So this is Italy. Alternating between being beautiful and amazing and totally frustrating. We arrived yesterday after smooth, uneventful flights and checked into Dave's work hotel in Saronno. Late in the day we took a commuter train into Milan (Milano) and wandered around to fight off jet lag. There is no agenda which for once feels great. I have decided that the Duomo in Milan is my favorite cathedral - it was a crystal clear day so the gleaming white facade jumped out against the blue sky. We found a neighborhood called Brera where we had a relaxing dinner and shared a cafe table with two young Canadian travelers. It was dark as we rode the train back to Saronno.
We met our apartment owner's real estate agent and our relocation consultant at 10 AM this morning to inspect the apartment and receive the keys. Dave had only previously seen the apartment from the street so it was a relief that he seems very satisfied with the choice. Now it is time to get busy and try to settle in; I wish I could videotape our activities and run it on fast forward for our friends who think we are sitting on a veranda overlooking a Tuscan landscape. We are stymied by the most basic things like how to release the shopping cart from the rack of carts or how to tell whether the detergent we are buying is for dishes or for clothes. We finally figured out that there is a grocery store not too far from here in the pedestrian zone; we just had never seen one underground before and who ever heard of a grocery named "Billa"? People we are meeting seem to want to help - we just can't communicate. I have to learn Italian in the next week.
It is 11 PM - I have blisters on my feet, it is hot and we are in an apartment with no air conditioning and there is a lady singing really bad, loud Karaoke (in Italian of course) in an outdoor cafe down the street. But no more getting ready, we are here and it is real life. Life is good.
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