DAY FOUR – Pre Trip Day Two

Today is our first full official day of the tour…pre-trip tour.  For some reason, I think I should have drank alcohol last night because I woke up feeling like I did drink all night!  Rough start to a very busy day.  Water…I should be drinking water. 

Add to that...when I finally did manage to get out of bed and into the shower...there was NO HOT WATER!  So now I'm really not in a good mood....cold shower?!?  Give me a break!  Just to be fair, as soon as I was ready to step out, the water did eventually warm up...ARGH!

When I finally got out the front door around 745 AM (yeah late start for me)…I had my hotel breakfast and cappuccino.  Tried to exchange more USD but again, two banks later…no one wants to change cash…so strange for a bank NOT to deal in cash…interesting society challenge.

Enroute to meet the group, I of course stopped for yet another cappuccino…but here’s the scary part…I barely walked through the door and my friendly café bar server looked at me with a smile on his face and said “Bon Giorno…Cuppucho?”  (That's Italian slang for cappuccino) OH MY GOD…I’m a “regular!”  He had my drink made and sitting on the counter before I could even get the change to pay for it.  We had a good laugh.  But this is making me really like Italy and forget the past of bad experiences.

The group was slowly gathering in the lobby of their hotel and we met our new home for the next few days…the “Coach” and driver, Mauricio.  Luisa is our Tour Manager who has all the knowledge and makes me look really good as a host.  First stop…city tour of Milan. 

Small cobble stone streets, narrow passages between ancient buildings no taller than 5 stories (and no elevators for the inhabitants)…we ventured through the city of Milano.  First stop was the Castle Sforza which served as Milan’s triumphant prestige as the official city center, governing body and housed Leonardo Da Vinci as one of many tenants of past.  In one end and out the other to see Napoleon’s Arch…seriously there are no words to describe the beauty, magnificence and structural excellence of these buildings.  The only way to give them justice is to imagine yourself tossed back in time to the 1400’s.  Awesome.

Next a brief visit to Saint Maria delle Grazie where the “Last Supper” is preserved.  Sadly, I was unable to secure tickets to see this work of art due to my late booking and difficulty in getting spots for a “group” let alone individuals.  They are tickets at a premium.  Did you know that Da Vinci painted this on a wall in the church that measures 12 feet high and 27 feet wide?  It was also painted using his fingers…and not a paint brush.  The result was a stunning masterpiece that gave the illusion of 3D…too bad I didn’t get to see it for myself…but I was within 20 yards of it!

More city sites learning the history and prestige Milano had in Europe in the days…and continues today…and then the Duomo and Galleria.  Now this is where my day takes a horrible turn.  We (Mauricio, Luisa and I) decided that while Luisa takes the group through the Duomo, Galleria and offers the group a few hours of leisure time for lunch…that I should go with the coach and Mauricio to find a local store so I could buy water for the group…yah…they were already disappointed I hadn’t supplied the coach with water.  Mauricio offered to have me “buy” his water, but I’ve been scorched before in Italy when it came to bartering and money…so I told him I’d just go buy my own.  So the group went with Luisa and I went with the coach.  This started out wonderfully.  As an “official” tour director, we drove the coach more like a sports car then a safe tour bus…zooming through the crowded streets and driving with the race-car-like precision of our driver.  Add to that, we drove past the city center and entered the “real” Milan where the everyday person lives…that was really cool…seeing the stuff tourists never see…real human existence in a metropolitan city.  But we were driving a bit far and I noticed we past several grocery stores.  Hmmm….something isn’t right.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, Mauricio speaks no English.  Italian only.  Great.  I tried to ask where we were going, and all he did was make a call….2 minutes long and hang up.  He then tried to tell me that we were driving to his “factory” (the bus headquarters) where they would have water to stock the bus with.  Sure…why not!  We ended up driving about 40 minutes out of town…so I got to see more of Milan than my guests did.

