Italy was lovely---the food, the wine, the weather, the gelato, the people. It was great to get away, and it was wonderful for me to finally get to Italy, since Rob talks so highly of it.
We did a lot. We saw a lot of churches (there are a few of those in Italy), including the Duomo, the 4th largest in the world. We went up onto the roof of that church and had a great view of Milan. What is astounding about all of the churches and many of the buildings is all the work, the hand labor, that went into building them. From the stonework inside and out to the painting of the interiors. And it was done so many centuries ago, often before America was even "discovered." Just astounding.
We did some shopping. Milan is all about fashion---from the designer stores, to the women walking around that look like (and might well be) models. We mostly looked, which was fun in and of itself.
We also went to museums and walked around a lot. It was perfect weather for that. We ate lots of good food---proscuitto and other salumi, gelato and granita, bread and olive oil, homemade pastas. Most restaurants are set up to take advantage of the lovely weather, so most of our meals were eaten outside. This also allowed for great people-watching opportunities.
Three of the evenings we were hosted for dinner by the Italian clients that Rob and his colleagues were in Milan to meet. The hospitality! It involved many courses of food, many bottles of wine and prosecco, and many hours. One night we went to the oldest restaurant in Milan, where Rob's client was obviously very well known. I've never had service like we had that night. While the attention was flattering, we Americans were all glad that we only had three nights of this---Italian hospitality takes some getting used to!
But it's also what was so impressive---how friendly and open everyone was. For example, after I was chastised by the elder caretaker of a church for taking pictures, he softened it by telling us about the history of the church, some of its architectural features, and about the important paintings that were in the church. He was obviously very proud of it. And did I mention that he did all this without speaking a speck of English? He really wanted to connect with us and he managed to.
It's funny--Rob and I were very excited to get away and get some time to ourselves, but we really missed our liitle guy! Our babysitters...I mean, Grandma and Papa don't really have to worry about us ever being gone for more than a week. We just miss him too much to go away for longer than that. Luckily, it seemed like we missed him a lot more than he missed us. Papa sent us daily email reports on how things were going, and while Zack would talk about us, he didn't seem to be very bothered that we were gone. By all accounts, he was better for Grandma and Papa than he usually is for us! He had a wonderful time the week we were gone, and I hope the same can be said for Grandma and Papa.
Pictures were taken in Italy, and I will hopefully get a chance to consolidate them this weekend.
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Since I see Zack every day (except when we're off galavanting in Italy), I take it for granted how much he's like both Rob and me. I forget that at first glance many people think that he looks more like me. I was reminded of this lately in a conversation with a friend whose son is in Zack's class. Just to keep his similarity to his father fresh in everyone's mind, I need to share with you these pictures that they took last night as Zack was (supposed to be) getting ready for bed.
2 comments:
I love your comments on Milan, and the Italian people, food, spirit. I made a copy and sent it to Bruno, who spent a year in Italy at the U. of Pavia, and he was often in Milan. The two clowns were very amusing.
I'm so flattered that my post is Bruno-worthy!
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