We arrived in Milan at the Hotel Ritter and ran into a bump. The hotel was in an area of town that required a special permit to drive through, Corso Garibaldi. It was only a 5Euro fee but I had to go get the pass at a local Tabacchi and then have the hotel validate it. Yea, we basically paid for unloading the car but the hotel indicated cameras in the city center would charge the rental agency, and then us, a 95 Euro fee so I wasn't going to argue it. We then took the car and turned it into the rental agency, which was near the train station. We rented from Auto Europe and they were pretty efficient allowing us to skip the line when we returned the car, barely inpecting it.
We stopped for lunch on the way back to the hotel at Trattoria del Corso and enjoyed some gnocchi. But we saw the La bomba di guido, yes the guido bomb, on the dessert menu and that put a stake in the ground. We expected a short afternoon and then dinner near the hotel as we prepped to leave for home, this place looked as good as any around.
We headed back to the hotel for a little risposo and then made our way to the last tourist spot of the trip, the Duomo. We'd visited Milan's iconic cathedral before, a church so big that when it was completed the entire city's population could seek shelter inside, yet never climbed the stairs to the roof. I had to get up top, I didn't want to leave the country without walking the roof. Kathie, on the other hand, had come to grips with her lack of comfort of heights so I was on my own while she scouted a end of trip video location. (More later)
The duomo is under near constant repair, the weather and pollution really are tough on the intricate marble spires which cover the gothic treasure. On the left side of the church is the sale point for tickets to the roof, for 9Euro I climbed the stairs to get a view unlike any other.
A short video from the roof:
After spending about an hour walking the roof I went down to meet Kathie. She had a spot picked out on the square for an appertivo and our video, supplies which were bought in Bellagio. So we got a couple glasses of prosecco and after much note taking and filmed this short recap of our trip.
After the video, shot in one take I must say, we enjoyed a couple more glasses of prosecco while the rain poured from the sky. It did allow me to sneak out onto the piazza and take a nice shot of the duomo without the huge crowds out front:
The rain let up, the manager of the bar discounted our drinks to the bottle rate saving us about 15 Euro, and we headed back to the hotel to change and begin packing for the morning's flight. But wait, the guido bomb!!!!
So we headed out after some packing back down to Trattoria del Corso and eagerly awaited our final meal in Italy. I ordered spaghetti carbonara, a dish we eat at home regularly and something I thought was more of a novelty than it truly is. After seeing the dish on many menus I decided today was the day, let me tell you ragazzi this dish did not disappoint. It was served in a bowl made of parmigiano and then topped with a fried egg which was cut and allowed to slightly drip into the pasta to enrich it even further. So good, so very good.
The guido bomb was delicious as well, ice cream inside a chocolate ball and then drizzed with warm chocolate to melt it.
This meal is so much more inline with American ideals than those we had in Sicilia, yet as tasty as it was I'd rather be in Sciacca with some sarde a beccafico.
We flew home in the morning, and I'll be writing a final list of learnings soon. There are lots of helpful tidbits I hope to summarize.
We had such a tremendous time on this trip, something we will both treasure for the rest of our lives. I hope you got a feel for some of the places we enjoyed as well as getting a little inspired to go on your own adventure. Life is too short to have regrets my friends, go and see the world, it is beautiful.
Ciao a tutti!
