Vultures, vultures, vultures everywhere.
As many of you know, we are on a month-long stay in Italy at the moment. The Glass Art Society conference is in Murano in mid-May this year and we decided to make a vacation around the event. Mrs. T writes about the first part of the trip in Italy below. However, the adventures really started during the transition between Mexico and Italy which the editor will relate. We have had quite a month. We are not describing this to elicit any particular emotions but just as straight reporting. Sometimes you get a lot of curveballs.
Mrs. T and I are not fleet of foot anymore and now regularly obtain wheelchair assistance at airports. Not only is this helpful but the 'pushers' usually know the gate we need. Fortunately our travel planner leaves ample time for transfers between planes. Returns to the US have by far been our worst experiences; US airports are terrible. And Atlanta on the return from Mexico was not fun. At foreign airports the same assistants take us from plane to plane. Not in the US. We are taken from holding area to holding area, handed off like hot potatoes. And they are understaffed. We feel like stockyard cattle going to slaughter. (Lots of metaphors to work with -dt) The international gates are miles from the rest of the concourses. And we need to go through the near strip searches at security. Atlanta was another of the poorly organized and badly managed examples of the 'free market' at work; handicap assistance is contracted and it is obvious the lowest bidder wins. It is surprising that anyone travels out of the US. But we made it back to Philo.
There we encountered another adventure. The house was COLD. Not freezing but in the 50s; not what we wanted returning from the tropics. And no hot water. And no oven. It took us a while to ascertain that we did not have any gas. We learned from our wonderful neighbors that there had been a leak somewhere in the gas lines that crisscross our area and somehow our line had been shut off. I managed to have our gas reconnected and we had heat. However, the hot water tank seemed to have self-destructed some parts of its internals which will need repairs when we return. Cold showers are bracing. Makes one appreciate the travails of the pioneers.
Well, on to Mrs. T's account of the first part of our Italian adventure.
We managed to get to Milan, Italy by way of Chicago (think Atlanta again -dt) and Copenhagen (no problems -dt). The plane to Copenhagen was not full so we got two seats each. This gave us room to spread out but not enough room to lay down. We caught a train to our hotel. Here I must state that Learn Italian in 5 Days (on YouTube -dt) did not work very well even though I practiced it for at least 10 days. However most people smiled at me and answered me in English. Our hotel in Milan was clean and functional and being exhausted we slept well.
The next day we went downtown on the Metro and saw a bunch of very expensive stores. (Milan is known as a shopping Mecca -dt) We looked in the windows but did not go in. When we passed the Chanel store a whiff of expensive perfume escaped out the door. There was a Prada Store but although I peeked about I saw no devils. I admit some of the clothes looked pretty nice but I did not see any fat lady shops.
We also saw La Scala one of the oldest theaters in the world where they invented modern opera, theater, and ballet. It was closed. We saw the outside of the Duomo, a very ornate old church. The plaza in front of it was full of all kinds of people speaking all kinds of languages. I was a little overwhelmed but fortunately Dan was not. There were a lot of soldiers hanging around in dress uniforms. We did not know then but found out later it was Liberation Day with parades and such coming in the afternoon. We found a very old stationary store but it was closed. Dan had wanted to visit it so this was disappointing. (Many stores were closed because of the holiday. -dt) We were tired and ready to go back to the hotel.
Unfortunately the soldiers had blocked off access to the entrance to the Metro. We were told we had to go back to the previous stop. At least I thought that was what we were told. (Everyone was being screened to go into the Duomo Plaza. -dt) This was confusing because instead of the Yellow Metro line we would be on the Green line. A nice man told us how to transfer to the Red line so that we would end up at our stop. The Italian people are so nice and friendly to strangers - I thought.
The stop was very congested as two stops crowded into one. We managed to squeeze onto the next train. The train was swaying back and forth as we sped along. Everybody was bumping into each other. (sardines in a can -dt) Suddenly there was a big lurch and somebody gave me a serious shove and I fell down. Hands came from all around me lifting me up, giving me my cane and my purse, and reattaching me to the bar I was holding onto. "You get up and let the lady sit on the seat," said a friendly lady. At least that is what I imagined she said. She could have been saying something quite different. A teenager got up and I was helped into the seat. Another person moved and Dan was seated beside me. Well that was not so bad, these people are really quite nice, I thought again.
As the train rumbled to the next stop another younger woman held out my money purse and Dan's leather notebook. "I think these are yours", she said and disappeared out the door. I was confused and by the time I realized my money had vanished with her they both were long gone. I was devastated, not to mention somewhat impoverished. (about 200 euros -dt) I was not only angry that they had done this but very sad that I had thought they were so nice and they were not. I also felt extremely stupid. I suppose I should be grateful they did not take my credit cards. Dan was furious but not at me. He was sweet, me telling me it was not my fault. Sigh. He had his little leather notebook in his pocket; they must have thought it was his money which was in another pocket which fastened shut. (We admitted whoever - and there may have been more than one - did the deal was skilled -dt)(R now stores money in her personal bank -dt)
The next morning we went down to breakfast which was quite good. We were still both bummed out. It was after we left the hotel and were on our way to Stesa we realized that Dan's phone (and the leather notebook again -dt) was gone. Dan was absolutely incensed! I was beyond caring. Milan was a hard luck town for us. Fortunately Dan had his phone passworded and fingerprinted. But he had all kinds of information about our trip on the phone and in the notebook (easy to read -dt), not to mention all his addresses and such. After about an hour I gave up trying to comfort him while he raved. We sullenly sat thinking our own sad thoughts as the train rolled on. (We are rather savvy travellers, but these were first-time events for us -dt) (As an added precaution I had the phone locked when we reached Stresa. -dt)
Some photos from Milan:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/shares/606oPC
As you may recall R's phone was damaged in Hurricane Irma and so is turned off in Philo. If you want to contact us it is probably best to use email. We hope to have new phones by the end of May.
Well, that is a description of the beginning of our journey. Next time Mrs.T will talk about our stay in Stresa, Lago Maggiore - a great time there.
Ciao.
Dan and Rebecca
www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com
 | www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com We are still around. You may have thought we fell off the planet as we have not posted anything in quite a bit. But we are doing well at our winter home, mostly normal activities. | |
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