MILANO, ITALY – We left the AC Marriott Hotel in Torino this morning at 10:30 a.m. The receptionist had phoned for our cab and it was there to meet us promptly at 10:30. We arrived at the train station just before 11 a.m. and had nessun problema (no problem) finding our train and the correct track. We arrived in Milano Centrale station at 1 p.m. and found a taxi right away to our Marriott Hotel on Via Washington Street. The driver did not speak much English but I showed him our Marriott confirmation page which listed the hotel’s address and he knew right away where it was. The ride cost us approximately 22 euros.
The hotel is exquisite. A Murano glass chandelier hangs in the lobby along with a painting of the Last Supper (but not da Vinci’s, alas). We were greeted warmly by several staff members at the desk and were bombarded with molto (much) informazione (information) all at once regarding our room, our tour ticket for tomorrow and directions to the subway. Annie discovered that she shared a birthday with the girlfriend of the signor who was checking us in. He called his girlfriend on the phone to come out to meet us. Conveniently, she works at the hotel also and we were subsequently upgraded to an Executive Suite!
Our bags were carried up to our room for us by a bellboy and after we quickly unpacked and organized, we were off for a day in town.
Miraculously, we remembered all the instructions for finding the subway (aided by two helpful senoras on our way – one we casually met on the sidewalk and she not only gave us directions but checked in with us twice as we were all walking in the same general area to be sure we wouldn’t miss the Metro entrance; the other we befriended in the station and she led us to the correct track). We got on the Metro at the Wagner stop (easy to remember for 2 music majors) and got off at Duomo. And it is certainly a magnificent Duomo, dominating and dwarfing the square where it is located.
Well, what would 2 Americans be most likely to do first upon arriving at Duomo Square? What else? We went into the McDonald’s directly across from the Cathedral hoping to find a hamburger and wine but there was no wine sold at this particular McDonald’s so we opted for a gelato cone next door, instead. Delicioso!
What to do next? We decided to visit the Museo del Novecento. I presented my The Bay Net press pass and the clerk at the Bigletto counter welcomed us, acting like he’d been expecting us all day. He gave us complimentary tickets, waving us on through the entrance. (I suspect he thought we were really from CNN. If those reporters indeed, showed up later in the day he must have been really surprised. He was very friendly towards us and we exchanged pleasantries in Italian, even though after our initial greetings I told him in Italian that I only spoke a little of the language – io parlo piccolo Italiano.
Our first stop was at the bookstore. I exchanged greetings with the clerk here and he applauded my Italian. I told him all of my former teachers would love him (and they would). I’m not really saying much of anything during these exchanges but whatever it is, I must have finally gotten something figured out correctly after all these years of language study, because this has happened to me now several times since arriving in Italy May 4 and for the past couple of days has started to happen every day. And it gives me a really wonderful feeling. I will try to keep up the good work and will continue to try to improve my vocabulary, although I don’t think I’ll ever be able to conjugate verbs. Annie is also making excellent progress with her Italian language acquisition.
We loved this museum with its collection of modern art representing quite a variety of styles and artists, including Picasso, built in a spiraling form resembling the Guggenheim in New York City. We’d arrived at 4:15 and were told that the Museum would close at 5:30. We hurried to get through the fabulous exhibits before it closed.
Just as it became 5:30, a guide told us there would be a free concert at 5:30. We thought: why not? How fortuitous, a free concert on our first day in Milano.
And what a concert it was. Two pianists—Paolo Gorini and Muriel Grifo—a mezzo soprano—Kim Kalim—a flautist—Stella Chissotti—and a violincello player—Matteo Vercelloni—were performing with a Kawai piano. The soprano had glorious high notes and Muriel Grifo gave a virtuoso display of piano fireworks in Ravel’s “La Valse”. The program was comprised entirely of music by Ravel and included his Cinq Melodies Populaires Grecques, Chansons Hebraiques, and Chansons Madecasses.
Upon leaving the concert, we discovered that the Museum was a maze of hallways and other exhibits that we hadn’t even seen yet and some escalators (scala mobile) weren’t operating so it was rather difficult to find the exit. When a guide finally pointed us to a door, I eagerly pushed it open only to discover that I’d set off an alarm! No matter, we were shown to the correct door. I think the guide had forgotten that the alarm system was even on when he’d indicated this particular exit. Annie and I left laughing and reminiscing about the 1960’s movie “How To Steal a Million” starring Peter O’Toole and Audrey Hepburn.
It had started to rain a little bit as we made our way back to the Metro. Six stops and we were back at Wagner. We had to ask directions twice on the way back, but people were extremely kind to us and pointed us—or escorted us—to the right spot.
We’d barely gotten wet by the time we got back to the Marriott and went straight in to dinner after learning from the desk clerk how to use the Wi-Fi. It’s free if you’re a Gold Card Marriott Reward member, which Annie is. Because of Anne’s Gold Card status, we’re both entitled to a complimentary breakfast and we probably were also at the AC Marriott Hotel in Torino last night but we didn’t know it and we’re entitled to use of the seventh floor happy hour location..
Dinner was excellent. We both ordered Lasagnetta. Each plate held two thin, flat crepe-like confections stuffed with cheese and baby asparagus (16 euros each) with wine, and all the rolls and breadsticks we could eat. We politely declined dessert (after all, we’d already had gelato) and returned to our first floor room via the seventh floor happy hour room. The waitress there spoke almost no English and glanced at me to help translate her Italian for Annie. Yikes! In spite of the limited language ability, we were offered teeny slices of fabulous chocolate cake, along with two wrapped slices to go. We also learned that this room is open 24 hours per day (for Gold Card members only) with unlimited supplies of hot tea and coffee, water and snacks. Music is often thought to the universal language but I think that here in Italy it’s food.
Tomorrow, we’re off to tour Milano!
