Having collapsed on our Airbnb bed after street walking parts of Milano, this thought comes to mind, “We are tired of traveling without an adult chaperone”. We have hit the wall. It’s a combination of age, interest, madness (“This damn GPS doesn’t work!), frustration (Where the heck are we?), throwing frugality out the window (“That was a total waste of money!”), and things like renting the car on the wrong day, watching out for pickpockets, being unable to stay at a place that was totally inappropriate which meant throwing good money after bad, suffering through bad breakfasts that were included, dodging fellow autos on the autostada, ending up in uninteresting dead end cul-de-sacs, being unable to get tickets for certain events because of lack of experience and planning…
Really, folks, it just doesn’t work anymore.
So, here we are. Tomorrow we blaze to Lake Como for a few days of natural beauty that our sore eyes are pining for and I include George Clooney in that category. They may be there since they were in London for the royal wedding. Hope springs eternal.
After Como and the Dolomites, it’s back to Florence to rid ourselves of das boot before boarding the high speed train back to Roma where our last act of tourism will be a guided tour of the coliseum.
Gothic cathedral.
Shopping mall of old.
Before concluding this come-to-our-senses epistle, we did enjoy the displays in the windows of Milan, the afternoon thunder and lightning storm, the blending of ancient and modern design (some worked, some didn’t)), and the inclusion of avocado on a menu (first time the entire trip).
To their credit, they tend to only include produce locally produced, they are good recyclers, and they used public transportation, which the pickpockets appreciate as well. We were twice approached by people of shifty eyes and questionable aims trying, we think, to set us up for their opportunity to rob us. We didn’t fall for it. One time as we were seated in a car on the underground Metro, the police opened the doors with an assist from the train driver, and pulled a woman from the train followed by them looking at the remaining passengers in a “We suspect you” manner before stepping off the train so the doors could close. Was this a rouse or legit? A show or a real police action? Who knows? All I do know is that cross body purses are ubiquitous in Milan.
Our laughing stock.
Us looking at them.
So, all future foreign travel, if there is any will include a travel agent doing the planning, a guide doing all the talking, a muscle bound gent doing all the schlepping of bags, and a captain doing all the navigation of water trips. I purposely did not mention pilots because we have never attempt to fly an aircraft.
Speaking of flying machines, we went to a Leonardo da Vinci exhibit. They, someone) took his plans and built the things he designed. Amazing. Flying machines, bridges, harpsichord, a long trumpet that was the forebears of the flute and clarinet. In his spare time he painted the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, designed a drawbridge, various flying machines, preformed autopsies so he could draw the body organs…the list goes on and on. It was a very interest exhibit. How could one person do all this? What a mind. I saw no mention of wife or children. Perhaps he was gay. Or too busy to bother. I am quite sure he would have bored easily. Sort of like Elon Musk on steroids.
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