our flight (the last one for a while) did arrive to milan. only about an hour late. touched down in drizzly, grey from bright sun of greece and wondered if we were here at the right time. next few days proved that everything was good.
The Piazza del Duomo is beautiful with the cathedral itself unequivocally magnificent and almost worth a trip in itself. (although being a fashion whore is the other reason). other than that, and the fact if you need to get a russian visa and you have a couple of weeks to kill, milan's your place!!
after some initial 'vetting,' and some strange encounters with a large, pasty russian officer submitted our application and visa at the russian consulate. hopefully this will be better than doing it through the tour group, which would required much more courier-ing and more hands for our passports to pass through.
Like an Angel, Henry descended to Milan as we were to meet him and Mariah and ride in their car to stay at a friend's, Bryan, house/olive farm in tuscany for two weeks while our visas were being processed in milan.
Rode with him through Parma then picked up Mariah and were off to Tuscany to experience what would prove to be a greatest hits list of culinary delights heretofore yet experienced. There's no real word for organic here as they would not understand what it was because everything is organic.Almost every night, something was grilled over open wood flame in the fireplace was just the beginning with outstanding olive oil and bread and salt served to complete the holy trinity.
We all spent Easter together and had a pizza party with the pizza oven. Kerrie, good friend and Parisian chef from MN now living in Monteggiori with husband Beppe and son, Lorenzo James, made the ingredients while Beppe was the cook, expertly firing up the pizzas in the oven.
Mariah and Henry had to leave after Easter, but we still had a week before Bryan had to leave, so we worked. Cleared respectable sections of land of thorns, made olive bundles for fires, removed rock from a room, etc. The weather held nicely and we even made it to Kerrie and Beppe's house for exquisite dinners on two occasions, one where we met her parents.
Bryan left on a Tuesday and graciously allowed us to have the run of the place for a week (in addition to making food runs on his motorcycle) continued to clear thorns and Andy pulled olive tree trunks from the ground. We didn't really have transportation until we picked up a rental in nearby Viareggio on a Friday which was to be our transportation across to Milan and (our now changed plans) to Venice.
We did day trips to Lucca, San Giamagno, and the marble caves at Carrara.
We also found out from Kerrie on Friday that there was another holiday on the following Monday, which meant the Visa office in Milan would be closed (the day we were supposed to pick it up) and that James' baptism was that day, which was a no brainer, we stayed an extra day in Metato at Bryan's house and went to the church in Monteggiori. It was beautiful and there was heaps of Italian food, hospitality, and celebration afterwards.
The next day, it was tough to leave Metato, but the trip awaited.
We shot across Italy, picked up our Visas almost without blinking an eye in Milan, got stuck in withering traffic there before whisking ourselves to Venice. Dropped off the car and enjoyed the foot-only traffic next to Canals. Venice may have lost her luster through the years but it still should be on anyone's Italian itenerary as it is still one of the most unique places in the world, hands down.
So our last few days in Italy was spent on the canals of Venice, somewhat bittersweetly, but anxious of the dramatic cultural and geographic shock that would await us in Eastern Europe. Next stop: Croatia. More specifically, Zagreb. And even more specifically -- a night train from Venice to Zagreb (via Slovenia).
We boarded the train at 9pm and couldn't believe it was practically empty. After confirming several times that, yes, this was the train to Zagreb, we pulled out of the station and another couple of people boarded. Expected arrival time: 5am.
THANKS
Many thanks to Henry and Mariah for the lift. To Kerrie, Beppe and parents for their generosity. And very special thanks to Bryan for bringing it all together, hosting us and helping to make this part of the trip so memorable.
