Religious Pilgrimage

Since we were in Milan another day, we decided that there are no religious sites for pilgrimage here, so we would do one of our own. We found that the factory that makes our coveted La Pavoni espresso maker is in south Milan; they had a museum and were within walking distance of a train station. We slept in and got up and took the Metro as far south as it went and then changed to a train to take us a few more stops to where we got off. Given the lack of street signs (and my being too cheap to pay for wireless data so we could use Google Maps effectively), we walked a few blocks too far before we decided that we had overshot the street we were looking for and turned around. Finding the street, we also faced a local pizza joint, where we stopped for lunch. Cappuccinos and Margarita pizza was ordered and we waited in the simple dining room with the house painters and old men who were in for lunch.

The food came and the cappuccinos were great and the slices of pizza were huge and were more of a deep dish style than you would get in Southern Italy (more like what we would consider Chicago style).

A short walk down past an elementary school and park found us facing a sign on the corner pointing to “La Pavoni.” We turned down the street and went through an open gate and into a small three story industrial building. In the entry there was just an elevator and stairs. We went up to the third floor and there was a reception desk with no one around, even after we rang the bell. A couple of minutes later, just after 1:00 p.m., the workers came back in and were very gracious to us. They showed us around and gave us some espresso. There really was no museum, but just various old machines in various parts of the office building, including the office of the “Director Generale,” who was on the telephone, but graciously allowed the English speaking lady who was showing us around to come in and we were able to take pictures of the machines in his office.

We asked about what we could buy and they showed us a list of things, including espresso and cappuccino cups and tampers. The tampers were not as nice as those Bob had sent us, so we passed on those and took a package of each style of cups. After we paid, the lady took us down to the warehouse to pick them up.

Our style of pilgrims are fairly rare and they mostly show around distributors, but they were very nice and it was a fun trip.

Rainy Milan

We got into Milan last night and found our hotel about a block from the central train station. It is clean, servicable, cheap and has about the worst bed I have slept on in quite a while. It reminds me of the army cot I had as a kid. Great shower and the Giro ‘d Italia on the 14″ flat screen TV in the afternoons though.

We got a 48 hour Metro Pass and headed over to the Duomo area (three stops away). The Duomo or central cathedral, is the historic center of the city. It is a beautiful building with lots of spires, each topped with its own statue. On one side of the square is the Galleria, a Rodeo Drive like shopping area with all of the high end stores.

After touring the Duomo, the Galleria, and walking over to the original castle/fortress that protected the old city, we came back to the Duomo Plaza and had lunch at McDonald’s, which has a two story store with a spectacular view out over the plaza, if you are lucky enough to score a window table (which we were — Patty’s great karma again).

After lunch we went over to the church that has the “Last Supper” painting by Michelangelo. You can now make reservations for a 15 minute tour in July on-line. They are sold out through June. We were hoping for a last minute cancellation. The desk will not even discuss it but refers you to a telephone number. Patty called them, and when the guy at the counter saw they were able to find a slot, he called Patty over and sold her a 3:30 pm slot, that had just cancelled (did I mention her karma?)

To kill a couple of hours, we walked to the Museum of Science and Industry which has great displays, including a large number of Michelangelo drawings and models made from his drawings, along with a lot of other great exhibits.

The rain was coming down pretty hard and we got pretty wet where our rain jackets did not cover us walking to and from the museum. The viewing of the wall painting of the Last Supper was worth the hassle and it was interesting to see it in place.

After our viewing we caught the Metro back to the hotel to dry out.

After a rest and watching Mark Cavendish win a sprint stage of the Giro, we took the Metro back to the Duomo area and had a good dinner at a Rick Steves recommend place. We are ready for bed.

