GT-Seven Firenze-Milano

D can be fierce cranky first thing. Nice geansaí though.

Travel day today, checking out at 12 and training it to Milano - our final destination and departure point back to Dublin. We left the girls to pack and get their room ship shape so I could take M for a final Firenze fling - coffee and pastry. In all of the other hotels the girls' room was like a Pull and Bear explosion within minutes of checking in. They did a pretty great job of keeping their room in Florence tidy – possibly out of fear of the mysterious turndown people, who could turnup any time. 

Firenze Hotel Balcony

As a result of my ramblings, and despite regularly inviting the girls to go out and sniff the city themselves, I’ve realised that my experience of places we visit together can be very different to the girls’ experience. I wander aimlessly, intentionally, sometimes under atomic skies, to understand the geography of a place, get endlessly distracted by taking photos of small details and end up discovering things and places which I usually end up sharing back later. But I live the city for those hours. 

The Hobbit's Second Breakfast

We made an early morning beeline for the previously uncovered Melaleuca Bistro & Bakery – a place too good not to share. Again, experiencing this town before the place gets invaded around 10am is a blessing. Aussie vibes (RIP Ozzie) abound at the café, customers and staff. Possibly an Irish waitress, then 2 glamorous Irish young ones paying before us. The Irish will use any excuse to eat butter, wheat and salt in a vibeful environment. The best croissant and the best pain au chocolate ever, no hyperbole, no messing. M said she enjoyed the early morning solo diversion the 2 of us wandering the streets seeking out a mini adventure. Reminds us of all the adventures we have under our belt. 

Back to the hotel to pack and check out, then a 15min schlepp back to the train station to head for Milan. I figured out a “transfer” to the train station in a nice air-conditioned black Mercedes bus, the ones Boyzone use, would cost us €150. In that case another moist schlepp would be excellent... :) 

Her Come Da Moist Schleppa's (murderer!)

Uninventing The Wheel

 

The train trip up from Firenze was perfect, thankfully uneventful, sighing happily as we left Florence behind. Alla prossima volta. Eyes like hawks on our overhead luggage, small luggage in the seat beside us. The Firenze station is a rockstar in itself, as earlier photos will attest. In one corner of the forecourt, there was an exhibit on the origins, the design, build and history of the place, so there’s definitely some further research to be done. My first impressions were obviously tainted by post-heist adrenaline. But there were Frank Lloyd Wright vibes afoot with Guggenheim levels of small detail. Five Guys 50 Metres. 

A Compact Fellow Traveller

 

Jackie Down The Line

We landed like perennial hotsnots, on time but overheating, in the megapolis of Milano train station – a sight to behold itself. Had a funny experience in the taxi Q where the next driver in line initially refused to take our fare as he’d mistakenly associated us with a lady in front of us with a dog. 5 people, lots of luggage and a dog? In this heat, “Fucka that” is a perfectly reasonable Italian response. Once we cleared up that we were just 4 + luggage he laughed and warmly onboarded us into his taxi. 

Marsupial In Milano

 

Mirror Selfie #281

This town is immaculate. I’d been here for a week on a crazy recruiting blitz with work years ago (Sleepless in Seattle), but due to the expectations of a work trip like that, I had barely seen any of the city. I noticed immediately that the luxury eyewear had stepped up a notch between Florence and Milan in terms of size and wildness of shape. Everyone immaculately turned out. 

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele

A hasty but much needed McDonald's near the Duomo - fries and shakes. salt and sugar, and it was truly perfect to replenish by now half baked travelers. We strolled past La Scala. In another universe, on another trip we’d have squeezed into a performance at La Scala. Despite thematically aligned with our Grand Tour concept, I’d investigated tickets before we left, but a combination of a gap in the schedule and everything either side already sold out meant that La Scala remains on the bucket list.  

Could it be the three witches of Verdi's Macbeth?

Or three Rhinemaidens guarding the gold in Wagner's Das Rheingold? Or possibly even the Three Ladies in Mozart's Magic Flute? Might it be The Three Gender Neutral Stooges? Whatever the hell it is I wish there was a way for photos to have sound  because I'm sure this shit sounds Con Fortississimo!! We passed the Gallerie D’Italia Milano and D spotted that there was a Beatles exhibit currently on show. It was late, close to closing time so we said we’d return in the morning. 

We then visited the Alessi store, a staple of Milan’s vibrant design scene. We picked up a shiny new espresso coffee maker – a 9090. M had bought me a much loved 2 cup version of this design classic when she visited Florence many years ago so we’d half planned to follow up. It’s a beautiful thing.  

