Monday afternoon- a family united on the train to Florence

Mike and I were so excited to see Caitie today. Our Milan hotel, the wonderful, highly recommended Hotel Berna, was only minutes from the Centrale Stazione, so we arranged with the kind desk staff to hold our luggage when we left this morning at 11:00 to take the bus to the Milan airport. Caitie’s plane arrived at 2:00, which gave us plenty of time to figure out the bus transportation between the Central train station where our hotel is and where we would be leaving for Florence after we picked her up. We got to the airport, cased the place for where she would be arriving and where we would meet her. We had arranged logistics with her by phone a few days ago with confirmation last night, so we knew that she would collect her luggage then start looking for us wherever the public waiting for incoming passengers. Imagine our surprise to see her walk off the plane with a handsome Italian young man. She and her seating companion had struck up a conversation and left the plane together. Caitie is going to have fun in Italy!

So far we love Italy. We arrived yesterday on the train from the beautiful Swiss city of Lugano. The Milan train station was a bit of a shock after spending most of our time in small towns. This was a big city with lots of noise, people and action. After a few minutes of trying to figure out where we were, we stopped to buy a few soft drinks and asked directions to our hotel. By careful selection of our hotels we have not had to use a taxi in over a week. We can manage our luggage and walk to our hotels and it has worked well. So, we struck off across the busy plaza in search of Via Napoli and found it a short distance away, just as the vendor had promised. This hotel appears to be a sister of the Hotel Dante in Lugano, our best hotel to date. Although we paid more for that hotel than any others, it was luxurious compared to many of the hotels we have tried. The Berna had the same towels, signage and amenities, making it feel as if they had common management. In any event, the Berna was also delightful.

We spent Sunday afternoon walking around Milan. The hotel staff supplied us with a map and sent us in the general direction of the Centro area. Walking those city streets on a hot Sunday afternoon was surreal – Mike described it as a scene from the movie, The Day After, in which the survivors are walking around the big city the day after a nuclear bomb. The streets were deserted and all of the shops were boarded up. It wasn’t until we arrived at the famous cathedral, the Duomo, that we saw people. This magnificent gothic cathedral is undergoing refurbishment so it is covered in cloths and scaffolding, but the spires peaking out at the top were intricate in their design. We hurried through the inside, because Mike has reached his point of saturation with cathedrals. They all look alike to him at this point.

Across from the Duomo there is a gorgeous enclosed shopping area where we found a pizza restaurant and had our first Italian pizza. It is not our first pizza, in fact it was our third pizza in three days, but it was the first one on Italian soil. Mike and I have different opinions of what defines good Italian food. To him, it is the New York pizza he remembers from his college days and the spaghetti and meatballs his friends’ families would serve when he went to visit. To me, it is grilled vegetables, caprese salad of tomatoes, basil and buffalo mozzarella and seafood. We have agreed to try and reach some compromise, but we have started our adventure in Italy with pizza. He is a happy man.

Caitie looks so tired. Apparently she and her roommate spent their last night in Spain visiting friends, packing and cleaning the apartment. Sleep was not any part of the plan. She has a philosophy book to read before Wednesday that was assigned to all of the NYU students, so it lies open beside her while she naps. She put in her request for a good dinner tonight and a shopping trip tomorrow to pick up things she couldn’t fit in her suitcase before she closed her eyes. So I know what is on our agenda for the next few days. She is due at school before 6:00 PM tomorrow, so we will shop first then help her make her way to school. Mike and I were invited to a parents open house the following day, so we will be able to see her again before she starts classes. When we flew in to Rome six weeks ago Mike and I carried a huge bag of Caitie’s full of the winter clothes she needed for school but not for the summer. We left the bag at the bag check at the Rome airport, so we may spend Wednesday running down to Rome on the trains to pick up the bag and bring it back. She isn’t in a hurry to get it, but it would be nice to get it out of storage where it is racking up fees of 3.5 Euros a day. That is another round of espressos each day….

We talked to Matt yesterday. Called him at 9:30 in the morning on his day off and woke the poor boy up on his day off. It was great to talk to him. He has had a busy summer with summer classes and full time work at the casino, so we felt bad waking him up on a day off. But, after six weeks with little word from the boys it was nice to hear from him. He had spent the night with Jonny only the day previously, so we have proof positive that they are both in great shape.

Several of you commented favorably about the Brunhilda story. I don’t know if that is because you like seeing me intimidated by some laundry witch or whether she reminds each of you of some PE teacher or bureaucrat somewhere that wields their power over you mercilessly. But in answer to the photo question, no I did not get her photo. It is difficult to know whether asking her for permission to snap her mug would have warmed her up or put her off entirely. In my National Geographic photo class they told me to ask strangers for their photos then get right up in their face for the picture. I have not done much of that on this trip. Partially it is my own reluctance to do so, and partially it is Mike’s desire to not get me killed. So , no, we don’t have a picture of the Lucerne Laundry Witch.