The shopping extravaganza did not develop into the disaster that I expected nor the feast that Johanna hoped for. Milan is a premium shopping city where only the best is sold; well, at least that is the perception that is created here! The local Myer like store called Rinascente, represents only the best money can buy in all of Europe. Here you will find representatives from Prada, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Jimmy Choo, Valentino, Bvlgari and Armani, just to name a few. This place even had a Moët & Chandon bar! That even impressed me! I have never seen as many people in any other city in Italy than this one. Humans are so thick on the ground here that if you need to stop walking you literally need to stand on the road. Honestly, you have less risk of getting run over here than you have of being trampled to death! On arrival in Milan, Piazza Del Duomo, we cited the Disney store and then noticed Mickey Mouse standing near by. Mickey coaxed us in and, of course, this developed into a photo opportunity. Our assumption was that Mickey was there as a promo for the Disney store! You will notice in the attached photo that Mickey poses with the V for victory sign with his fingers. This turned out to be the sign for €2 of gratuity! M-I-C-K-E-Y- sucked in again!
The day ended up being quite a long one. We calculated that we had walked between 15-20 km. Complaining of sore feet became a common them. Dinner with Zio & Zia was another special event. My Zia wanted to know more about my mum and there were more moments of sadness and reflection. Later in the evening their only son, Lino (my cousin), arrived with his wife Silvia. They have been married 12 months and she is now 4 months pregnant! He is 37 and she is 33. He also used to have hair but I soon realised that that was a subject best left alone, consequently my plans to have him wear the (now famous) Dahlsen's hat were thwarted in the last moments...Silvia has a doctorate in languages and speaks several including English but she shied away from speaking anything other than Italian! That was awkward too! Soon after it was time for them to leave ( what so soon! ). My invitation for them to come to Australia one day was met with a "...mmm maybe!"... in the face of awkward moment number three I have chosen to review my personal hygiene program. Failing that I'm not sure what else I could have done!
Getting back to dinner my Zia was kind enough to prepare some of my favourite dishes ( that my mum used to make ). The table was full of food! Polpeti, patate con prosciutto, melanzane sotto olio just to mention a few. A true feast it was!