The alarm rang at 6:00 AM this morning. Amazingly enough I slept through the night. My mother, on the other hand, didn’t fare as well. sounds like she had about 4 hours of sleep. I’m hoping that means good rest for her on the flight to Paris.
Miracle of miracles! I was able to get everything packed into my two bags. There was enough room for an extra blouse and a book to read! I can’t believe how little I have. My mom also got her bag packed and she’s carrying a large purse that is doubling as her carry on bag. It took her a while, but she finally got it zipped closed on the way to the airport!
My dad drove us to the airport and despite the rain, we made good time. Doug rode with us and I thought (not for the first time) this is going to be the longest time we have been apart. Ever. Thank goodness for today’s technology. I’m armed with my SIM card and a few apps to use for free phone calling. I have downloaded What’s App for calling (and messaging). I will still have data on my devices for texting and emailing as well. What a time to be alive!
Mom and I had signed up for the TSA pre-check program. Amazing! Only about 4 people ahead of us. Non-TSA: I’m guessing a couple hundred waiting. We breezed right through and found our gate right away (D1–first one on the concourse!). I found a couple bottles of water and sandwich to eat.
Boarded with no problems…first class is amazing! Although it reminds me of when I was a teenager on our trips to the South Pacific. Air NewZealand’s coach was as nice as Delta’s domestic first class now. Not complaining…just an observation. Before we took off my mom looked and me and said: “we are leaving for ITALY!” It seems like we have been planning this so long I’m still not believing it’s here!
For lunch Mom opted for the Salmon Salad. The other option was Vegetarian Lasagne. Hence my sandwich choice back in Portland.
The flight to and arrival in Minneapolis was uneventful. We found our next gate after walking about 15 minutes. Missed getting my Chik-Fil-A, but I’ll survive.
We boarded our flight to Paris (via AirFrance) and found amazing accommodations in our business class “pods”. The attendants were very helpful and constantly asking did we need anything?
Dinner was a 3 course meal. I promised myself I would be brave and try new things. So I did! The first course was the appetizer including cheeses, bread, shrimp, ham wrapped melon and a small salad. Before the course was brought, the attendant put a white linen cloth over the tray table. Then out comes the first course. Then the main dish. I have the chicken and Mom had the scallops. Finally, the final course arrives; we each chose the little cake plate. Overall, very good for airline food.
After eating Mom read and I watched some shows on my iPad. I had somehow locked up my inflight entertainment center and just didn’t have the heart to bother anyone. Mom dozed off and eventually I did too; the chairs turn into “beds” and I was able to lay down. It was not quality sleep, more of a cat nap for sure.
About an hour and half out from Paris the lights come on and it’s time to eat again. Didn’t we just eat? Breakfast was an omelette with bacon, fresh berries, yogurt and rolls. Oh, and a small glass of orange juice and cuppa tea for both Mom and myself.
Our arrival in Paris was a little daunting. We had to get to a different terminal via a train. There was a lot of walking; we also had to go through security and have our passports stamped. We finally made it to our gate and sat; only to find out they switched gates from the time we arrived to the time we got to the gate! It was only across the concourse, so just a few steps and we claimed our new chairs waiting to board. While we were waiting, there were a couple little birds at the gate as well, just picking up crumbs.
We board our last leg to Milan. By now we are half-awake and tired of dragging around our bags. This was just an hour and a half flight and lunch was served here as well. More shrimp, bread, couscous and a macaroon for dessert. The flight was smooth and I’m pretty sure we flew over the Alps, although they were covered mostly with clouds.
Arrival in Milan. After the customary bathroom stop, we worked our way out of the terminal and found a ride to the hotel. We had debated taking the train, but would still have needed to get a cab from the train station to the hotel. So $99 euro and an hour later, we arrived at Hotel Brunelleschi. The ride was a little nerve-wracking. But we arrived without a scrape so I’ll just relish the experience.
After arriving in our room, we unpacked a bit and took a short nap. Woke up around 5:45 and tried to get ourselves composed and somewhat reorganized. Decided to venture out for dinner…although dinner usually doesn’t start here until 9PM. We walked to Il Duomo and that’s when it hit me that I was finally here. Yes, I cried. It was so overwhelming! And amazingly beautiful. And the people in the square in front of the Duomo! From all over the world! I could have stared for hours at this building (and the surrounding buildings as well.
We moved on to the Galleria, still in search of a place to eat. Another beautiful building, full of designer shops and places to eat. We stood outside of LaScala (opera house) and watched people lining up to go see tonight’s show. All dressed up in their finest.
We didn’t find anything to our liking so we worked our way back toward the hotel. We managed to cross several streets without getting run over, so I’m feeling pretty smart right about now. There are moped/scooters everywhere and they come out of nowhere…fast! And most of the riders were business men…so odd to see a man in a suit on a scooter weaving in and out of traffic.
Finally, we just decided to have dinner at a place right around the corner from our hotel… Kebobs and Pizza was the name. We each ordered a small 4 cheese pizza and grabbed a bottle of water. Our “small” pizza was probably as big around as a medium one at home! But it was just bread and cheese, no tomato sauce. It tasted so good! We ate our fill and walked back to the hotel.
It’s almost 10PM so we are turning in for the night. Tomorrow we are off to see The Last Supper, La Scala, and a few other places around Milan. It’s been an amazing 25 hours since we left home.
Buona Notte!
Yay! Have fun. I love you!!!