Tuesday, April 2, 2024 Adventures in Italy Part 3

(To start at the beginning: Adventures in Italy Part 1)

Milan (sort of) – August 2016

We’re not actually in Milan, oddly enough.  The airport is in Malpensa, which is about 45-60 minutes north of Milan. The hotel, Le Robinie, is 10 minutes from the airport.  

Kris just left for the rest of his meeting today and I’m under strict instructions not to sleep, so once again, I can devote some time to sending an email that still doesn’t contain a lot of information about Italia.

The flight from Atlanta to “Milan” was long: about 8 1/2 hours.  When I found my seat, I was delighted to see that a little pillow and a blanket were already there waiting for me. I tore open the wrapping on the blanket and used it like a shawl the entire time.  Ahhh…..  I wanted you all to have a sense of closure about that.  

A nice young Italian man was sitting next to me.  His girlfriend was just across the aisle from him and I toyed very briefly (VERY) with the thought of letting her have my window seat so they could sit together.  I’m not as nice as you think I am – I kept the window seat and wasn’t sorry about it either.  

I “slept” for a couple fitful hours after it got dark.  It’s like trying to sleep in a hospital, except with even more noise and interruptions, announcements, beepings and the like. The best part was when I decided to open the shade to see if it was starting to get light again and caught the very beginning of the new day at the top of the world.  It was breathtaking! I felt like waking everybody up: “Look out the window!!”

The descent was absolutely stunning. We went over a mountain range (Italian Alps?) and the peaks were surrounded on all sides with a cloud layer, like snow on the ground. As we got closer to the airport and farther away from the mountains, the clouds receded and I could concentrate on the countryside.  

In God’s sweet providence, Kim (the other Syngenta spouse) and I did not have to take a taxi to the hotel, since another Syngenta employee had gotten in to the airport a little earlier than us and was renting a van.  Yea!  

Kris was in a meeting when we arrived, so Kim and I went to our rooms to change and freshen up a little. I was very perplexed about how to turn the lights on. I pressed all sorts of things on the wall that seemed like they might be light switches, but nothing worked. I went out into the hall and flagged down a maid. “Scusi!”  “Non parlo inglese” she said with a look of alarm on her face. I was just getting started with my attempt at asking the question in Italian (Le luce…the lights…) when Don (the van man) came out and told me you have to put your key card in a slot in the wall.  Half an hour later, I realized I should go find Kris, since they were taking a lunch break and I spent FIVE MINUTES looking for that dumb key card, having already forgotten that it was in the wall. I was wandering around the room muttering, “How could I have lost it already?”  I’m blaming it on the lack of sleep.  

I decided to take the stairs down instead of the elevator – wouldn’t you? Well, I got to the bottom and found out that the only exit was an emergency exit which warned of alarms going off if I opened the door. Oh well… I went back to the first floor – the door was locked.  I went to the other two floors – all locked. Haven’t even been in the hotel for an hour and I’m trapped in the stairwell. I fired off a text to Kris and it turns out he had just been to our room looking for me, so he came to my rescue and we were reunited at last! He said he did the same thing the first morning he was here.

We had lunch with the Syngenta peeps – I sat next to the only Italian in the group, Rafaelle – very nice man.  I explained to him that Kris and I had been trying to learn some Italian and he obliged me by teaching me how to say “very little” in Italian, so we could explain to other Italians how much of the language we know: molto poco.  

Kim and Don just stopped by – they’re going to take a train or bus into Milan (about an hour ride) to see the Duomo and asked if I wanted to go along.  Don’t judge me, but I declined.  A: I’m low on stamina right now, and B: my introvert side was screaming that spending an entire afternoon sightseeing with people I didn’t know would be exhausting.  No regrets. Kris and I will be back in Milan next week and will take in the sights then.  I’ll spend the afternoon doing a little research on our train trip to Genoa tomorrow and will probably take a walk outside – it’s a beautiful day in Italy!

Ciao!!
Love,
Lynn/Mom

I’ll probably put this in the “molto poco” bin in the morning.

Adventures in Italy Part 4