Italian Connection

​The Italian Connection

      

   It was about an hour’s drive from Best Western Hotel to the huge Charles de Gaul Airport. We were flying Air France to Milan.  Our route would take us over the beautiful French and Italian Alps.  We were frantic trying to fill out our health tracking paperwork for Italy. Most of these countries made it clear that if the health tracking paperwork was incomplete, one could be denied entry. We were having challenges filling it all out and figured we might be in trouble. Internet usage on smart phones were challenging. We were at least on board our flight from Paris. Debby checked with the stewardess about having a form on paper we could use. Fortunately she has forms!  It was a lot of writing down information but actually had it done before we landed. 

   The plane landed and we disembarked and headed for our luggage pickup point. With shot records, entry forms and luggage in hand we proceeded to look for customs. There were no lines anywhere.  There were no checkpoints anywhere. There were no uniformed officials anywhere. We continued towards the exit when all of a sudden we were walking out the front door onto the street!  We were in awe at what had just happened. Italy had nothing!  They didn’t care!  Go figure. 

   We actually had very few plans for Milan. Steve, Rhonda and Ron had tickets to go see Leonardo Da Vince’s Last Supper, a world’s famous 15th century painting shown at Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie. At the time, only 3 tickets were available. At any rate, this was to be mainly a stopover city as we traveled to other destinations. A few years ago we spent more time here and took in many of the standard tourist destinations. 

   We got a hotel near the train station as that would be our lift to Venice tomorrow., dropped off our luggage because it was too early to check in. Debby, Nancy and I took a short train ride to Como. It was a 20 minute walk to the boat dock. Nearing a bronze hand, Debby was distracted enough to accidentally kick a misplaced cobblestone with her open toe sandals and damaged her big toe. Nancy located a pharmacy and bought some first aid supplies. After a little doctoring we continued down to the shore to buy tickets.   We got in a water taxi to go see the sights. We rode round trip a few miles up Como Lake to see several small villages on the lake. It was gorgeous!  Beautiful day and beautiful water. 

   Milan is no small village. Within the city limits, over a million people live here. However, much of the city sprawls out in all directions so Greater Milan hosts more than 8 million inhabitants. It’s one of the largest cities in the world. 

   There is much to see here. But our plans do not include Milan on this trip. 

   During October in Italy alone, we will visit Milan, Florence, Venice, Tuscany,  San Gimignano, Sienna, Pisa, Riomaggiore, Manarola, Vernazza, Como and a half dozen smaller towns. The Italian portion of our cruise will take us to Naples, Pompeii,  Sorrento, the Amalfi Coast and Rome. 

   That about covers Italy!