G (My friend) nudged me awake to see the magnificent rising sun. I still remember vividly the color of the sky. It was an artists palette covered with different hues of red, pink and gray and a sleepy sun smiling over the clouds. But alas however much I tried to wake up and click some pictures, laziness and sleep took the better of me (curses). Finally I managed to wake up to a stale breakfast of toast, juice and omelette.
We reached Milan (Malpensa airport) at about 8 in the morning and our connecting flight to Frankfurt was at 4 in the evening from the Lenatte airport. We had time to kill so we took a free ride from the airport to the central station (inbetween we changed some euros at premium and subjected ourselves to scrutiny to a racist immigration officer)
We always think, at least that's what we thought that English is spoken by everyone across the world as fluently as like us. But our assumptions were soon shattered and we resorted to sign language to figure where we are headed and how to proceed. We fumbled with our change and finally with Manish's gift of 2 euros we bought our underground tickets for the Duomo.
The Duomo (with huge brass doors and engravings and relief work) is in the central location of Milan. With all our 40 kilo luggage we managed to climb up the escalators and stairs to reach the vast expanse in front of the station, where the Duomo stood now covered with a facade as the restoration work was in place. The first thing that struck me was the huge blue sky and hoards of pigeons feeding off the grains from the tourists. It was hot and we were ill dressed for the occasion with our jackets and mufflers (were we out of place? off course!!) People were in there shorts and tees and what was nice was the friendly laughter and people from all walks of life, colorfully and smartly attired. Throughout the travel, we never encountered oddly dressed people, everyone seemed to have a sense of purpose and cleanliness.
After an elaborate lunch at Spizzico, consisting of salted fish pizza , coke and fries..we were tempted for the original Italian gelato but decided against it. We asked for some directions from the friendly police and took the underground to station San Bambito and the 73 bus to Lenatte (the subway ticket was all inclusive )
We were early for our flight but nevertheless we caught up on time because my shower gel leaked and made a mess of the day pack (curse). We finally boarded our twin engine small plane for Frankfurt. The aircraft was dangerously swaying against the wind and soon we left behind Milan, mountains and entered Germany above what looked like the black forests.
On route they served us ice cream and some gas water (yucky) and a second helping made the stewardess particularly angry, making her spill some water on me. (@#$%)
At the Frankfurt Airport, my brother and sil were there to receive us. It was one of those emotional moments. Brother had been insisting me to visit him over the years and finally I did it. It was drizzling and we managed ourselves in the car and chatted endlessly throughout the drive. The house was very colorful, lively and warm. The veranda overlooked a huge green area, where rabbits played. After more chatter, tea and emptying the luggage of the gifts for the family we got ready for an evening
out.
We took the cab once again, went past vast roads and buzzing traffic and went to the town hall. There were youngsters playing on wheels towards the market area and a theater. Surprise, we had the original Italian gelato :p and more walk towards the rhine river. We went past ducks, exotic restaurants in the boats and late evening joggers towards the food street. I had some beer and some more beer later we walked past some dinner joints (tempting smells flavored the air), tattoo parlors and beer bars. We went to a nice Spanish joint and ordered some hot paella (a typical Spanish rice cooked with baby octopus, shrimps, lobsters and various meats). After a happy tummy full of hot nice meal, we called for a cab and reached home pretty late through the deserted streets and night traffic.
To tired to type now... zzzz
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