Milan, December 2005
The talk about memories of a particularly exciting travel experiences can bring most of us think of physically distant destinations and / or culturally from the daily routine in which drag most of our time and - without wanting to bother exotic destinations - would still be thinking of situations a few hours away by plane, by car or train from home ...
After all, when we go on holiday we do it just to "switch off" from the daily routine and do something different from the usual way, between lounging on a beach to the sea to fry shrimp el'affrontare as the fatigue and excitement of a Himalayan trekking, there is , a wide variety of recreational opportunities for all different tastes all united by a common assumption: always away from home! Yet it is sometimes necessary to move away just to enjoy the pleasant hours of "break" ... in other words - as they say - sometimes you just turn the corner to discover something new!
I admit that I was first convinced of the "truth" linked to the distance and that is why I wandered around for my vacation to Europe with an occasional bet on other continents (as well as in Italy, of course ) but I had to wait for the visit of a friend from abroad to find that even more angles to me that family in my town may well - in fact - to offer unexpected emotions ...
The year 2005 was closing in a rugged snow is no longer so common in recent years and the evening of Thursday, December 29 that the parking lot of Bergamo was uniformly covered by a thick layer of beaten snow fell continuously throughout the day and the low temperature maintained the dusty and dry ... a lot of cars parked up at least the night before was now almost white clump making it difficult to even tell what brand or color they were. In short, even if the image is certainly obvious and rhetoric, I must admit that I would not surprised to find two cars parked between the even Santa's sleigh ... and the thing I would also angered! In the evening it seemed that time was not even a free place where you can leave the car just long enough to accommodate a person to come: it seemed that half had fled Lombardy in flight around the world, leaving the car here! However in the end I managed somehow to find a pitch at the far end of free parking. And as I started walking to the arrivals hall I enjoyed listening to the crunching of packed snow under my shoes and watch large flakes fall thick and light brightly lit by the lights of the airport ... The weather seemed to offer a Kateřina environment somewhat similar to his Prague.
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| The "Madonna" blessed with a clear but cold sunshine end of December |
Katerina (Katka, for friends) is undoubtedly the best friend I have in this country! And when I say best I mean in every sense: a young, nice, very nice and extremely smart and - in a sense - the daughter that I would have liked, and to have you here my guest for a week flattered me very much! The program was very simple and very rich: the New Year with me and my friends and a week of tourism in and around Milan.
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| curious game of snow peaks and pinnacles of the Cathedral |
And on December 30, opened with a wonderful sun, one of those classic beautiful winter days that will bring out even with a cold. The first - and most obvious - tourist stop in Milan can not be that the Dome! Every time I see the wonderful forest of pinnacles of marble Candoglia will stay always admired and envy the tourists arriving at his feet the first time, the thrill of that view ... and on a day so full of light could be seen since shine from the floor of the square at the top of the spire small cap of snow, and so we climbed on the roof of the cathedral to allow her to see her up there for the first time and me to enjoy this rare winter view from the top of the Duomo.
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| ... the dangers of a roof covered with snow ... |
If it was easy to predict expected to find many tourists, it was quite surprising (even if - in reality - too widely expected) the fact that large areas of the roof had been cordoned off because a lot of snow and the slope of the underlying surface made these areas very dangerous. And despite the pall of smog obscuring part of the landscape, the view over the roofs of the city, profiles of "Pirellone" or the Tower of the Castello Sforzesco Filaret were clearly visible, and the image of the square white snow black ants swarming with human and the bells of nearby churches stimulated many emotions in me ... and the sight of the joy and pleasure of Katka in admiring what I saw and described them made me feel even stronger the honor and pride to be born in this city!
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| The courtesy of a Japanese tourist for a photo together with - the background - the roof of the Octagon Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II |
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| 's smile Katka the Duomo is my best reward from "tourist guide"! |
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