unBound and Pursuing Dreams

Milan – Day 1

We leave on a warm, clear day from Verona to Milan …….. the train is “general” class – not first, second or third …… so we are travelling on a “no” class train …… two hours, 10 stops, no air except what comes in from the window I opened. Kinda like fast bus on tracks … oh, and no toilet.

Don’t get me wrong, we enjoyed trip ….. seeing new places and people ….. it’s just that the heat tends to make me sleepy, missing some of the sights. Same, more so for Gerda.

Well, after all that, we arrived 10 minutes late in Milan.  It took a while to figure out where we catch the taxi ….. not exactly intuitive, but travelling adventures are never about logic or being intuitive.

This taxi ride had to be the cheapest and fastest we’ve taken ….. the driver wasn’t stopping for anything …. at least not for people.

 

 

When we were safely in our room at Hotel Cavour, we tried to orient ourselves to the maps and our first stop for Day 2. A little more complicated than past cities we’ve visited.

 

First stop was Castello Sforzesco, where we start our HoHo (Hop-on-Hop-off) bus tours …. there are three included with a told of 36 site stops. One of the quickest ways to find the location of attractions you want to visit. We’ll take the Red tour, then switch to the Blue tour and finally take the Green tour. Each goes to a different part of the city with three stops overlapping, so you don’t have to go to the start point after each tour.

 

 

 

 

After we oriented ourselves, it became easy to find our way around …… so we located the nearest restaurant with outdoor seating and had a good meal of seafood paella.

 

We briefly talked with a Canadian couple, sitting behind us, from Edmonton …. they were a part of a tour in Milan for four days. We had CFL as a commonality … they liked the Eskimos and we liked the Riders. Then our food came, so no more conversation and they were gone.

 

Prior to our meal,  as we waited, we had a lot of interaction with Abdul Karem Jabbar ….. no, not Kareem Abdul Jabbar …… this Jabbar was our very funny waiter. He and Gerda hit it off great. See, he doesn’t look anything like Abdul …….. too short! That was the end of Day 1

 

 

 

Incidentally, the TV won’t turn off with the remote, so I had to unplug it …. I’ll let the front desk deal with it on Thursday – Day 2.

 

 

Milan – Day 2

HoHo day …… the first bus a couple of minutes late, but to be expected with the traffic. As you can see from the following video …. it’s narrow, tight and constant.

 

So it was a kindofa dull, overcast day ….. good for bus rides …. we catch the Red line starting (of course) from Castello Sforzesco, going past S. Marie delle Grazie (Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the “Last Supper”), continuing to the Duomo, then past the Fashion district to stop #8 where we got off to walk to stop #3 for the Blue line.

After the Blue line ride, we have a short side trip to the hotel for warmer clothes and then a drink …. back to catch the longest line – the Green line. (As an aside, each circuit of each bus line is called … a race ….. it took us a while to figure what they meant.) Well …. not 10 minutes into the race, and it pours … torrential rain. If you ever rode a HoHo bus you’ll understand our deliemma – the upper level is only partially covered and the bottom level is crowded with people who moved down.

 

Standing room only …… so the bus races around the (race?) circuit and we get off at the final stop, fortunately the rain turned to just a light drizzle.

Of all the stops, two stand out the most, the Duomo and the Fashion district. So we’re on for a tour of the Duomo and then a walk though the Fashion district on Friday, day 3 of Milan.

Incidentally the TV works properly (it apparently always did) now that the maintenance staff replaced the batteries in the remote.

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This statue looks cute to me. Looks like Brian’s butt! I know TMI, but we can enjoy!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Milan – Day 3

 

Again – cloudy and overcast ….. off to get tickets for the Duomo. Once we have them, it’s line up time to take the bus to the cathedral.

It takes 15 minutes to get there ….. as we pile off, there’s a wedding photo-shoot going on in the piazza. They seem to pop up anywhere and any time of day. Stunning bride and a fabulous place for a backdrop, if you’re into people gawking and acting like paparazzi (me included).

 

The bride knew how to play the crowd and strut her stuff ….. and what about those pigeons? …… they play to the crowds too …. for crumbs!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Backdrop for brides, pigeons and people

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our journey today, go to the top of Duomo to see the refurbishment of the cathedral …. 215 ft (66 m) high. The lift (elevator) is on the back (left side) of the cathedral …. accessed through security. The corral line up was 15 minutes for us, followed by a wand search. Remember to keep your ticket to be able to exit when you are finished the tour. The lift ride up holds approximately 10 people. The walkways on the roof are narrow, tight and at times dark.

The security and inconvenience of small spaces is well worth the wait.

