Milano, Italia

So yesterday's post was basically to let our parents know we are alive.  I tried to dress it up, but really that's what it was.  As we rap up day 2, I have more to write about then I have internet minutes.
We started the day by returning to the Duomo.  I almost don't want to post pictures as even the best ones will not do it justice.  The Duomo is the second largest Catholic Church in the world, and it is spectacular!  I stand by what I said yesterday.  It is the most amazing thing I have seen to date in my entire life.  Last night we walked by quickly, and just saw the outside.  Today we went inside the church, and we climbed the stairs to the roof.  We probably spent 2 hours touring the church.  I could have spent the entire day.  It was absolutely the most stunning thing I have ever laid eyes on.
We then walked around the "shopping area" and I may or may not have bought a thing or two (ouch by the way).
Trevor has another friend in Milan from when he was here in 2001.  Cecilia and her boyfriend met us and we walked around Milan for the next 3 hours.  Cecilia's boyfriend is ... wait for it.... wait for it.... yep a Calgary Flames fan!!!!  I kid you not.  He is obsessed with the NHL, and is a Calgary fan (smart guy that he is).  While he hardly spoke any english, the guys managed to talk about sports most of the day.  After 8 hours of walking we decided to give our feet a rest and rest at the hotel for an hour.
We just finished dinner, and are relaxing with a glass of vino in the courtyard of our hotel with just enough time in the day for me to update all of you!

As I wasn't able to provide many details yesterday, I have to mention the family that Trevor stayed with when he was here before.  Giampiero and Paolo picked us up from the airport with roses in hand.  We then had a delightful tour of the Malpensa Airport Parkade as they could not remember where they had parked.  Giampiero referred to it as problem #1.  We thought - if this is our biggest problem - We'll take it! We headed back to their house for lunch as Claudia had been cooking for us all day.  As I said yesterday, best food ever, and that stands today.  We started with some sparkling wine and a plate of cured meats and cheeses.  My favourite being burrata (a fresh buffalo mozzarella with butter.)  It actually may not sound that good.  Cheese with butter?  Well let me tell you - it was amazing.  It didn't seem like butter, but more of just a creamier cheese.  It made me wonder if we just had a language barrier affecting the description.  That was fallowed by a shrimp pasta with this sauce that was indescribable (reason I'm not a food blogger).  Pasta was followed by not one, but two desserts.  Why would you only have one when you can have two I suppose....
After lunch we headed to the hotel to grab some sleep as we had been up for 24 hours will only 2-3 hours worth of airplane sleep.  Our quick nap was followed by dinner out in an area of Milan that has canals (like Venice).  Paolo brought his friends, Chairo, Carlo and Matilda to dinner.  They were great.  Chairo travels the world working for a fashion blog.  I'm sorry what?  Yep - literally spends tonnes of time in NYC, London, Paris etc.  Carlo now works on the marketing end of the blog.  Oh and how can I forget Matilda is their bulldog.  Matilda also joined us in the restaurant for dinner.  Yep just us and the dog hanging out for dinner.  Now I know what you are thinking - what kind of place were you at that allows dogs?  You must have just been at some cafe outside.  Well let me tell you - it was a really nice place and 100% indoors.  Good times.
I love Milano!

www.hotelmanin.it

Safe and Sound

We made it!  We spent most of the day tired and starving, but it was so worth it.  I love it here.  Trevor's host family from when he travelled here before picked us up from the airport and took us to their house for lunch.  Best food ever!  Then they dropped us off at our hotel so we could have a quick nap.  The hotel is amazing.  We walked to the Duomo for a quick look while we picked up a cell phone.  The Duomo is literally the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my entire life.  Tomorrow we will be back to fill up at least one memory stick worth of photos.  The family is coming back to our hotel for dinner tonight, so this is it for now.  I just wanted to let people know we made it, and the chances of me ever coming back dwindle with each passing hour.  Best day ever! 

