Milano/Malaga Part One

Milano/Malaga Part One

It has been several weeks since our return from Milan and Malaga and it dawned on me that I’ve not written a word about the trip. Part of that was due to the fact that we decided to try and carry only an iPad and although it has a Bluetooth keyboard, I just couldn’t get into typing on a tablet. Good lesson since we are off soon for three weeks in Asia and I know now that I’ll be carrying my Apple Air.

Our flight from Dulles to Paris on Air France was in Premium Economy, which cost more but isn’t worth it.  Another lesson learned.  On other Premium Economy services with other airlines the service is much more like business.  On AF they give you basic economy food and drink but you get it first.

AF went on strike the day we departed and I had spent four hours working with them to get us from Paris to Milan since they had cancelled our non-stop.  Once in Paris we went to the connecting desk and they did absolutely nothing for us. Didn’t even offer us a bottle of water. We had to wait at the airport for six hours and then fly to AMSTERDAM, which for those of you that are geographically challenged, is in the opposite direction!  Once in AMS we had to wait another three hours before getting a flight to Milan, arriving there at ten PM, a mere nine hours late.  And those expensive Premium Economy seats we purchased don’t exist on the flights we were on, so they gave us window and middle seats in the back of the very full bus.

We finally got to our hotel at eleven PM and of course the bar and restaurant were closed, but we were in Italy.  They knew about our delays and the manager opened the bar and prepared us a plate of cheese and meats and wonderful bread and above all, an ice cold bottle of crisp white wine.  We were saved.

For the next week or so we just enjoyed Italy.  There were street fairs, markets, restaurants, shopping and playing with our friends Bob and Mary that made the four days in Milan flash by.  Our next four days were spent in Crema, chosen by me for the fact that in the entire city there is but ONE MUSEUM!  Crema turned out to be a delight in every way.  We would walk for hours, sometimes along the river, sometimes around the old walled town and sometimes in one of the many parks. We quickly became regulars at the closest bar to our hotel and enjoyed the magnificent open air market and relaxed vibe of the town.

The ONE MUSEUM almost undid all the fun we were having.  It is a combination history museum and art museum and in order to see anything you have to see everything.  Now that part I would have been okay with since as a youth I once managed to see the Louvre in twenty minutes. However, the 95-year-old guide pounced upon us owing to the fact that I’m sure we were the first two customers in many days.  He then proceeded to walk us though every room and comment on every artifact, in what I assume was perfect Italian, but since I only understood one in every seven words, what do I know? If it hadn’t been for the lunch break that he couldn’t wait to take, we might have been there for four hours, but we escaped in two. At one point he began to read Dante’s Inferno to us, page by page, since Dante had lived there at some point.  I got major points from Cindy!

More later, Cindy and William