Access to lower roof:

 

Access to the peak of the Duomo roof:

 

 

After the roof top tour, we had planned to look inside the Duomo; however when we went to the entrance, the line was backed up through the whole correl que …. they said it was the longest lineup of the year. We didn’t want to wait for the 2-3 hours for entry, so we moved on ……

 

 

Gerda went in search of more “game” …… as usual it became another ‘catch and release’ exercise ……. however, she was more successful, about an hour later after we had a lunch not far from the Duomo. There was some catch of the day …. at this rate, we’ll need two new luggage to bring all her catch home.

After lunch and Gerda’s successful shopping foray, we decided to walk back to the hotel. I thought we were about 10 blocks away ….. when I asked the waiter …. wow, was I wrong on the direction. Yes it was about 10 blocks, however I had us starting from six blocks in the wrong direction!

 

 

As mentioned earlier, it took us 15 minutes on the bus to get to the Duomo ….. well, it took us 12 minutes to walk back to th starting point. By the time we got to the hotel it was almost 5:00pm. We rested for a while and then headed out for dinner …. and it was raining.

We quickly chose a restaurant and after some waffling decided to eat inside, rather than outside.

 

 

Our server, Luca, provided great service with humor. He was serving multiple tables, trying to juggle everyone’s needs. Gerda ordered the chicken meal (yes it was a full chicken – she didn’t know), Brian ordered the pasta lobster meal and a bottle of Amarone wine …… yes, the same wine we had sampled in our Verona wine tour.

 

 

 

The restaurant,  Hosteria della Musica (2 Brera, 20121 Milano, Italy) has background music that we just love ….. it sounds like “Dotsero” from Denver, Colorado. They also have a program of live music  …… starting next week (September 18) unfortunately we’ll be gone.

 

 

 

 

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A few sidenote (why call them “sidenotes” when they are at the bottom?) ……. the room was okay, by far the cheapest todate ….. there were some great features, some quirky and one that was puzzling & uncomfortable.

Great …… 1. the safe is built into the wall – little chance someone will steal it …. 2. the windows are huge allowing for lots of light and air. 3. there’s lots of storage (although somewhat hidden)

Quirky ….. 1. the electricity is controlled by a metal tab attached to the room key – nothing works until you slide it in ….. 2. the TV remote turns on by pressing #1 (no instructions) …. 3. the elevator only goes to the main floor if you press “T”

Puzzling …… the toilet is right behind the bathroom door – watch for pinched feet

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An interesting observation in the Fashion area beside the Duomo, 180 degrees apart are big concrete barrier blocks:

North – protecting the high end stores, they are painted gold ……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the other direction they are bare, unpainted concrete barriers protecting the entry to  …… McDonalds!

 

The “Ying” & “Yang” of class.

 

 

 

 

 

 

…..…. moved on already to Lucerne …..…..

 

Florence – Day 1

On this trip, our travel focus is a tad different. We opted to fly from Barcelona to Florence rather than take the train. Our last train trip experience, in the south of France was, to say the least an adventure. If we were younger, I would say … why not do the unexpected adventures – but now we won’t go over the edge with Gerda’s condition. Living life to the full …. yes, living life to the foolish … no.

So the trip from the hotel to the Barcelona airport was faster going out than coming in, although we nearly had an accident where a luxurious car almost hit us ….. must have thought he had the right-of-way. Ironically the drivers seem more polite, if you signal, they let you in to their lane. We were to the airport 3 hours before boarding ….. Gerda had visions we would miss the flight, so insisted we get there early ……. well she can’t catch a break going through the airports on this trip …. three entry points (Regina, Toronto and Barcelona) and on each one she has been pulled aside for a full security check. The irony is Brian has only had one full check in 5 years, while for Gerda it’s been the majority of her trips in the past 3 years she has been pulled to have the full check! Unfortunately, all she can do is smile and bear it.

They post the gate number 50 minutes before boarding, so we saunter down to the gate and suddenly realize they are actually processing passengers to board. So through the gate, down the stairs ……. and board a bus to wait for 10 minutes. When we finally get to the plane, Gerda is seated in 9A and I in 19F. The plane is 40 minutes late leaving, not sure why, but they have 4-5 different ground crew and supervisors in & out of the cockpit.

The flight only takes 1 hour & 10 minutes – we spent almost as much time waiting for the plane to board and taxi ….. three times as much in the airport, but in the end the passengers cheer and clap when we finally land.  Probably had something to do with the rough ride and the sudden drop of 100 meters when we reached the Italian coast!

