Amo l'Italia That is Italian for "I love Italy. It's February, the month of love. What better thing to do than go head on into the Siberian freeze aka Italy. Milano and Veneto regions were under snow warnings, freezing tempertures, slushy roads as well as beautiful sunshine, great landscaping, and LOVE.
Maria and I did an AMAZING job as coordinating this trip, splitting the research and reservations. I booked two hotels and car. Maria booked two hotels. We coordinated our flights to meet up in NYC. At which point, I had to see my baby girl before heading to Italy to see Maria's baby girl.
Snuggle, snuggle with my petunia, first! Why is my son in law traveling soo much? If he continues, maybe Stephanie can be relocated anywhere! Then, my suitcases are packed and ready with a little schmootz from Winston....for Italy. You know I over packed. Silly me, I thought taking only one coat vs two was a compromise. But noooooo.
With a drink waiting for Maria, we had our pinot grigio , and were ready to ...... sleep on the flight! I did a little. Hello Milan! you are snowy. I saved about $400.00 on renting a manual car and agreed to be the driver.....Woo Hoo. Wait...the insurance is $390.00? what the heck?
After several attempts to exit the Milan airport, Maria and I were on our way to Bergamo, Italy. A beautiful small town in the Milano region. Its a good thing Maria brought her GPS and had her I-phone for directions, because by the time she figured out any of those devices we arrived at our destination. We pulled up to the curb of the Bergamo train station and picked up Alexa and her friend Jen as if they were kids waiting in the car pool lane for their mommies. With the GPS that Lex possessed, little did she know that that GPS was attached to a little bit of stress having me as the driver. However, I got to experience the real Italian streets, one lane, cobblestone, STEEP, BEAUTIFUL.
It was truly a fun, fun trip and I treasure every moment of being with one of my best friends and longest best friend along with her beautiful baby girl of whom I loved since she was born, even though we spent little time together over the years. It doesn't matter.
Our trip ended as polar opposite to the quintessential beginnings of small Italian town to trendy, fashion district, art deco, aka weird, hotel. But the most consistent part of life in Italy is the delicious food, great wine, topped off with the best lemon-cello.
