Sunday in il mio Milano

Gottfried called us at 9:30 (as we had earlier arranged) and we started getting up and making our way to the train station to go to Cerra Maggiore, where he lives. We had a lot to learn very quickly: how to buy a bus ticket, where to catch the bus, how to buy a train ticket for the line we needed, how to buy a phone card and use the pay phones (that was hard to figure out actually!). Gottfried had given us very good instructions for the train, so at least we knew exactly what to ask for. We got into Lengano, a city near his after a 20-minute train ride (though we had to wait a while for the train to actually depart the station). Gottfried met us at the station not 5 seconds after we arrived (not exaggerating). He apologized for making us wait – what wait?! Unfortunately he and his family have been going through a very hard time lately. He had just had a failed and very painful dental procedure, which had complications requiring further surgery, his mother-in-law is passing away slowly, and his wife’s family has suffered the loss of three uncles in the last year. Very sad times for them right now, but he insisted upon keeping our meeting. By the time we arrived at about 2pm we went for lunch at one of his favorite family restaurants and ate REAL Milano Italiano food: David had risotto with mushrooms, I had gnocci, and Gottfried had a maccaroni dish. Oh my gosh, I love Italian food!

Monday in il mio Milano

We got up and decided to try to use the bus as the man at the desk of our hotel had explained it to us. We were feeling pretty confident so we got on the 724 and headed for the central station so we could go see the Duomo (cathedral) in the center of Milan. After a while we started seeing the buildings we had seen the night before when we were going the wrong direction. Time to get off – indeed we had taken a bus that does NOT go to the central station as we had been informed. Fine, so we get let off at this big building with signs for stores. We thought about crossing the street and taking the bus back in the right direction when we realized what that building was. It was a mall.

Ooooh…. so we went in and checked it out. Well, now, the Milanese invented shopping malls (no kidding, they really did). This mall was the bomb. It had a store in it where you could buy anything – a la Walmart or Target. It was the biggest store I had seen in 6 weeks (well, that’s kind of a long time). When we went in with our backpack the man at the front was saying something to us in Italian (we don’t speak Italian). I figured out from the plastic thing he start putting on the zipper to the backpack that he wanted to close it up so we couldn’t shoplift. We also noticed that they had U-Scan! (for anyone who doesn’t know, David and I have a secret love of U-Scan). We bought laundry detergent (exciting, I know), diet Cokes, these little pieces of bread stuffed with olive essence (a la “Combos”), and a great bag for the digital video camera. Mmmmm….. shopping. When we walked out we were hungry and what did we see, but a food court. David had pizza and I had pasta with shrimp and artichokes. Found out I don’t like artichokes. We looked around the mall a little more and David found a coin-operated machine with little Hello Kitty figurines in it and bought me one. Awwwww…

We left the mall and headed for the center of Milan. We saw the Gothic-style duomo, which has 135 spires on the top of it, and we even climbed all the way to the top to see the cool view and walk around (you can really walk around the whole roof!). Then we went inside and saw the art and the stained-glass windows. They started building this church in the 14^th century, but didn’t finish it completely until 500 years later. We found a sports store that sold soccer jerseys and David bought some and then we went to La Scala, which is very famous for its school of singing (the style that developed, not necessarily the place of learning). They would be performing a Mozart opera (ahhhhhhh, Mozart!!!), but also a very cool Stravinsky ballet, “The Cage.” Would have loved to go, but not sure it would work out for our schedule.

David saw an adverisement for what looked like a really big store south of the center of the city. We took the tram to the store (as is indicated in the map… which is sponsored by the store… hmmm…) and found it – yay! Um, it wasn’t as big as we thought – maybe we’ll just leave it at that. So, we went back on the tram, took the train to the bus and stopped to get dinner at this great Italian restaurant. I had the best lasagna I’ve ever tasted and David had pizza. We discovered that in Italy, sometimes the men’s (and the women’s) bathrooms are what is known as “Turkish” (look it up on Wikipedia). We waited until we got back to the hotel.