22 Hours

Yes - In 22 hours we will be boarding the plane.  I can't wait.  This morning I sat straight up and realized - only one more sleep!  I woke Trevor up to tell him the great news.  He thought it was a little excessive for that hour of the morning, but I thought it was quite appropriate.  All I could think was ... just wait until tomorrow morning.  As I am a large fan of jumping on the bed, I am leaning towards that as the likely reaction, but only time will tell.
Twenty two hours until this amazing month begins.  I have to say I will prefer when we have actually landed in Milano to sitting on my couch thinking about it.  The hours are ticking by so quickly I almost wish they wouldn't go by so fast as I don't want the next month to go by this quickly.

Packing....finally

Well officially I started packing last night by bringing our suitcases upstairs, and well that's it.  That's as far as I got.  It seemed like enough at the time, but now that I have actually started packing today I realize it probably was not.  Packing is exhausting.  Seriously exhausting.  I would say I am about halfway through, and it seems as though it took me all afternoon.  I am through the worst part which I refer to as the "shopping" part of packing.  This is the part of the process that Trev links to me just being a crazy redhead.  I am certain that I am not the only one that does this, but please don't confirm if I am as the last thing he needs is more explanations for why redheads are crazy.  While packing some people (side note: race, class, religion, political affiliation, or hair colour are not a factor for being one of these people), shop their closets.  What I mean by this is I try on everything, excluding socks and underwear, before it makes it in the suitcase.  This is a process Trevor has zero comprehension of, and was mortified when I made him try on one of his outfits before I would pack it for him.  Come on - it was just one.  You didn't actually think I would ask him try on everything too did you?  Anyhow what's not to understand?  Why would I want to pack something I'm not into this month, or doesn't fit me anymore, or maybe it fits me better then ever, or the best one - when you find something awesome that you completely forgot you had.  It's a long and grueling ordeal, but so worth it when you have put together 14 of the best outfits you own plus some casual everyday stuff that will probably be worn the most out of everything in the suitcase.  Still worth it.  Completely worth it.  Even when I look around and it seems like a bomb went off in here ... completely worth it .... I'm going to have to clean this up at some point .... worth it .... my back hurts .... worth it .... I'm ready for bed and it's 8:14 .... worthhhhh ...
6 sleeps.  Goodnight.

The Countdown

11 days until we arrive, 9 days until I don’t have to come into work, 5.5 actual work days and 10 MORE SLEEPS!  Mind you really - I’m too excited to sleep!  You would think I would be resting peacefully every night - no more stress at work, and we have everything ready to go (and by everything please refer to the checklist in my earlier post), but no I toss and turn until the blare of my alarm disrupts my rolling back and forth hoping the rocking will help me sleep if even just for a moment. 

I was hoping to have a “spring clean” done on the entire house before we left, but as each day passes I come closer and closer to realizing this is NOT going to happen.  On the bright side we donated 7 garbage bags full of clothes and shoes from the rooms that I did get to cleaning.  Plus we will get to arrive home to a nicely cleaned house even if there are some rooms that the baseboards weren’t washed, and furniture wasn’t moved to vacuum under – I will survive.  What I have come to learn is that most people don’t spring clean their houses anyway, so I’m already ahead of the game!  Phewff!

 

I will be getting my international drivers license today.  While not necessary, it was recommended that it is easier to provide an international license if you do end up in a situation where Italian speaking police are involved.  I figured – what’s the harm?  As my only experience with driving a standard was driving my dad’s car through the side of the garage when I was 13, I figured it might be a good idea to have this.  If I only go based on past experiences, my chances of being a successful standard driver don’t look so good.  At least if I drive through the side of a restaurant, or into the cellar of some winery, I will be able to provide proper documentation that will inform everyone that I was cleared to drive not only my own country, but this one as well.  I can’t really imagine I will be doing much driving anyways.  By the sounds of it I will be far more focused on hanging on for dear life as we fly through the streets that should have no more then two pedal bikes passing each other, but somehow they have made it work for 3 lanes of traffic and a walkway for pedestrians as well.  No thanks – I think I’ll just sleep off the previous night’s hangover until Juanita announces we are “arriving at destination.” 

