Heading to Milan, we got to drive through the beautiful Swiss countryside, with the mountains covered in snow. We even got to drive through the nearly 17km long Gotthard tunnel to get to their other side of the Swiss alps. The drive was long, but made easier with spectacular views and some beautiful sunshine.
The one unexpected issue the we encountered was Harriette cracking her pre-molar tooth during lunch. It meant that we had to find an emergency Dentist to check out her tooth. In the end, we had it extracted as her adult tooth was already coming out just underneath and it was safer to ensure that all the tooth bits were fully extracted. Maxine had lost a tooth a day previous in Switzerland, that she was saving.
We celebrated arriving safely and getting the tooth sorted with relative ease… and being in Italy, it had to be with a delicious pizza at a local restaurant. What a great way to start the Italian part of our journey!
Harriette’s entry:
The next morning we woke up to find the tooth fairy had brought us two 5 euro notes! One for each tooth, and we were delighted with the results. Plans are evolving on what to spend our money on!
We completed our school work, then headed to the metro station. When we arrived at The Duomo, Cathedral, we had to go through security, and the guards picked up Tata’s Swiss Army knife on the car keys, so only three of us were allowed inside. It was not as much fun as it would have been together, and rather dark on the inside.
Our next stop was the Leonardo de Vinci museum, full of his brilliant inventions, and even a collaborative area to build a self-supporting bridge. We even tried to make a giant bridge, but it ended up collapsing! My favourite was his (in theory!) always moving machine, (perpetual motion machine) and the lion that walked up to the French King and popped out Lilies. What really amazes me is that he was studying flight 400 years before anyone else was!
After that, we wondered down the Fashion District, (Via Della Spiga) with Maxine and Mama cooing at every dress, outfit, accessories and shoes. I quite liked seeing what other people think is stylish, but I don’t like any of them myself.
Eventually, once our legs were tired, we headed to a cafe, for drinks, nibbles and the traditional people watching. We had more pizza for dinner, loving the Italian cuisine!
During the day, we grabbed 4 Geocaches, adding our total to 354! Also, a TV dinner, watching the playbacks of Strictly Come Dancing, making bed time later than usual.
The next day we took a trip into central Milan where we stumbled upon the Palazzo Morando (fashion museum) based on women’s clothing from the 20th century. Maxine was totally in her element, giving her advice of how to improve/change the designs to meet her current likes. After that we treated ourselves to a Gelato/Canoli and warmed up from walking outside.
Then we headed over to the Sforzesco Castle, walked through it and into the castle gardens where we bought some roasted chestnuts (not from hunger, but because the girls had never eaten them before). The gardens were stunning and we watched the sun set behind the Arco Della Pace (Italys version of the Arc de Triumph, and was built on the request of Napoleon).
Local dinner with more delicious Italian cuisine - pasta for kids, steak for Mish and sea bass with artichokes for Robyn. Absolutely delicious.
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