Me: Thank you so much for accommodating us. I know you were closing when we walked in. It was so nice of you to serve us anyway.
Restaurant guy: Prego! (you're welcome!)
Me: This is a beautiful restaurant. Are reservations needed for dinner?
Restaurant guy (closing in for the kill): Si! When will you be coming in?
Me: Well, maybe tomorrow (which is, by this post, today). We'll stop in when you're open for lunch tomorrow and confirm.
Restaurant guy: What time tomorrow evening would you like to come in for dinner?
Me: We're not sure...couldn't we just stop by...
Restaurant guy: How about eight o'clock?
Me: That sounds great!
In Alaska, that would be accompanied by a "Zzzzz! Fish on!" Which means I was successfully suckered. No matter. It's a nice place.
Today at 14:00 (2PM) we met Gabriel, our guide to Milan. Gabriel seems to be a multi-tasker. He is about 6 feet tall and I probably outweigh him by 20 lbs. He is so very nice, wanting so hard to break into the PR business (so Jack & he immediately bonded) and so proud to say he's DJ-ing an after-fashion show party tonight. Yes, we hit the nail right on the head - we're in Milan right when Fashion Week is happening.
If you're not sure what FW is, you should rent "The Devil Wears Prada" and learn up on it. It's the most important time of the year for haute couture. This is when the Fashion Industry comes together in Milan and decides what's going to be on the racks and shelves and (most importantly) on eBay next year. Score!
Gabriel directs us two blocks up for the underground triana. We're spit out after a couple of spots at a stop called the Duomo. We climb up the stairs and look right smack dab at the second-largest church in Europe. Crimony! It's about 6 stories tall, 10 square acres, all marble, and lotsa, lotsa naked marble people hanging around all about.
Gabriel
Gabriel directs us past all the crap-hustlers, (and man, there are a lot of them!) rapping out sharply in Italian for them to bug off. (I looked for time-share photos but saw none). We veer to the right off the Duomo and into the hugest marble open-air shopping cathedral ever. It's like the holy grail for clothes shopping if your credit cards have no limit.
The holy grail
Gabriel insists on having our photos taken on a mosaic of a bull in the center of the shopping cathedral. He says it brings good luck if you spin on your heel on the bull. I've heard worse superstitions. We both spin for photos, as do about a jillion other people. Seems like the luck would wear thin.
We all gave it a whirl.
Soon I am just visually overloaded. There is just so much to see that I've never seen before and probably will never see again. And it is all so beautiful, so very, very beautiful.
I direct Gabriel into a little cul-de-sac where a guy is playing jazz on a saxophone for change. There's a little cafe where we can sit and I can catch my breath. But the cafe is closed. (Italians have weird hours.) We're directed into the hotel that the cafe is attached to.
Well, it's no Econolodge, now, is it? We're further directed by another hotel guy and take a seat in what I'm guessing is the hotel lobby. There's marble floors, white-coated guys with black bow ties scurrying around and a gorgeous Steinway wanting to be played. It's as quiet as a library. Big sofas to sit on. I wouldn't be surprised if I asked the waiter for a unicorn and he replied, certamente!
Inside the swanky hotel.
We have a cheese plate (off the menu, you just have to ask, honey!) and smoked salmon. Gabriel chats with us about other cool places that are just right off the via but the names aren't like Georgetown Road or Chippewa Drive and they just don't stick in my brain. He shows me a photo of his family home in (another Italian word, which probably means cool place to live in the country) and tells me that it has 12 rooms and is available for rent in the summer.
Gabriel wants to show us more, but my foot hurts and I'm still in information overload. We take the underground train back to Pasteur, our train stop.
Having an achy foot sucks.
We'll meet Gabriel again tomorrow for a view of The Last Supper which is som-ers close to here; and the Leonardo di Vinci Museo of Science and Engineering. Where all the really cool people hang out.
And tonight we have reservations for 8:00 at the little restaurant across the street.
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