Arrival

 

Oh happy sight. After the chaos of massive Frankfurt Airport and immigration (plus jammed bus rides to and from the planes out on the tarmac) nice knowing our bags made the plane for the short flight to Milan. 

We were met at the airport by a Viking rep who quickly arranged private transfer to our hotel in the heart of Milan. Viking is known for their good service. We had a very quick driver to put it mildly. He did the hour drive in about 45 minutes. Neither of us slept on the long flight from Seattle so it was heaven checking into the cool hotel.  

BTW. We are in the midst of an unseasonable heat wave, with temps in the mid 90’s and high humidity. 

Simple pizza for dinner…

Then a night of awful, wide awake tossing and turning for me. Finally exhaustion took over and I got in a few hours before the alarm went off. The downside to organized tours is no la-di-da sleeping there’s a strict schedule.

And flying east, the jet lag is especially brutal in the morning. The espresso machine in the room helped jumpstart the day. 

Our hotel is just steps away from the Galleria and truly magnificent gothic Duomo, which took 600 years to build. 

We had a guided 3 hour walking tour of central Milan this morning before it got too hot and crowded. 

Our local guide, born in Milan…

I could spend days here exploring the city.  Not to mention the food. 

Gelato and fruit for lunch on this scorching hot day. Perfect and all we needed after this incredible hotel buffet breakfast.

Some nice gooey Gorgonzola for breakfast?  

Tomorrow is a big day. The suitcases need to be in the hallway by 7 am, then we take a bus to the northern Italy Lake District before heading to st. Moritz Switzerland in the afternoon on the Bernina Express, the most scenic line. And the sun will be shining in the Alps!  There we will spend the next 2 nights. 

Internet is great here in Milan, and I’ll try to check in again if time permits. 

Ciao. 

 

Lord have mercy

 

 

The packing was going pretty well until we got the idea (actually Viking's suggestion) to divide our clothes between the suitcases. 

The sensible reason being, if one gets lost, that person will still have half their wardrobe. John is a man who wears identical button down shirts, a uniform style of pants and cookie cutter socks, handkerchiefs and underware. He said, just make a couple of identical stacks. 

For women, it's not that simple dividing up different styles of pants, dresses, capris, light sweaters, t-shirts, scarves etc. 

The carry-on capsule travel wardrobe idea is big right now. I failed. But at least my separates go together because everything is black, brown and beige. 

I'm overthinking the whole clothing thing as usual. The object is to be as cool and comfortable as possible as the temperature will be in the 80's and 90's. In fashionable Milan, no one is going to notice a tour group walking around with Viking lanyards on their necks.  Haha

Anyway, after so many, many months of planning and anticipation, we are checked in for our Lufhansa flight to Frankfort tomorrow afternoon. Somewhere in that monstrous airport, we transfer for a quick flight to Milan and the 4 day tour of Italy and Switzerland begins. We board the Viking longboat on May 30th for a 6-day cruise up the Rhine River to Amsterdam. Home from there. 

I'll check in along the way as time and Internet allows. Ciao! 

 

 

 

Where's my?

 

 

Viking "highly recommends" using Bluetooth tracker devices in your checked bags. And so does every other travel expert out there.

I bought a four pack because Apple rips you off when you purchase just one. (There's a reason why Apple is a 4.5 trillion dollar company.)

Another bit of technology to supposedly give you control over something you have no control over. Anyway, if your checked bag doesn't make it on your plane, you can spent the flight worrying about it. So much for peace of mind-- but they are supposedly helpful in locating lost luggage more quickly. 

We're spending the weekend packing and getting stuff in order around the house and yard. So much planning and preparation goes into an international trip like this-- nothing like our little vacation jaunts to Twisp. I'll be glad when we're finally on the way. 

The growing season

 

The Fatsia japonica by the deck has just exploded in growth this spring after a severe hacking back. That bright evergreen tree to the left (about 15 feet tall) started life as one of those Trader Joe decorated Christmas trees. 

With the exception of the laurel hedge and fig tree, I'm responsible for planting everything over the last 45 years. The good, the bad, and the ugly. 

In fact, generations of plants have come and gone in just about every spot. Never a master plan, just years of impulse planting along with trial and error. Now, the yard is a wild and random hodgepodge. Martha Stewart does not like hodgepodges. Ask me if I care. The birds love it. 

 

We had pasta with homemade sausage sauce last night, priming the pump for Italian food next week. 

Actually, just a quick taste of Italy-- 2 nights in Milan, then a day tour near Lake Como, then off to St Moritz for 2 nights (Alps train and gondola experiences) before boarding the Rhine River boat in Basel, Switzerland.  

Talk about hitting the ground running! Although this a guided pre-cruise tour offered by Viking, and the transportation and hotels are taken care of. We'll just go with the flow and get a handle on the jet lag. 

And this is a learning trip for us. It might be a once in a lifetime experience, or the start of many river cruises.   

The European weather forecast looks beautiful next week, quite hot actually. I'm determined not to overpack. For once haha. 
 

Fiddling away the time

 

No newsy blog this morning, I’m on my iPad trying to figure out how to upload iPhone photos into Blogger posts while we’re on vacation. Google and Apple get along, but in a most begrudging way. I think the word is frenemy. 

Anyway, so far so good. 

Relay race champs

 

Maya (bottom left) and her friends are having a really successful middle school track season. Good for them! So many benefits, both physical and mental, for girls participating in team sports. 

It wasn't always that way. Nova and Maya look at me like I'm crazy when I tell them this:

Title 9, the 1972 federal civil rights law, prohibited sex-based discrimination in school sponsored sports. Now taken totally for granted by this young generation, that requirement for equal treatment in high school sports was an earth shattering change at the time. 

At our small Colorado high school, the boys played intramural basketball and the girls had segregated gym class and joined "pep club." That was our only participation in sports. 

Few families had money to spare, and the dorky, old fashioned pep club uniform (remember this was the mini skirt 60's) was quite an investment: stitched down, below the knee wool pleated skirt in ugly kelly green, formal blazer, and, yes, white gloves and Keds. Wool fabric was cheap then and the clever girls tried to sew those complicated skirts in Home Ec class, with varying success. 

It wasn't like we were entirely excluded-- the pep club trouped along with the basketball team to away games, hours on the road late at night in a dark bus. Trust me, we had fun as teenagers do, but the sexist roles were sharply defined: the boys played, and the girls cheered them on from the sidelines. As Nova and Maya say, "Nana, that's CRAZY." 

I have a tendency to bemoan change, but who would ever want to go back to those days?