“It’s not merely a coffee maker, it’s a steam engine”

 “9090 espresso coffee maker: Designed in the early 30s, the espresso coffee maker is the last true "invention" among the various coffee making methods in use on our planet. Characterized by quick preparation, concentrated volume and the intense aroma and flavour of the coffee produced by water flowing vertically upwards through the ground coffee, it does not just symbolize Italian coffee, but has also become the typical coffee making method in all the European countries of the Mediterranean basin. The 9090 espresso coffee maker designed by Richard Sapper in 1979 is made entirely of polished 18/10 stainless steel, with magnetic bottom in AISI 430 steel. The coffee maker is covered by 5 patents in respect of its use, and 1 patent in respect of its aesthetic qualities.  

Unrelated to coffee for a minute, I also saw singularly the most amazing, soothing to hold, featherlight yet robust and deeply functional spork set (limited edition!) which I’d have picked up in a heartbeat if it hadn’t had a €550 price tag. Holymediocrenoodles Batman!! Holy deflated marshmallows! We narrowly escaped being extorted right there on the spot. Lots of marble on the streetscapes of Milano. Lots of money in this town historically and currently. The bank buildings offer the most prominent displays of completely over the top ornation. Hard not to be impressed though. 

On Your Marks...

Another spot I’d researched but failed to book was Neo Kisho a highly recommended Japanese place (actually  a Trattoria Giapponese) just around the corner from our hotel. I took a punt on checkin asking the receptionist to chance his arm at making a booking for us. He did a 5 star job of calling and securing a reservation for later that evening. 

Get Set....

Overall, an excellent last supper of our Grand Tour. It didn’t quite make up for missing seeing Leonardo’s actual Last Supper in Milano due to ticket availability. I’m trying to imagine Leonardo Da Vinci saying to himself as he finished up his very famous artwork “Damn, this mural gonna be blockbuster! Ticket shit for THIS pitcher be sellin’ out months in advance!” The impeccable control of the creation of the art versus the impossibly unpredictable chaos of its consumption, possibly centuries later. Back in the room, one single server serving the entire room (18 persons, 5 tables), food and drinks, and she did so quietly and serenly. 

Gone!

The photos show the style, but the room was beautiful, the crockery photogenic, the food top notch. Hake with capers and lemon sushi? Check. Lightly grilled salmon and avocado sushi? Check. The bite on each the pieces of fish was something to behold. 

Perfect veg tempura, Agedashi tofu in a smoky broth, perfect edamame, excellent sushi, super-duper katsu, G&T + Aperols, wine. M got some very tasty ramen with pork, egg, 

She called it her Ponyo supper and she was right

 Mochi ice cream to finish and that was definitively that. Girls chatty enough, reviewing, reminiscing. We rolled out sated from a fantastic meal. 

La Bella Vita

Life has truly been good to us. From a planning, execution, delay perspective, couldn't have gone more smoothly. 

Getting away with it in Waves

 Took a postprandial perambulation up Via Dante. Ended up in Starbucks Reserve after dinner after dark. 

Just before I was about to get ejected from the place for getting tactile with their in house mugs, the girls cutely conspired to get me my own new whaleskin mug as a thank you for the efforts expended in tour managing the Grand Tour. So that's my tour manager retirement sorted apparently, back on the caffeinated mare, trotting energetically across the Pampas, eyes dilated, jaw muscles in a state of perpetual lockedness, getting aggressive with the livestock, wearing whaleskin when it rains. 

Back to the hotel bar for one drink and off to bed with us.
 

Sun 10th
Lovely sunlit-breakfast-included at the hotel, albeit with a temperamental coffee machine. Everything you could possibly want from a breakfast, you just had to find the things which seemed randomly distributed around the place. I had 2 bowls of fruit and yogurt, a glass of juice and at least 2 coffees, so maybe a couple of laps around the buffet counter with the beady eyes of a true hunter-gatherer before I discovered the porridge hidden in behind the fried breakfast meats. Clever. Munter. Blatherer. Our hotel wasn't in the realms of quality and comfort of our Firenze hotel, but honestly it was perfect. We were extra thankful for an unfussy, air-conditioned, comfortable wait for our flight. A nice hotel overall - would stay again. Other residents seemed to be mostly upwardly mobile Arabs and Russians, so the reception staff dealt with cultural misunderstandings aplenty. 

 

Myself and D were heading towards that Beatles exhibition at Gallerie D’Italia (SERIOUS bathrooms) first thing. M&S were on a mission to find a specific stationery store, so we split up for the morning. We passed the Duomo early and dipped into the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, an elegant shopping arcade beside the cathedral. There’s a mosaic floor in the Galleria with a bull (the symbol of Turin) depicted. Tradition says that if you place your heel on the bull’s genitals and spin around three times, it brings good luck. Me and D are now officially lucky fuckers for life. The unlucky bull’s genitals meanwhile look like a bomb site. 

