly. It worked ever after.

Miraculously we met up back at the mercato, right at the time and location specified. While I had been unsuccessful in my search for computer assistance, Yoyi was very successful in the retail arena. We decided to reward ourselves with gelato; we did that a lot. Whereas we saw gelato stands, stores, and vendors everywhere at all other times, we couldn't find one within a couple of blocks, so we stopped some older passers-by, who asked if we speak French and gave us directions in French to what they said is the best gelato in the neighborhood. It was, in fact, quite satisfying to eat it in the park.

After stashing the loot back at the hotel (thanks to unlimited public transportation) and resting for a few minutes, we went out to the Pinacoteca di Brera. (A pinacoteca is an art gallery; the term is used in Germany and other countries, as well.) Our MilanoCard included admission to several places. Full of Renaissance art, we became tired of figuring out which saint is which, but you have to suffer a little to see the gems. Mantegna's famous Cristo Morto, which everyone probably remembers from Art History 101 in college. It's known for the ground-breaking perspective that it depicts.

After dinner, we collapsed into bed, exhausted.