Sunday, June 11, 2006
June 10 - Chilling in Milano
Today we did indeed make it out of the hotel room. It wasn’t easy. We slept until
We got directions to the nearest Metro stop and headed to the starting spot of a Historical Walking Tour. The tour was only 1.2 km so it was pretty short. We started with a delicious lunch at a café in the Galleria Vittorio de Emmanuel II, a neat indoor/outdoor shopping area. Donna and I split lasagna and pumpkin ravioli; both were favorites but the ravioli was most favorite (Brian Regan reference).
Energized with the delectable Italian carbs, we began our tour at the magnificent Duomo in the aptly named Piazza Del Duomo. It took 500 years to build and it is easy to see why. The rest of the tour made us conclude that
Donna was proud of herself for taking photos of the eight humble men on the façade of the Casa Degli Omenomi before I told her it was indeed historical.
Our last stop was at the Leonardo monument in front of La Scala.
Next on the agenda was scoping out
We found the nearest Metro station and headed back to the general direction of our hotel. After a few trips up and down the Metro steps and some intense map reading, we made our way back. We decided to pick up some snacks at the local supermercato, chill for a few hours, and then eat dinner at our hotel’s restaurant.
Donna and I thought we were in for a treat. We’ve spent most of the trip, grabbing quick and easy meals on the go. Today we eat our best lunch and we decided to make it a day and go fancy-schmansy with the dinner. We decided to split a stuffed chicken breast as an appetizer. Before we got it, one of the three or four people who seemed to be waiting on us brought a plate of what looked like parmesan cheese and a spoonful of honey. I wasn’t sure what to do with it. We had rolls on the table, maybe they went with the rolls. Surely I couldn’t confuse parmesan cheese and stuffed chicken breast. Overcoming my embarrassment, I asked our waiter what it was and what I was supposed to do with it. He politely told me that some restaurants serve drinks as a welcome, theirs serves parmesan cheese. Eat it plain or on the rolls, whatever is our pleasure. It was tasty on our rolls. Unfortunately that was the highlight of our dinner. The appetizer was quite plain and then the dinners were outright disgusting. I ordered spaghetti with a traditional sauce topped with sea urchins, what I thought was pretty safe. Donna ordered ravioli stuffed with pistachio and prawns, I think. I took one smell of mine and lost my appetite. Against better judgment I took a bite. Donna knew from the look on my face that I was done. There are not that many foods I don’t eat, but now I know sea urchin is one of them. Donna let me try hers and although I didn’t like it, it was edible. She is so wonderful that she switched dinners with me. We both choked down about half the meals, along with some wine and then called it a night. After my last bite of the ravioli, Donna told me she thought it tasted like the “mustard” of Maryland Blue Crabs that most Marylanders are taught to avoid. She nailed it. Blech. Tomorrow it is back to roadside pizza and calzones!
I have not seen it reported on CNN International, but the big news out of
All the best,
Andrew
4 Comments:
It is 12:04 PM right now. I leave for Golf with Betty Mack, for our last lesson review. We play two holes with the instructor and two others. I plan to take a test drive on how long it takes to get to Bay Hills (just south of AACC).
Read your comments. I don't know about the sea urchin, but as I sent you at note...I love the 'mustard' in the blue crab!! Yum.
I put the soccer on the TV, Dad is sleeping thru it (not due to the game, but due to the little pill that he takes for the poison sumac or ivy he has).
Hope you have had a great day. Love Mom
Also, I coundn't get over how large those buildings are. The photo of Andrew in front of the Duomo, I swear, just the statues alone had to be nearly 30 feet above Andrew's head. Beautiful, just beautiful! Thank you for sharing. Love Mom
Sent it to your email. Sandy