Tuesday in il mio Milano

Got up this morning early so we could head to Torino and see the 2006 Winter Olympics. Since we had bought our train tickets the day before at the station, we knew where to go and when, so we left from track 4 at the Centrale Statione at 9:18am (headed northwest). The highlight of the lovely train ride (I do so enjoy riding trains) was that the man next to us talked on his cell phone practically the whole time. I think when that cell phone had been exhausted he pulled out another one and went to town on that one. We have noticed that people here have multiple cell phones for some reason. Have not figured out why yet… We got to Torino at 11:15, which was nice and early for our 3:30pm event (women’s hockey, Canada vs. Sweden). All I have to say is, good thing we got there early. Events were spread out around the city and the transportation was very confusing, so we actually were directed to the wrong venue, where I stood in the willcall line for 20 minutes incorrectly. OK, so fine we go back to the train station and get on the right tram to go to the Palasport ice rink. It was the right tram… but going the wrong direction. Eventually we figured it out, got off, and changed directions. Got back to the train station (which we had now seen for the third time) and got to our venue. Still plenty early, so David went in and started waiting while I hunted for food (well, not literally hunting, but searching). I found this great small shop where I got some sort of sandwich. I don’t really speak Italian and the owner didn’t speak English, so I’m still not really sure what it was, but it tasted good. Some kind of egg/zucchini/foccacia thing. So, went back to the rink, found David (and his new Italian friends), and waited for them to let us in. Got into the rink and got to see the Canadian women’s team wipe the floor with the Swedish team. I didn’t expect to enjoy it, but I really had fun. David taught me about all the penalties and infractions like: offsides, cross-checking (David’s favorite), icing, interference, elbowing, hooking (which they pronounced as hooooooking) and tripping (which I liked best). Hey, just because they’re women doesn’t mean they don’t know how to be aggressive - they really played hard. This was Canada’s third game so far and they gave up their first goal today to Sweden. We think they are going to win the gold. It was a fun experience.

David bought hockey pucks and I bought an olympic pin and we headed back to find dinner and get back to Milano (a 2-hour train ride). Unfortunately restaurants here don’t really open for dinner until 7pm and it was 6:30. We were kind of out of luck until we found this place that was open before 7pm (though by that point it was about 6:51pm…). The restaurant was very nice, but it kind of reminded us of Luby’s. The food was good and we left satisfied. We were right near the train station, so we went there and hopped on the 7:50 train back to Milano. Of course a lot of people were going to and from Milano for the olympics, which means that there were a lot of international tourists. In our car there happened to be a bunch of Japanese folks. David read his book and I listened to music and read my book. Yesterday David bought me a little Hello Kitty figurine from one of those coin-operated bubble machines and I found it in my pocket, so I took it out and positioned it on the little table near our seats. David starts cracking up and points out to me that the Hello Kitty was staring at our Japanese neighbors. It was kind of funny in a non-racist way. We got back and took the bus to our hotel, where we checked email and chatted with the desk manager.

David insists that I write about the two sets of “potential guests” who came into the lobby after 11pm looking for rooms. As our friend Mihail (the desk manager) pointed out, they were looking for rooms for 2 hours… David was pretty shocked. Needless to say, they were turned away.

Wednesday in il mio Milano

It was raining when we got up this morning, which quatched our plans to go back to Lake Como during the daytime. We decided to be a little lazy and take our time getting ready, then, and go to some sort of indoor venue. We would have gone to the art museum here, but we were a little art-ed out from last week in Paris, so we decided to go back to the mall we found on Monday. Since we found the mall two times when we were really trying to go somewhere else (the central station), we decided we had to convince ourselves we really wanted to go there again, so that we would somehow be brought there. We knew that when we took the 724 in the direction of what we thought was the C.S. we went to that mall. Well, we didn’t do a good enough job because we ended up on the other end of Milan and the bus stopped for about 15 minutes to take a break before it started its route back. We stayed on it and eventually it did turn around and it went to the mall.

