To the issue of the question posed above: Leonardo who ? Surprising that you ask such a question: Milan was / is home of Leonardo Da Vinci. Which football side did he play for, you may ask ? Frankly, I would have to go and canvass a few opinions to brush up on this. Still, in his time, Leonardo did invent a few good moves that are still used today. Not a bad effort overall: apparently it has been suggested, that he was ahead of his time. Does this mean that he constantly arrived early ? Still, more about Leonardo below, as he is the focus of our next competition.

Why Milan, you may ask. I am glad you did ....essentially no particular reason and if there was, it maybe deep and personal and my psychiatrist has mentioned on a number of occasions that not all needs to be revealed. For example, that’s why Fred and our grandson, Noah, don’t go around publicising that fact that they are Parramatta supporters ! We can all be sympathetic to them on this occasion. Perhaps some grief counselling may be in order for them ? But back to our sporting fanatic, grandson Noah, he would be impressed that in Milan there are two European sides, AC Milan, which I think he follows because of “Ronaldo” and FC Milan Internazionale.  

Milan, is situated in Northern Italy: the capital of Lombardy Province. From a broader perspective, it is the financial capital of Italy, as well as being a highly regarded cultural leader within the country. Many museums, cultural centres, theatres etc are found here. One in particular being the Milano Opera House; not nearly as impressive as the Sydney equivalent. Fred happened to wander in and ask if there where any tickets for either the ballet and / or the Opera. “Yes ma’dam was the reply from the boothed ticket seller, some remain at 203 euro. After a slightly dramatic coughing conniption, we indicated that perhaps this was not our preferred position. 

Just to refresh your minds about the euro, in a previous pontification (like the analogy ?), I mentioned that the currency is written the way it is spoken. That is, “ 203 euro”, whereas in most other currencies, we have (say) the dollar sign preceding the amount (eg $203) and yet, we say “203 dollars”. Fascinating don’t you think. I just thought that I would remind you of this rather significant fact, so as the mental stimulation you are now experiencing, is supremely enhanced.  

Milan has been around for a significant time: seems to have been around since 600BC, so both of the football clubs have won their fair share of premierships in the European championship. The city is well serviced by internal transport, which requires you to buy a “luggage ticket” if you are carrying large items / bags etc. I reckon that there would be a “case” for some legal action here to contest this. Apparently, the Italian logic is that the large bags take up room for other passengers and that the privately run transport companies (of which there are 3 in this city), lose income. “Mama Mia” !!, I say to this. Just a thought, I wonder if you were to piggy-back” somebody onto the trains / trams, that you would only have to pay one fare ? I suggested this to Fred, but she wouldn’t be in this !! I just thought that by lugging me around, would be good exercise for her slowly repairing shoulder from her little mishap on our trip last year.

Time to highlight our breakfast experience at our hotel. A typical European breakfast with Italian coffee (Americano style) with some sweet pastries and tortes. But what kept me interested, was the hotel’s small dog. He has his human owners well trained. They responded when he went to the door and requested to exit the premises to fertilise the grass: which he dutifully did. However, the poor canine, didn’t have access to a bidet like us humans have in our room. Perhaps an issue for the local RSPCA ? The dogs over here though must be multi-lingual, as the pooch seemed to understand his master’s Italian chat fairly well. Perhaps he was just being polite ?

Our day’s activities were to concentrate on the “old city”: which was just about or even approximately 1.6536 kms from Hotel Charly. We decided to walk this distance even though a local tram was at the end of our street. In doing so, using our electronic maps devices. This all went well ...generally so with us only getting lost a few times. I suspected our initial mis-directed pursuits when I noticed the plaque for the Pisa Tower: my instant reaction was that we were heading in the wrong direction. However there is an immediate need to relate to you my experience with blackbirds along the way while walking through Parno Indro Monteinelli (a major parkland of Milan established in 1770). These blackbirds are a scourge: they constantly destroy my garden at home ....well not the Italian ones, but their Aussie cousins. They are only good for those iconic meat pies in Australia “four and twenty”. I have avoided eating these as a protest: I didn’t think eating 24 blackbirds would be good fun !! Lost ? Don’t you remember the nursery rhyme “four and twenty blackbirds, baked in a pie” ? Lots of material / input for plenty of pies here.