Beautiful Day in Cinque Terre

We got into the town of Manarola, the second of the five villages of Cinque Terre, after changing trains from the fast train from Milan to the local train that stops at all of the villages. These five villages are small seaside fishing and farming communities with small boats going out to fish the local waters and vineyards and orchards terraced up the hillsides. Each has a road that reaches a parking lot some distance above town, but no cars get down into the villages. While historically the residents survived on fishing and agriculture, tourism is now the main business and the whole area has been made a national park to preserve it as it is. We reserved rooms in a 12 room hotel that Patty and I had stayed at before right on the harbor in Manarola.

A Day Over Lago Maggiore

We slept in late and had a great breakfast at the hotel. After breakfast, we drove around the south end of the lake and up to the town of Stresa, where we took a cable car from the lakeside, at an elevation of about 500 feet, to the top of Mount Mottaroni at 4,500 feet. The views over the Lake District were spectacular and since the top of the lake is in Switzerland, the Swiss Alps are looming just to the north.

After the gondola ride, we took our time driving south along the west side of the lake, through little towns, and stopping for espresso and gelato on the way. The Sunday evening traffic leaving the lake was bumper to bumper and crawled until we got past the south end of the lake and heading back north against the flow heading home to Milan at the end of the weekend.

Back at the hotel, we had dinner at the hotel, overlooking the lake.

Lago Maggiore

We got up, packed up and headed out of our Venice apartment and got the Vaparetto to the train station.  We got the 8:50 train to Milan, where we, after some consternation, finally located the Hertz car rental several blocks from the train station, and got the car and head north the lake district and Lago Maggiore.

Patty’s company owns a sunglass company, “Electric Visual” and one of their manufacturers has his factory near here and also has a sailboat on Lago Maggiore.  He gave us directions to the marina by text message as we drove from Milan. We found the marina and Davide, the owner of the factory hosted us for lunch then out to his sailboat.

We sailed close hauled across the lake, and around several small islands with mansions on them, one of which is still occupied by the same family that turned down Columbus’ entreaty to finance a westward voyage to India.

After a great sail, we got back to the dock about 8:00 p.m. and drove to our little hotel (which has been in operation since 1865) on the shore of the lake.  We had a late dinner in the restaurant and were ready for bed.

Touring Venice, Murano and Burano

On Friday morning we got up, had coffee and rolls at a little shop a few steps from the front of the apartment and headed over for the Vaparetto stop to head out for the day.  We first went to the train station to buy tickets for Saturday’s trip to Milan, and then got back on the Vaparetto and took it down the Grand Canal to the Rialto bridge.  We got off there and went over that famous bridge to the open markets on the other side.  Shopping was done and trinkets were acquired.

After the minor buying frenzy, we got back on and took the Vaparetto out to the island of Murano, famous for its glass making.  There, we found a grocery store (the “COOP”) and bought wine, bread, cheese, ham, shrimp, strawberries, cups and knives and found a spot for our picnic lunch.  The spot we found was right in front of a famous restaurant (Anthony Bourdain ate there is one of his television programs) and we had eaten there when taken there by a business associate of Patty’s on our last trip to Venice.  This time, we ate our picnic lunch on the base of an old town well and looked at the expensive dishes being brought out to the patrons on the plaza tables.

After wandering around Murano, we got back on the Vaparetto and took it out to Burano, famous for its lace and beautiful pastel buildings.

Heading back to the island of Venice, we got off of the Vaparetto on the opposite side of the island from our apartment and walked across, finding a little restaurant in a square for dinner.

After dinner, we found a great little shop selling very nice Murano glass and bought some very nice glass platters; one for Jim and Georgette to give as a gift and one for us as Patty’s birthday present.

We were glad to make it back to the apartment after a very long day and with rain starting to come down.

Made it too Venice

With a minor missed flight from Rome to Venice but got one 3 hours later. Jim and Georgette got the keys to the apartment and it is very nice. We had a nice dinner at a local trattoria.

Off to Northern Italy

Patty and I are boarding an Alitalia flight from LAX to Rome, where connect to a flight on to Venice. There we meet our friends Jim and Georgette Hicks and pick up they keys to an apartment we have rented for a couple of days.