We had decided to go there in order to ironically eat at the Mexican restaurant inside, which we did. David’s nachos were good, but my fajitas and rice were different from what I am used to. David got me two more Hello Kitty figurines and we bummed around the mall and then we left. We noticed that there was another building that I thought was a mega movie complex, but what David thought was another mall. We were both right! We took the bus back 2 stops and went in. We found a “Dave and Busters” kind of place, so we went in. I did the Dance-Dance Revolution machine and David found this great drumming video game along those lines (where you have to “be the drummer.” He also played this bowling game (kind of like a cross between real bowling and skiball). We won tickets, but not enough to get anything so David gave them to a little kid there and we left. We thought about going to see a movie, but they only show movies in the original languages on Mondays and Tuesdays, as they explained to me, so we didn’t stay. We went back and relaxed at the hotel.

Later we went back to the restaurant where we ate on Monday for that great pizza and lasagna and had been friendly with our waiter. He was there again tonight and he asked us if we were staying in Milan for good or if we were just visiting. I asked him if he was offering us a job, and it took a while for that joke to set in. In fact, I don’t think it did, but that’s OK. He actually said that women could not work there and I said, “look, I have big muscles! I could do it.” Yeah… well, he was nice in any case. Turns out he and his father own the place and we saw him over by the main entrence/behind the counter preparing some food. They were so friendly – very nice. David said he wanted to go back there Thursday night when I was gone, so I’m sure he’ll talk to them again. We went back to the hotel and David helped Mihai with his resume.

Memoirs of Friday in Paris

Going to the Memorial du Martyr Juif, which is a Holocaust memorial in the Marais district. It was a very good memorial with names of people who lost their lives written on a series of walls. There is also a large cylander with things written on it in tribute. Underground you can go learn about the history of Jews in Europe and in France and about the Shoah, and also see an eternal flame in the basement. The day we happened to be there was the day that a large group of police officers were there learning, too. I’d say there were about 50 officers – interesting that they take them there for education.

Going to the Picasso Museum and paying only 2 Euros – what a bargain! Oh, yeah, that’s because you can only go through 2 of the levels since they’re changing the display. Still, it was very cool to see part of the largest collection of Picasso’s works in the world. Picasso was kind of a crazy guy (even as artists go). He invented his own language at one point and made surrealist films. My kind of guy.

Since we had more time after that then we expected we decided to see if we could find a music store for me to buy some cane at. There just happened to be a large music store near where we were and they told us if we went to Rue Roman near the Europe stop we would find a ton of music stores. That was true – we went there and found a bunch. They said that Glotin didn’t have a store in paris. We went to “Le Menetrier” where some guys tried to help me find bassoon cane there while also trying to speak English. There was only so much bassoon cane jargen that they knew, so at some point they brought out the big guns --- a guy working in the shop who was from Ireland, and who naturally could speak English. He turned out to be a really nice guy who knew a lot about the French bassoon and the debate that is going on right now in Paris about French vs. German bassoon. He showed me this great CD they had of the best Parisian French bassoon players playing French bassoon, so I bought that. Very cool. They also told us where Van Doren was – only a few stops away on the Metro – so, let’s go! We got there, but unfortnately they happened to close a little bit earlier on Friday (and we got there at 5pm). Oh well – it’s not like I don’t have a TON of cane waiting for me in Dallas!

Then we went to take a picture of the restaurant David would like to eat at, but would cost the rent of a small mansion, the Tour d’Argent. The building has been there since 1518 (but the food is fresh…). Pretty fancy.

We ate next door at the equally fancy Buffalo Grill. What? It’s equally fancy… in an unpretentious sort of way. So, the restaurant is kind of Southwest themed (like Texas/New Mexico) – it was interesting to get a glimpse into what the French think of Cowboy life. Then again, what do WE really know about cowboy life anyways? Oh yeah, David saw the television show “Dallas” on TV Thursday morning, too. I guess they’re into that. Yee haw.

Memoirs of Thursday in Paris

• Seeing the Bourse, where the stock market is.
• Going to the Opera Garnier, which was finished being built in 1875. Still mostly original with red and gold décor in the hall, it also has a huge recital hall that is decorated extremely ornately in the Baroque style. There is a library there and little 3D displays of opera scenes. With the lake underneath, it was definitely the inspiration for the underground world of the phantom in the Phantom of the Opera.
• Walking around the Notre Dame cathedral – they started building it in 1163 and finished in 1330, it’s right on the Seine river, and it’s pretty amazing.
• Seeing the whole collection at the Musee d’Orsay, including the painting we used in the Femme 415 ad, the Orchestra of the Opera by Degas with the bassoonist front and center (as he should be), all the things by Monet, Manet, Degas, Ceszan, etc…
• Learning what “Pepsi Max” is (= diet Pepsi or Pepsi One).
• Having the best meal of the trip (in my opinion) at the Le Saint Germaine Brasserie and getting some free wifi for a few hours.