Once we reached the Piazza Del Duomo, all of our frustrations seemed to disappear. Piazzas in Italy are large public spaces. This one is huge and dominated by the Duomo Basilica. What a magnificient building !! Millions of pigeons which seem to be an attraction for scammers to get photos taken with a flock hanging all over you. Once these birds see you have food, they just inundate you. I reminded Fred of times during my youth when I had on many occasions, “lots of birds chasing me”. She promptly gave me that stare and commented, “ dreaming, don’t you remember that they stopped chasing you after you dropped their purses ?”. Cruel, I say.

Back to the Piazza. Such magnificient architecture around the Piazza: almost jaw dropping. The centre-piece as I mentioned, being the Duomo Basilica. To the Italians, this seems to be “heaven’. Thousands queue to get in and inspect this magnificent structure. Our international traveller status allowed Fred and I to compare it to theempered by our experiences. Like many other major structures, throughout history the Duomo (since the 4th century) has undergone many transitions: all the result of the ruling authorities’ preferences at the time. Whatever the function, the Piazza has always been the centre of Milan: certainly something to see. A tourist Mecca for the Milanese economy. 

We also had to do the Milanese thing, so we went to the Museo Del Duomo. This houses samples of sculptures and the like over the times of the development of the Duomo. Now, I’m not a museum type person, but this exhibition was great. To see sculptures, paintings etc from the 4th century was rather mind blowing. Fred thought my description was a little over the top, remarking, “ ....one has to have a mind first for it to be blown...”. I think she was having a go at me ?

Lunch was to be had in a neighbouring building. I was hanging our for an Italian pizza and pasta. The pasta was a seafood one. I reminded Fred that she would have to eat all the mussels as I couldn’t because it would be an act of “cannibalism”. She then proceeded to offer me one of the clams !! 

All of this rather tasty food washed down with a local Angelo Paretti beer !! Impressed ? No need to be, just read on. This is what we undertook: a great treat followed by a walk around the Piazza and then into the magnificient Galleria building where the upmarket shops are located. Baroque architecture, with some magnificent Italian artwork. Crowds here at a premium with lots of people taking “selfies” outside Louis Vuitton, Prada etc outlets.

We passed the Milan Opera House (as noted earlier) and then purchased our one-way urban ticket to make our way back to Hotel Charly. The underground confused us a little, but we finally made it to the correct platform for the quick trip (4 stops) to Milano Centrale. A crowded experience, where one local picked up on us being tourists and then politely told us that a crowded carriage is fertile territory for pick pockets etc. This was done and then our short excursion home was complemented by a visit to one of the local supermarkets (via tram #5 ...a trip on the tram for one stop), to purchase some Italian meats and cheeses, all to be washed down with a Chianti. “A picnic in our room 22 apartment”, was Fred’s aim. “Bellissimo”.

We are still somewhat chronologically disoriented with the long trip over, waking early and going to sleep early. I guess we have the next 6 weeks to recover.

Today’s competition focusses on our friend Leonardo Da Vinci (should that be Leonardo the Vinci ? ....not sure) Anyway, I need to bring you up to date with those many entries received by the judging panel from the previous competition: just to refresh your minds, the task set was to see if you could could up with some location names that “quickly” are used in everyday language. I must admit that I was expecting “Samoa”, indeed heaps more. However, if you went back to the previous chapter, and Uganda at the list, some pretty good ones were listed. But “Alaska”, what’s done is done. I guess we all live in our own worlds, or as one academic (who shall remain nameless, cough, cough), once said “Utah” the road upon which you tread. 

So the overall winner from this masterful mental stimulation, has to be our daughter Jonelle. She somewhat excelled with her contributions (receipt should be in the your inbox by now). I’d suggest you go back to the previous chapter and view these entries and you will note the extremely difficult decision the judge(s) had to endure. Just a post script to Jonelle, Euros would have been preferred: money changers don’t like AUD !!

Ciao