  The buses storage yard was in a broken down part of the outer city…and I started to get an uneasy feeling in my stomach…something wasn’t right…and now thoughts of Mafia hits were running through my mind.  When we entered the secured gate, a man was waiting with water that we transferred to our bus.  84 bottles for now.  I saw the receipt and it came to 22 Euros and change.  That’s about $28.  Okay…for 84 bottles…I’m cool with that.  But then it happened.  The WHOLE REASON I HATE ITALY was now reconfirming my waning disapproval of the country.  The other guy in the bus terminal now wanted to charge me 1 Euro for each bottle!  That’s 84 Euros or $100!  Again…this man didn’t speak good English either and I thought for sure someone was going to shoot me in the head and bury my body under a new construction site.  CRAP!  We argued for a few minutes…I told them forget it, I’ll just get my own later that day.  And then…Mauricio came to my rescue.  Basically, he defended me, grabbed me and pushed me into the bus and took off, ignoring the demands of the mobster I assume was his boss.  When we got in the bus, he told me in broken English…just pay whats on the receipt.  It was a silent drive for a few blocks, and I joked with him, “Man I could use a cigarette”…instantly, he looked relieved…he cracked open the window and offered me an Italian cigarette and he started smoking one as well.  He asked me in sign language basically to take a seat in the tour conductors seat…you know…the seat that is in the entrance way of the bus, where normally the tour guide would sit…separated from the group and on the same level as the driver, below the passenger section?  HOW COOL WAS THAT.  So now I’m cruising through Milan, back to the group, smoking an Italian cigarette and watching the city unfold in front of those gigantic bus windows.  This is the life.  I was worried about the smell of smoke in the bus, but he said…No Worries.  When we got back to the Duomo, he opened both doors, cranked the air and sprayed air freshner throughout the bus…problem solved.  Then has asked if I wanted a coffee?  He should know better. 

He dug inside a cabinet and produced materials needed for two cafés.  In the mid section of the bus was a small café machine, much like our Keurig Coffee makers back home that use “pods” to make coffee.  He poured us two cafés (basically two espressos) with one sugar in what looked like a plastic shot glass.  We stood silent, appreciative of each others kindness and shared a drink of café.  Hmmm…he’s making it hard for me to NOT like Italy!  He tried really hard to communicate with me, but it was all for naught.  I was still pissed about being smoked and abused by mobster man and all I could think about was actually giving Mauricio a bigger tip for helping me out.  So I ended up paying 40 Euro for the water…he was insistent that I take some change, but I said “No, gratci”…we smiled and I went off to find the group.

Now I didn’t get to attend the Duomo tour, because I was too busy being cheated out of my tour money, so I don’t have much details to offer other than WOW!  All I know is it is one of the architectural wonders of the world…and it’s easy to see why.  Breathtaking, serene, unnaturally large, and detailed to the finest grit of sand.  Next door is the Galleria which is the world’s first covered outdoor shopping area…for those craving history…the Duomo’s construction started in 1386 and the Galleria started construction in 1865.

I only had 30 minutes to run in and run out…definitely not enough time to really see it, but trust me…what I did see was so impressive…I may have to come back to Milan again…maybe.

I rushed to meet the group and all were on time!  Actually impressive.  We boarded the bus and headed in a southernly route out of town to the rolling agricultural region known as Lomardia, where we stopped at this family owned winery for a tour, tasting and apperitiff’s (cheese, bread and meats).  Being the big drinker I am (sarcasm), I chose not to participate in the tour or tasting and contented myself with the incredibly beautiful view of the valley of farmlands.

Add an unpredicted picture perfect day (weather report predicted thunder storms all day) and a lightly warmed breeze touched by the sun, and I was happy as a clam enjoying the serenity of the landscape.  I joined the group to perform my tour director duties of tending to everyone’s needs at the tasting and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves.  After about 2 hours, we boarded the bus again and headed back to the hotel.

As an added bonus, we offered a bit of Los Angeles to our Milan experience…TRAFFIC!  This was okay however, because the bus is comfortable and the front half of the bus decided to sleep, while the party animals confiscated the back half of the bus.  I ended up, right smack dab in the middle.

The best part of the day was when one of our guests shouted… “This was the best day ever!”  Seriously…a great thing to hear after my first official day…and yes…I thank the wine for inducing such a reaction…maybe I should serve wine on the bus as a daily bonus?

This really was the end of my day.  I bid farewell to the group who were already planning where they were going to have dinner as I headed back to my humble house of rest.  Perhaps I will give McDonalds of Milan a try?  Hey…when in Rome…

By the way...it's about 730PM and it is still fully daylight outside.  It doesn't even start to get dark until after 930PM...kinda strange.  It's going to take me a while to upload images and such, so this will be the end of today's blog....goodnight my brave and loyal readers!

By the way...McDonalds is the same here in Milan as it is in Los Angeles...