Memoirs of Sunday in Paris

• Walking tour of the city along the Seine and seeing all the wonderful art along the river, and walking across the Pont Neuf.
• Standing under the Tour Eiffel and walking to the Arc de Triomph.
• The little café with wifi where we ate lunch late.
• The icky lady and her icky male-friend, how they bumped into us constantly and kept asking David to use his lighter in French despite our inability and unwillingness to communicate with them.
• Missing our bus stop coming back to the hotel that evening and trying to figure out how to cross the expressway by foot without getting killed.

Memoirs of Monday in Paris

• Going to the huge Samartine department store and finding it closed due to security reasons after Nancy asked me to get her a brush from that store.
• Trying to find an ATM.
• Trying to find a sim-card for my cell phone and getting wrong directions from everyone.
• Going by the Place Igor Stravinsky and seeing the funky fountain there.
• Eating at the Italian restaurant and using the internet there (yummy bread balls).
• Going to the Jewish museum and David losing his ticket.
• Navigating the trains.
• Seeing only three McDonalds and one Starbucks the whole day.
• David’s “friend” at our hotel and getting good directions (David has the uncanny ability to make friends with people).
• Getting pictures of the National Music Academy at the Opera station.
• Getting pictiures of the National Opera at the Bastille station.
• Seeing the girl smoking MJ on the steps of the opera.
• Filming the Juliette memorial statue near the Bastille station and saying, “I think this may have something to do with the Bastille…”
• Getting off at the right stop on the bus and David knowing how to cross the expressway by foot without getting killed.

Memoirs of Tuesday in Paris

• Making friends with the man who works at the breadshop near our hotel. He seems to work there 24 hours a day – he’s there when we go in the morning and when we come back at night.
• Finding out who won the super bowl.
• Going to Versailles on the nice RER train.
• Almost eating at the Tex-Mex restaurant in Versailles, but instead opting for Quiche at a local café.
• Seeing where Marie-Antoinette was when they stormed the castle to take her to prison and her ultimate demise.
• Seeing the room where the treaty of Versailles was ratified in 1919 (the “Peace Room”). Inspiring…
• Buying paintings of Paris at the little shops in Versailles.
• Checking our email at the Dungeons and Dragons place in the mini-mall amongst the gaming geeks, Star Wars figures and Nintendo games.
• Going to the bathroom at the McDonalds in Versailles.
• The smelly people on the lift up to the highest level of the Tour Eiffel
• Seeing all of Paris from the top of the Tour Eiffel.
• Getting to the bottom of the Tour Eiffel just in time to see the blinking lights at 6pm (we think they’re only on for about 15 minutes).
• Going to the Opera stop and finding the large department store.
• Looking for the brush for Nancy, but not finding the right brand.
• Finding out that the Samartine department store is actually closed for a long period of time, not just one day.
• Eating at the restaurant that reminded us of a Swensens ice cream place.
• David claiming to be able to use the escargot utensil, but then fumbling.
• Me filming that.
• Going back to the hotel and David getting in a fight with the manager about shoes.
• Me calling the hotel in Milan from my cell phone to get directions from the airports (yes, I learned my lesson).
• Our feet hurting A LOT!

Memoirs of Wednesday in Paris

• Going to the Louvre and seeing the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, the painting on which we based our Femme 415 pose, the Napolean apartments, and hundreds of other 15^th, 16^th, 17^th, 18^th, and 19^th century paintings and works of art.
• Taking a break from the art and eating antipasti and crème brule at one of the lovely cafés in the museum.
• Seeing the clear pyramid structure at the entrance/exit of the museum, which was designed by I M Pei and opened in 1989.
• Drinking wine and espresso at a café near the museum while using the internet on my computer.
• Seeing the smaller version of the statue of liberty, which is situated in the Seine river not far from the Tour Eiffel.
• Eating (more) escargot at a brasserie nearby.
• Seeing the Moulin Rouge (from the outside).
• Making our way back on the number 7 train (22 stops) and then getting on the 186 bus to go home.
• David experiencing a menagerie of smells on the bus.
• Finding out that the little bread stand we frequent DOES actually close at some point.