 

We were standing eagerly waiting for the lovely man in the museum to up his shutters, which he did with a smile. The gallery had some very impressive permanent exhibits which we kind of weren’t expecting at all. So we were pleasantly surprised to be wandering through heroes and titans of modernist art first thing on a Sunday morning. A big Rauschenberg collection, some really beautiful and engaging pieces which collectively made an impact I’ve never had from individual pieces I’d previously viewed. 

 

Then we had a bunch of Warhols, some very tasty unseen (for me) Lichtensteins and some Jasper Johns. The medium description for Lichtenstein’s Yellow & Black Brushstroke (Eat Art) 1970 is wild: “Iced gingerbread mounted to wood or painted wood, some cakes coated with polyester resin and enclosed in a plexiglas box” Then back to the vanillamedia of oil on canvas with tradwives Giorgio Belloni and Angelo Morbelli. 

Vvvt-Vvvt-Vvvt Uploading

 

On to the Beatles exhibition – a photographic exhibition to celebrate 60 years since their 2 concert dates in Milan on 23/24 June 1965. The Publifoto photo agency sent 7 of their sharpest shooting photographers to cover the event and the shots included here are the best of those. 

My favourite – or the funniest at least – is the one of them wedged into a small car, mobbed by Beatle maniacs. The story goes that Alfa Romeo had laid on 5 of their lovely Spyder sports cars for the personal use of each Beatle. Due to the fervour of the crowd which greeted them, “for safety reasons” all 4 Beatles bailed into 1 tiny Spyder sportscar and this funny photo got snapped. D made the astute observation that all the fans depicted in the photo are male. Must be an Italian thing. Very entertaining exhibition.

Not sure why this photo would have me reaching for my guitar after weeks of not playing

 

The basic backline and primitive production of this!

We whistle stopped through the remaining rooms of the museum having spent an unexpectedly excellent couple of hours museum time to book end the cultural side of our Grand Tour. A morning well spent. 

We all reconvened back at the hotel, checked out, checked our bags and went a wandering. Using the wonders of AI and TCP/IP I managed to quickly book a recommended pizza place so we could fill up before we spent hours hanging around the hotel and airport before out 2230 flight. 

Before that though. we bumped into somewhat doughy Benedict Cumberbatch at a quick visit to an outdoor store across the street. Howya Benedict. 

Signor Strange

We walked towards the Brera neighbourhood for a gander and ended up at the Palazzo di Brera, previously a Jesuit college, now home to the Brera Art Gallery, stumbling across a great outdoor exhibition of decades of covers of linus magazine featuring lots of Peanuts and Calvin & Hobbes. 

Calvin & Hobbes

Peanuts

At this point the heat was getting intense. We just about avoided the heatwave that descended on southern Europe the following week, but the heat and humidity in Milan was a scary indicator of what was to come. We dallied in the shade of stone buildings doing nothing much of anything, marking time before our lunch. 

 

For our final schlepp, we completed a time trial through the heated streets of Milano with the goal of making our lunch reservation at DaZero pizza 25mins walk away. We again split up for efficiency and to avoid heatstroke on susceptible members of our party. 

 

Not Wood Fired.... FRIED!!

Following some fizzy rehydration and some starters, the pizza – the main event - was spectacular. M will be dreaming of her fried (FRIED!!) pizza with ricotta, tomato and sausage for a long time. I had a heavenly heavenly Margherita, crust somehow delicately infused with garlic. Buffalina they called it. Buffalina Jolie. The girls had something that resembled the best pizza they ever had and we all left extremely satisfied. 

Steel Doors In Heatwave

Back to the hotel for a 2hr wait to get to the airport. Our taxi driver, having swerved TOWARDS a jaywalker “Stupido, if I hit him, no worries, the world is better” made some interesting small talk to shorten the journey. Bizarrely he started describing how to make a lasagne to us as if lasagne were a rare Italian delicacy unheard of outside of specific neighbourgoods in Naples. I’d have thought he’d have twigged when he forgot the name of the sauce and WE told him it was bechamel. 

The Final Load Out

Up the stunning Corso Sempione and out  onto the motorway to the airport. The Winter Olympics are being held in Milan in 2026. The taxi driver explained that this was why the airport was in such a state and that we should expect delays. 

Meet Stubby!

Working backwards to bookend the Grand Tour with logistics: 45min Taxi to MXP T1. 2215 Flight ~ 2000 Checkin ~ 1900 Taxi ~ 1845 Hotel Pickup ~ Brera District (incl. Museum) Da Zero Pizza Booked for 2pm Via Bernardino | Pizzium Via Arco booked (and cancelled) for 1445.