Milan, Italy

We spent a week in Milan, most of it revolving around chores – from Megan’s schoolwork to taking care of errands. Our first impression of Milan was not the best. It’s not an overly beautiful city and for the most part, doesn’t seem that welcoming. Read Rick Steve’s recap of the city – he seems to agree. But, our camping neighbors were from the UK and Megan enjoyed having a few English-speaking playmates.

The first day, we successfully took a combination of busses and subways to Central Station. It was a Sunday and we mistakenly thought we would be able to a) be near the town center and b) enjoy a nice lunch. We were wrong on both accounts. Milan’s Central Station is not near the tourist attractions and nothing is open on a Sunday afternoon around 2pm. While we were hugely impressed with Central Station (it’s a beautiful building, huge Roman columns….) and Megan had a head-first run in with one of the statues out front, we were limited to eating either at one of two McDonald’s in the area or at a rather uninspired looking Italian Cafeteria. We chose McDonald’s – and called it a day.

We spent one afternoon at the Dom church and Piazzo Square (sorry if I mis-typed - am rapidly updating the blog from a very expensive Internet connection). Will try to add pictures later - but basically, you're able to climb the church spires and walk among the buttresses. Very cool views of the city below and of the architectural detail for the church. The "arcade" nearby was awesome - great detail inside and the designer names to make those who are in Milan for fashion drool. We had to make a pit-stop at the McDonalds inside and it's truly one of the only "hip" McDonald's I've seen. The only irritating thing was the huge "Road to America" poster in the stairwell. Sheesh. No wonder Europeans hate us if they associate American culture only with McDonalds....

We spent our final day in the city with three goals in mind:
1) find 4amp fuses so we can have drip coffee again
2) visit the National Museum of Science and Technology (famous for the DaVinci wing) and
3) pick up a couple of gifts for friends back in the States.

Happily, we found the 4amp fuses; but instead of finding the National Museum of Science and Technology, we found the ruins of the Castle and a huge park. The area we visited helped to prove that there is beauty in every city. With buildings that didn’t appear to be the concrete, post-war reconstruction and which had fantastic detail work on the exterior. Some even had roof-top gardens that looked lush and inviting.

We never made it back to shopping. Instead, explored the Castle ruins and the adjacent park. As we we arrived at the ruins, a procession of bagpipes and individuals in medieval costumes paraded out of the ruins. Kind of interesting to watch, but we didn’t have any context, other than an article that I’d read which indicates this type of thing frequently occurs at the Castle ruins. Later, when we found the park, there was a full-on medieval fair with Celtic overtones! We wandered through their exhibits a bit (full on tents, weaponery, beverages from the period… with French fries and beer for sale at the concession stands… didn’t know they deep-fried potatoes back in the medieval period). Wandering through the park, we found a huge playground. Never have I seen such a site – the few women in the park were largely decked out in cashmere and stilettos. Forever etched in my mind is this woman walking through the play area, in cashmere and heels with children running wildly all around her.

We’ve developed some new food favorites while here. Among the new family favorites:

• Fresh tomatoes with mozzarella – four weeks ago, the girls wouldn’t try this. Now, they gobble it up like it’s candy.
• Milano salami … mmmm
• Italian cheese

Ciao!

Italy - and the pace slowed down

We've been in Italy for a few days and I must say, the pace slowed down. Language is more of a barrier than anticipated. Most folks don't speak English. Or German. Guess who doesn't speak Italian? Funny thing is, the people around us don't seem to care that we don't speak Italian. In spite of sputtering out "I don't speak Italian. English?" they keep chattering away in Italian, as if we will suddenly start understanding. I've walked away from at least two people who persisted in an Italian dialogue after several attempts to communicate that "I don't understand" have gone unheeded.

We stayed one night in an agricamping spot after an unsuccessful attempt to reach Torboule sul Garda (link to campground is here). The roads were fine all the way to the last turn. Suddenly there was a 5 ton weight restriction and a narrow road at a hairpin angle, that was labeled as the "4th exit" off the roundabout. It was at the same intersection as the 5th exit, but required a sharp right turn. We veered left, not confident we could make it and were instantly in a bad situation. I don't know what it is, but whenever I get Dan into small spaces with the RV, traffic seems to instanly appear out of nowhere.

The agricamping site didn't charge additional for showers (many campgrounds in Germany and Netherlands do). I forgot how good it feels to luxuriate in a hot shower, not having to worry about filling the tanks. We were parked in an alcove for RVs that is basically a swath cut out of their apple orchard - the apple trees were strung on vines, much like grapes and looked more like bushes with huge apples.

Not being able to access the lake, we drove on the next day. Milan was the next destination in our travels. It's starting to get cold at night (mid- to low- 30's overnight) and we're starting to think hard about our winter destination. Our electric blanket is a nice luxury. So is the little oil heater we left on the RV. By closing off the sleeping area, we are able to keep the bunks and our room warm overnight.

Please forgive the fuzzy pictures - these are two examples of the scenery we saw as we drove through Northern Italy enroute to Milan - taken out the RV window and sharpened with Picasa. Simply gorgeous!

We found the campground in Milan with no problem. Though we did re-route the directions provided by Autoroute so we would NOT drive through one of the city rings. Lesson learned from Munich. Look at the entire route carefully - there's frequently an easier approach for a vehicle of our size.

The campground is busier than most we've visited lately. Though the pitches are narrow, there's plenty of room for us and we happened to be parked next to a group of folks from the UK who have kids and who are 3-months in to a 1-year tour. Megan is in kid-heaven. She has new friends to play with and a bit of newfound freedom (she's allowed to go to the on-site playground by herself!).

Obtaining the washing machine tokens was not a problem (at 4,50 per load!). When I inquired for dryer tokens (another 4,50 each), I was told they are all out and didn't know when they would have them back. Maybe Monday but could be Tuesday or later. Fortuantely, the climate is drier and the clothesline worked beautifully even though it was a cool day.

Sunday we ventured in to Milan, expecting to find museums and somewhere to stop for lunch. By virtue of us not knowing where we were going, we followed the route to "central station" and surfaced from the subway station in front of a fantastic transportation center (see building in the picture). A huge art exibit greeted us in the plaza and Megan met one up close and personal (she ran into the briefcase of one of hte statues, getting a nice scrape on her nose and goose-bump on her forehead. We felt fortunate that she didn't break her nose.) The streets were lined with hotels and businesses. Everything was closed. The only open restuarants in a 4-block radius were 2 McDonalds and an Italian "Cafeteria" which didn't look at all inspiring!

The good news: we figured out the subway system and the kids were happy to have new toys. =)

The bad news: we ate at McDonalds in Milan. Even in the US, we avoid MD's as much as humanly possible. They are EVERYWHERE here. (Side note: Our camping neighbors mentioned that a lot of restuarants don't open until much later in the evening - so wasn't surprised at our limited success at 2pm on a Sunday).

More on Milan later. Just wanted to quickly update folks on our location.