When I was booking our trip, I had a great deal of difficulty with finding accommodation in Milan. I subsequently learned that we were going to be here during Design Week, hence the very pricey hotel rooms. I searched on the B&B website and found one about an hour outside of central Milan in Bergamon. Finding it last evening was a bit of a challenge since it’s out at the end of a laneway. I wouldn’t want to find it for the first time in the dark. In actual fact it’s what I would call an Italian Villa – a very large house on an estate sized lot, which Federico tells us has been in his family for over 100 years. He’s a recently retired criminal lawyer and decided to open up his house as a B&B since his children, cousins and parents have either died or moved away. George and I have a little suite of our own – one master bedroom, one twin bedroom upstairs, and a bathroom. There is also a shared common room. Breakfast is served either on the patio or in an inner hallway overlooking the garden. Federico’s sister owns the property behind them and operates a winery.

The Italians eat quite late, as is common in the rest of Europe, and after we checked in he suggested a restaurant in town that tourists wouldn’t know about. He also advised us as to what to order that is typical Bergamon cuisine. The restaurant looked quite small from the outside but had a very large back room and it was crowded. Fortunately for us one of the waitresses spoke English and was able to explain how the menu and pricing worked. For 18 euros we got a make-your-own salad bar (the first we’ve seen here), water, wine or beer, one entree, dessert and coffee. It was a great deal…and a great meal. I had a type of pasta that was like Ravioli but a different shape. It’s only made in Bergamon. George had his nomal – beef steak – but each one seems to be a bit different. Unlike at home, no starch or veggies are served with the meat course here (called secondi). Sitting next to us, but close enough for conversation, was a couple with a friend. When they heard us speak in English they asked where we were from and so we struck up a conversation while we waited for our meal. The husband didn’t speak much English but his wife was able to converse quite well. During the meal the rose vendor arrived and the man purchased one. Imagine my surprise when he presented it to me!

Well on to today – declared by George to be the most fun city yet. We started out thinking that we would take the train into Milan but we couldn’t find parking near the station in Bergamon. Our fall back was to drive about 30 minutes to the end of one of the Metro lines and try to find parking there. We were successful and it was a relatively easy way to get into the city. We walked for a bit looking for a belt for George, something he didn’t bring but finally decided it was a necessity. Then we walked some more looking for a place for lunch that wasn’t Italian. We’re both a bit tired of pasta and pizza and quite honestly surprised at how little other choices there are. We have seen very few ethnic food places and any we’ve seen are just take out type places. There are no chinese restaurants, no curry places, no Subway sandwhich places. We ended up at Burger King! George correctly noted that we hadn’t had rice since arriving, but we solved that later in the day.

Our organized tour was both a walking and a driving tour. We visited the duomo (Cathedral), the opera house, Sforza Castle and the monastery that houses Da Vinci’s The Last Supper. It’s quite an amazing story of how the painting has survived down through the years, especially during WWII when the monstery was completely demolished except for the two walls with the paintings. For personal reasons, Da Vinci didn’t paint it using the fresco technique, so the painting has faded over the years and while having been restored hundreds of times, is in quite bad shape. They are trying hard very hard to preserve it using the latest techniques.

After our tour we decided to go to the design district and tour some of the places that were open to the public. It turned out to be a lot of fun – checking out strange furniture, playing with photo techniques for the iPhone, visiting the botanical gardens and touring an exhibit on perfumes. We stopped at a little Bar near the opera house and ordered risotto which our guide told us is unique to Milan. Because it sits amongst the flatest countryside in all of Italy, and given the abundance of water in the area, the region around Milan is the rice capital of Europe. Who knew? I had a risotto with asparagus and  George had the truly Milanese one made with saffron. Both were good and I didn’t find them as rich as I often do at home – maybe they use less Parmesan cheese here.

One of the other things that we noticed in Milan is how much everyone dresses up for work. Most men still wear suits and I didn’t see any women in business dress and running shoes.

It was a long day and we didn’t arrive back at our B&B until 10:45. I’m sure they thought we were lost.