Foodies

Well 13 sleeps to go, and we are changing plans to be able to go to a restaurant.  Yes when and where we go in Italy now revolves around one restaurant. Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy currently #6 on 2010 The World's 50 Best Restaurants.  I will update you on where it falls on the 2011 list that comes out in 3 days 41 minutes and 52 seconds.  While many will think we are insane for changing our trip to be able to go to one restaurant, really it's just the love of food not insanity that is driving this decision.  I can't wait!

www.theworlds50best.com
www.osteriafrancescana.it

Modena, Italy

Accommodations ... check.

(Well sorta kinda.  If you count that we don’t have confirmation back from everywhere yet).

We just decided last night we definitely want to stay in Modena. 

Are you organized or what?

What is one of the biggest misconceptions about me?  The answer is....that I am organized.  Well many people I know think this.  It is only those that really really know me, those that may have travelled with me and have seen my hotel room after only a day, those that know the state of my garage would land me on an episode of hoarders in a second, those that have ventured into our junk drawer in hopes of locating a pen, those that have worked in the same office space as me (also known as ground zero), and of course those that just really know me well would know that actually I am not organized.  I am; however, an exceptional faker.  I function best with a minimum of 32 balls in the air at any given time.  While regular jugglers would have a consistent, fluid motion of tossing their 32 balls round and round and round, I really just huck mine in the air and hope none hit me in the head on the way down.  For those of you that argue this - you are only arguing because you don't know the real me, and because it is very difficult to comprehend how things can appear - appear I stress - so organized when really they are not. Or sometimes they really are that organized, but it took every ounce of my being to get it that way.  It certainly did not happen naturally. 
You are not organized you say?  It just can't be.  Well let me tell you - it is.  Accept it.  The sooner you do the less time I have to waste explaining the details of my façade. 

So with that cleared up our countdown is now at 15 sleeps.  The list of things that have yet to be done are…..well let’s be serious I say list, but I don’t actually have a list.  Instead of a list I have a compilation of the following: a guidebook sent by the company we rented a place from, 19 stickies that can be found anywhere from my desk to my purse to home, 28 emails to refer to some in folders at work, some on my phone and some in my husband’s account, an attempt at a folder to keep “Important Italy Documents,” and of course comments that others have made to me, but for simplicity sake – let’s just call it a list.
LIST:  book flight…check.  Passports….check.   Rental Car….check.  Place to stay….not checked? 
Ok so you would think with only 3 things checked off the “list” it would have dawned on me prior to last week that maybe there are some things I am leaving out.  Thanks Nic for lining me up with a day backpack and some luggage locks.  And Robin for reminding me that potentially I will need more then just a windbreaker.  She asked “what are you going to do if it’s chilly?”  Huh?  I didn’t think about it being chilly.  It does get chilly in Italy especially in the North where we will be most of the time.  While I know this, the dots had yet to connect that it could be chilly during MY trip to Italy.  Someone else suggested a travel clothes line, a retractable lock for our luggage while we are on the train, or anywhere sketchy.  Oh man.  A retractable lock?  If I didn’t think of that, what else haven’t I thought of?  With this in mind, yesterday afternoon I raced over to Shoppers Drug Mart to purchase some random items.  I came out with ear plugs, and a small container of laundry detergent.  So now I sit at ear plugs…..check.  Laundry detergent…check.  I guess we are set. 

Open For Business

So for those of you that know me well would know that starting this blog was quite the effort for me.  I couldn't have done it without my seasoned blogger friend Tessa.  A series of questions was sent to her to help me get started after I had a few inquiries into whether or not I would be blogging on our upcoming trip to Italy.  So here I am .... a blogger.  I never check facebook and refuse to sign up for twitter, but yet I believe there are people that want to read ramblings of my travels through Italy over the next month.  I suppose more then anything I believe this to be a modern day journal.  A way for me to have a record of the massive amount of food I am about to eat, and don't forget my endeavor to drink my body weight in wine.  For those of you that I promised that to - can I count the weight of the bottle?  

I will keep you updated as our trip countdown is now at 16 sleeps!