The “Arriving in Paris” Story or “Why Jennifer is never allowed to be in charge of getting directions again”

So it’s Friday afternnoon in Dallas and David is getting ready to leave work a little bit early to go to the airport with Marty (his father) to come to Paris. Plane tickets, hotel’s booked, got cash, all packed – he’s set. Meanwhile I am in Vienna doing any last minute research I can. I had my last German class Friday and then I went to the archive to order copies of the manuscript to be made in my absence (it takes them two months to make the copies…). So, in the interest of getting directions from the airport to the hotel, I go online and try to figure it out. Bingo! I find directions listed on the hotels.com website – that was easy… maybe a little too easy… So, I IM the directions to my dear David. Great, that will save us each an 80 Euro taxi ride. Am I great or what?

So the plan was that David would arrive from a direct flight from Dallas into Paris on Saturday morning and I would arrive from Vienna at about 8:30pm after going through Cologne on Germanwings (= Southwest Airlines-esque). Fine, so at some point (I think when I was in Cologne) I realize that the directions I have for the subway and the actual location of the hotel as I remembered it when I originally mapped it online (in December) were grossly incongruent. Oh dear. At this point, David has already been in Paris for 12 hours, I have no phone and no way to contact him, no idea where he may be, and no way to find the actual directions to the hotel. Oh dear. So, what else could I do – I arrived in Paris and got my 1 (very large) suitecase (I also have my backpack with me). The Charles de Gualle airport, like most big-city airports, is actually in a remote suburb of Paris, so you have to frist get into Paris proper and then go wherever it is that you’re going. Add to that that there seem to be no public phones at the train station and according to the workers at the station, no way to dial information to get the phone number of the hotel. Oh, by the way I DON’T SPEAK FRENCH. I can translate the early music theoretical works of Rameau, but don’t ask me to order in a restaurant.

So the train station worker convinces me to ride into Paris and get off at the Notre-Dame/St. Michel stop and ask someone there where this hotel is (it’s not even in Paris proper, but rather a suburb called Arcueil). OK, kind of scary, but I can handle a little adventure. So, I get on what I only hope is the right train into the city and start the fun. Fine, I get off at St. Michel and I look around. No phones. No information. OK. And from nowhere I hear English being spoken. I look around and there is a very nice middle-age couple talking to two 20-something girls. Sure enough they were the parents of one of the girls and they were from Atlanta. Oh, these people will help me, I thought, so I went up to them and asked for help. Oh, I can’t describe how much they did to help me that night. The other girl with them was actually a Parisian, who used her cell phone to call information, get the number of the hotel, call the hotel, and get directions for public transit to there. They wrote down the directions and explained to me how to get there. I was so grateful to them – what would I have done if I hadn’t run into them. Of course the other issue that is running through my mind is, where is David? Did he figure out that those directions were to the wrong hotel? Did he find the right hotel? Is he worried because I haven’t arrived there yet? Did he think to email me or call Marty? I decide that if I find a phone I will immediately call the hotel and try to speak with him. The problem is that it is getting very late and the public transportation will become more sparse or non-existant as it approaches midnight.

