Luglio milanese

Ciao tutti,

It's time for another update and this one is going to be about people and how to spend a Milanese July. You see, it's hot, hothothothothothot, and I love it. So what if I can't seem to dry up all day? So what if I'm never presentable to clients anymore? So what if nobody really wants to take English classes and I consequently don't get to work much? It's summer and I'm in Italy. We've got clear blue skies, there's not a cloud in sight and the temperature is stable around 30 degrees Celsius. I've got enough time on my hands to go swimming, to lie and the park and read Homer (well actually, I haven't done that yet but I am planning to!) and get that suntan I so desperately want.

Work is all but finished. All courses that won't continue in September have ended by now and I have been substituting a bit to earn some extra cash but it definitely isn't a full-time job anymore. Which means I have loads of time to enjoy visitors and exactly those visitors are going to be the subject of the largest part of this post! Steef and Marieke finally arrived many hours later than planned but that didn't matter. We had been really excited and very proud to announce to them that the July sales would start that weekend which made us very happy to hit town on Sunday only to find out that... the sales wouldn't start until the Saturday after that! That was a bit of a disappointment but in the end we decided not to let this discourage us and to continue with our shop-a-thon as planned. I actually bought a lovely shirt to wear at Maartje and Edin's wedding in September (when Steef and I are going to be bridesmaid and pageboy, so we had to make sure we bought matching outfits) and another one for the summer at Zara. And it was a good thing I didn't wait until the sales started, because by the time I got to Zara the following weekend they were completely sold out!

It was Steef's second visit and Marieke's first so we also did some sightseeing. Evenings were filled with dinners at La Padellaccia and Mas and many, many games (I love Skip-Bo!). On Monday the three of us took the train to Como when Olaf had to work in order to join the sunshine from the lake but unfortunately it was cloudy and rained a little. Well, no harm done, because we had a lot of time to talk and catch up which was at least as important as Como. Here are some pictures.

Me and Marieke on the couch at home

Me and Steef

Marieke has such an amazing smile that we even look cute in black and white
I think Steef and I were pretending to be couple... so you can imagine the merriment!

The weekend after that my father came with his Barbershop quartet. Once every year the go to a random town to sing on street corners and see of they can earn some cash. And this year it was Milano, baby! They sang at the Galleria, in front of the Duomo, on Piazza Mercanti, inside the Castello and earned an amazing amount of 8 euros. It was a very lovely visit and I liked his friends a lot, even though I had been a bit worried about spending the weekend with 50 to 60-year-old men! We had some lovely food in the evenings and enjoyed the occasional bottle of wine...

And we also shot some little movies, here's an example

That Sunday there was a free concert at Piazza Duomo. We got to enjoy an interesting mix of Vivaldi's and Piazzolla's Four Seasons (both compositions were cut in parts and the seasons were paired together to emphasise contrast), while dying of mosquito bites and trying to soothe the pain with way to expensive bottles of beer...

That weekend the sales started but I didn't buy anything except for a pair of flip flops. That Wednesday it was notte bianca (when all the shops are open), but that didn't really yield any other positive shop results either. This weekend, Werner and José came to visit and they were well-prepared. They had studied nearly every single guide about Milan in existence and were able to tell me loads of things I didn't know yet. So, of course we had to go and discover. They didn't need much sleep so we spent two long days in the city meticulously investigating the Duomo (2,5 hours in total), the museum of Milanese architectural history through the ages in the Castello, Cimitero Monumentale, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana (where I had never been before), a bunch of churches and of course just walking around. It's always fun to have study mates around and being to indulge in those useless interests we were crazy enough to study for all those years. The nights were filled with the usual dinners at La Padellaccia, Mas and Wasabi (sushi aperitivo) and many games I should have won but didn't. Saturday night we went to another free concert at Piazza Duomo. This time it was Giovanni Allevi, a very gifted Italian piano player whose music was able to keep a square filled with smart-mouthed Italians silent... Here are some pictures of Werner and Jo

Aren't they cute? They are convinced they never look good on pictures but I must disagree!

This morning, the took a train to Bologna and are planning to camp their way back via Florence, Pisa and Lucca. Good luck, kids, may the force be with you! When they had left, I was feeling fat and lazy so I decided it was time for a work-out and I went to the pool. Of course, I was really tired and made a little mistake. Even though I was tired, I finished my routine in good time and to reward myself I allowed myself some time in the sun to work on my tan. So I took off my cap and goggles, put them in my locker, closed it and went outside. After I had been lying there for a while, I started thinking about going home and getting my things. And then I realised that the keys to the locker were still attached to my goggles! So there I was, standing in my swimsuit without access to my things! After fidgeting with the lock for a while I decided to cut my losses and do the shameful but right thing. I told the lifeguard what had happened and with a compassionate look he got his pair of 2-meter tongs. With an excruciatingly loud sound he cracked my lock in two, gave me a deservedly sarcastic smile and walked off carelessly swinging the tongs over his shoulder. I couldn't help thinking that he must do this at least 15 times a day... Who designs a lock you can close without a key, anyway?!

A presto, Fe