The flight adventure didn’t end there, we waited 30 minutes at the baggage carousel, before they advised we were at the wrong one ….. jeeesh!

 

Fortunately the rest of the day went well. Checked in to the Hotel Tornabuoni Beacci to an upgrade … surprise. Nice when that happens. Went for a stroll to both the old familiar and the new, sometimes right beside each other.

 

Gerda decided she wanted “hole-in-the-wall” cuisine ….. you know the type – non-descript building, low key, but has that indescribable presence that invites you to enter.

She found such a place called “Trattoria”, roughly two block outside our tramping grounds from 2015. As soon as the server greeted her,  she said “I like this place, we’ll have fun!” ….. and we did. The food was good, service great and friendly. She had a type of spaghetti while I had fried chicken, mushrooms and zucchini flowers (yes, everything fried) …. make sure you check what they mean when they say fried – this had a thick layer of batter covering everything! While it was good, it certainly was not what I had expected. Had I known,  would have ordered the grilled version.

Unfortunately, we are not great meat eaters, ’cause we could have had these incredible looking steaks either 1 or 1.5 kg (2 – 3 pounds) of meat. We did get to watch several groups try to finish them. Entertaining to say the least.

 

We finished with another walk-about …… Gerda saw a dog smaller than Odie, our son’s defacto dog (his being a cross between a rat and a squirrel)

 

Interesting end to the day. Tomorrow is tour day ….

 

Florence – Day 2

After a quick breakfast …. off to the Pitti Palace for a tour of the site and the Boboli gardens. We catchup to our tour guide Serena at 10am in front of the palace. Just us and her for an intimate tour.

An amazing amount of knowledge to share ….. well worth the expense. It turns out she is an architectural restorer and happens to know Amil, our guide for Familia Sagrada in Barcelona! What a coincidence …. talk about 6 degrees of separation. The tour starts outside the palace, moving into the courtyard and then into the upper levels of the palace. What a treasure trove of art all owned by one family. It could very easily be a museum on it’s own.

Serena (our guide) had many interesting stories about the art, history and culture of the city and Medici family who owned the palace.

There are so many pictures we took, I won’t bore the readers of this blog; however,  two stand out for me, one as a major part of the Florentine history and the other as contempturay humor about art.

The first was the story of a statue of Venus created for the Medici that was plundered by Napoleon. Because there was a potential for an uprising over the statue and as appeasement Napoleon commissioned another statue to be created. Over time the people of Florence came to like it better. When Napoleon was defeated, they got the original back and now have two. The original is in a museum with the original statue of David, while the preferred copy is in the Pitti Palace.

The second humorous display was near the end of our tour of the art …… I asked if our grandson, Taylan, had been here ……. a picture is worth a thousand words! Who said that art historians don’t have a sense of humor?

The tour of the attached Boboli Gardens was very impressive and also very hot in the sun. We looked for shade every time we stopped. After the tour, which lasted 2.5 hours, Serena walked us to a near by courtyard with many cafes where we thanked her. After a refreshing stop, we retired to our room to cool down. Gerda then went shopping to the leather market while I tried to work on the blog ….. but the web was still slow, so I went out to and found Gerda by the market.

I don’t know how she can shop so long and not bring anything back …. must be like the fisherman who believes in “catch and release”.

Now we wander on the cathedral side to places we haven’t been to before. Up and down side streets taking pictures like crazy …. as a photographer (starting with rolls of film) I remember how you waited for the perfect shot, because there were only 36 maximum to a roll. Now you can take as many as you want ….. The only consequence is you need more storage (cheap) and time to sort, catalog and process (expensive). Here’s one that I’ll keep, but need to process. Gerda, street lamp, Pont Vecchio and the sunset. Composition and color alright for the sunset, but too dark for the shadows. Another with that glowing, ethereal sunlight  ……

 

 

 

 

…. good thing I shot these in CR2 RAW, but the processing will have wait til we get home.

 

 

With a short rest to recover from all the walking, fresh air ….. and hot sun, it’s off to find that elusive perfect culinary meal. Much wandering on both sides of the river before we stumble upon what might just be the place, Osteria del Cinehiale Bianco.  At first I’m not sure, because we are taken to a small backroom alcove. It seems far from the action. But Gerda says it’s  our party room.

Soon we are served and entertained by Daniel Craig (he was moonlighting), very friendly and accommodating.

The company was intriguing but friendly …. they (the young ladies) said they were the Queens of Seattle.

When the meal came it was superb! The best in Florence so far, and may be better than Barcelona.