So, I take off from that subway line to find my way. It’s Saturday night at 11:30pm and the escalators aren’t working. So picture me starting to drag my 50-pound suitcase up a very large flight of stairs. A lady comes by and tells me there is yet another tall staircase after this one and perhaps I should reevaluate this course of action. She tells met that the “Sortie 5” (= exit 5) has escalators that work. Well, I don’t really want to exit, but maybe I can go out and then find an entrance where I can get to the train line that I need. So, I go on this wild goose chase for exit 5. Finally, after getting it wrong once and having to drag my suitcase down some stairs to get back to the original, wrong place, I find exit 5 and get to it. So there I am standing trying to figure out how to get the doors to let me out. They won’t open. Great, what am I supposed to do now? Finally some people came down and told me I should go back downstairs and that I could find the train line I need that way. Well, I took their word for it and in fact that was not right. So, I repeat going up the exit 5 escalator and go out the doors (they showed me how earlier). I find an information person, and ask in terrible French/English about getting to the train line I need. The man said I would have to cross a river and go into the metro there. OK, a river, it’s midnight, the possibility of another staircase without escalator…. I’m done with this adventure, find me a cab.

So I go out the exit and hail a cab. The cabbie…. does not speak English. OK, thank you Tzipporah for including in your “French for Dummies” cheat sheet the question “how much does it cost?” (= combien ca cout) along with pronunciation. The good news was that the cabbie was very nice and the ride wasn’t going to cost a small fortune. The bad news was that he didn’t know where the hotel was. He headed in the direction of Arcueil and I crossed my fingers. Once we got close, he say the hotel from the road and we figured out that the name of the hotel as it was given to me by hotels.com (Stars Paris Arcueil Porte d’Italie) was slightly different from the ACTUAL name, which was Hotel Stars. So glad that he went in to ask to confirm that it was the same hotel, though I have to admit that I was afraid to let him drive away before confirming that they had our reservation. Still haven’t spoken to David.

Fine, so the next adventure is at my door – dealing with the front desk. The man working there at that moment does not speak English, but I figure I can write down David’s name and my name and he can punch it up in his computer and lead me to my sweetheart. No. So, it’s after midnight, I have no idea where David is and he has no idea where I am. The clerk summons the other person working, who does speak some English. When a French person tells you they speak a little English, it’s true (no offense, since compared to my French, their English is great). Then the second man comes and tries to find either one of us in their system. I explain that David would have checked in earlier that day already. He can’t find the reservation or David, but he said don’t worry, I can have a room for the night. But where is my fiance? Did he stay at the other hotel? What hotel is that? Is he worried about me? Is he calling the airlines, hospitals, the American consulate, President Bush, what? It’s late, I’ve been through a lot and the tears start. The man seems to be trying very hard to figure things out and tries to comfort me. Finally after about 10 minutes, he looks one more time and finds David – he calls the room and I talk to him – he’s here – *exhale*.

I go up to the room and we finally rendevouz, like a scene from a movie. At once he is glad to see me and curses me for the wrong directions. He had been through more than me that day. He actually followed the directions and went to the other hotel! Along the way he went through the train-station-of-broken-escalators and carried TWO bags HIMSELF up and down those stairs. OMG. Got all the way to the wrong hotel and was so tired (remember he just came on a 10 hour flight from Dallas) that he took a cab to the real hotel. Luckily his cabbie had a navigation system (we both did have the address, thankfully). Needless to say it was a long day for both of us and we were ready to get some well-deserved rest. And it was decided that from this day forward I would never be in charge of getting the directions.

The Probes Orchester Story

So, Emily Vardell and I were waiting for tickets online at the opera in October. The only other person waiting for as long as we were was another guy about our age. At some point I felt brave and started to talk to him to ask him if he was a musician. (It’s amazing how many musicians there are in Vienna). So, it turns out that he is a conductor named Takumi. He asked if we played instruments, and of course I play bassoon and Emily happens to play the oboe very well. He was so surprised and said that he needed an oboe and bassoon for his orchestra, so we signed up. It is a very interesting orchestra – it is like a practice orchestra for conductors. The maestro is an old-school conductor named Max Cencic, who is very good at both conducting and teaching and very energetic. We play the Hungarian Dances no. 5 and 6, and various J. Strauss Waltzes and Polkas. He really gets into it, and David was fortunate enough to have the chance to watch him in action as well as his students (among them, Takumi from Japan, Jennifer from Australia, a guy from Columbia, and a guy from Argentina). Now whenever Thursday rolls around David asks if I’m going to “buh-buh-buh” because that is what he remembers of the beloved maestro. Here are some pictures of Emily and me at orchestra, Takumi, Jennifer, and Herr Maestro.