 

 

 

 

The onion flan was to die for …. the grilled chicken awesome and the dessert melts in your mouth with multiple, delightful chocolate flavours!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Florence – Day 3

A cloudy, lazy day ….. this is the latest we’ve slept in for ages. No breakfast, just a slow walk to the outer wall of the old city. It’s always amazing to watch and then try to mimic how well the locals walk the cobbled streets, dodging people, vehicles and loose stones. My ankles are sore!

Gerda completed her leather & lace shopping (purses & scarfs), and started her Pinocchio shopping ……. dancing marionette – none yet.

Two years ago, many cities came under seige from lovers, as they symbolically locked their love on any type of railing that existed. The little fence on the Pont Vecchio was no exception . …. well today they are gone.

Yet, lovers still find places to lock their love. As an example, this hive of locks appears to grow from a hook on the back wall on Pont Vecchio.   

 

 

 

 

 

The other icon that has intrigued us is the brass Boar by the leather market. They say you have good luck if you rub it’s snout. Looks pretty shiny to me ……. must be a lot of people with incredible luck out there!

 

 

Two final notes for Florence:

For the first, we unfortunately witnessed the take down of a knife wielding itinerant. Two military police, with machine guns pointed at him, shouted for him to drop his knife. His one hand was bloody. It looked like it might be his own blood (this made Brian believe he wanted to be arrested). He finally dropped it and started to walk away. The military forced him to the wall and subdued him …. show over folks, continue what you were doing.

It’s interesting how quickly the area cleared and became very quiet ….. and just as quickly resumed activities.

 

 

For the second, there is an amazing amount of talent that play (busk) for the crowds in any open space. Every day we have listened to good music all over the old city. Today, it ranged from ballads on Pont Vecchio, to baroque music behind the Domo, to guitar riffs in the central square. Quite entertaining.

Well …. unfortunately it’s time to shift locations again …. next stop Venice.

 

Well, we’ve done Spring and Summer tours ….. this is the end of the prep for the start of our Fall tour.  We hope to have a European journal for each season before we finish our travels through this world.

You might ask “end of the prep”, what does that mean? In our case … a lot.

It started with the basic question – can Gerda go and what will she need? Her type of cancer requires daily treatment (chemo pills) so can we take it with us? and what happens if there’s a relapse?

Well, the good news from her doctor was … yes we can go. The bad news was … there’s no guarentee of no relapse so bring painkillers (opiods) in case.

Simply put, our decision was she’s living with cancer …. so let’s live by going! This may be our last trip or it maybe the start of many trips; regardless, we will make the most of our time together.

So how to start …. well a map or in this case many maps, stitched together – France, Spain, Italy and Switzerland. We don’t need Canada or the Atlantic Ocean, but we decided to show the connection, hence the flag on the wall to the left of the maps. Pins on the map to represent our wish list. And, of course a string to tie it altogether.

After much discussion, we initially decided on Barcelona, Milan, Verona, Venice, Florence and Paris.

Below shows a closeup map of the final result.

After many iterations, where we had actually booked all the original hotels, we decided the final leg Florence – Paris was too long. Our original plan was to fly from Barcelona to Milan then go by train to Verona, Venice, Florence and then Paris in that order making the final leg over 8 hours. If we go from Milan to Paris we shave it by 3 hours.

So …. decision time – we changed our itinerary, our schedule and rebooked our hotels.  Barcelona to Florence then go by train to Venice, Verona, Milan and then Paris.  Ohhh … 5 hours is still too long ….. well maybe a stop between, say somewhere in the Alps.  Lucerne sounded the best of all the ‘in-betweens’ …. Lucerne it is!  Ironically changing the schedule opened up a new opportunity – seems we will be in Venice during the International Film Festival. Gerda hopes to see George Clooney, she even offered to babysit! Forever the optimist.
After all that, the only thing left to do was arrange the flights and our activities in each location.  Enter the intrepid Connie, our travel agent from CAA. She helped arrange all the final detail with efficiency and patience (plus a tinge of humor for Brian).  Thanks Connie,  we really appreciate your dedication and help.

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As a final note on our planning:

Tragedy struck Barcelona, August 17th, in the form of a terrorist attack – 14 dead and over 100 injured. Fanatical, radicalized cowards attacked crowds along the Las Ramblas …… literally outside the hotel we will be staying at.

Decision time again …… not really!  Brian sent a note to the hotel to ensure they would be open and let them know our condolences and solidarity for Barcelona and the victims.  They replied 10 minutes later to say they were delighted we are coming and appreciated our support.

Game on …. We still be will going …… So join us our our next journey.

Life is fragile with or without illness, we intend to embrace what we have to the fullest and never look back.

Brian and Gerda