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So apologies for the delayed posting, have been stuck revising before a particularly boring exam last week, this weekend I am in the city and have more time to explore!
Now after 2+ years without needing to wear a winter coat apart from on trips home, I conceded recently and bought a new one. Good job I did as its been icy and -2 degrees in Milan the past week and freezing and now snow!
Do I miss the California weather?....a little bit....
My parents were in town this past weekend, and in between a few meals out and walks around Milan, I took my Dad to the San Siro for his 60th birthday.
It was my first visit to the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza where the mighty AC Milan struggled to beat relegation bound Chievo and won via 'an Old Trafford penalty' from Kaka who seemed to be asleep the entire game. Ronaldino was pretty good though and the stadium was very impressive, the queue for tickets outside however was a bit of a challenge, a reminder that nobody queues as well as us brits! Highlights below
However an unexpected highlight for me was the AC Milan song or hymn, which kind of grows on you after hearing it 5 times - see what you think...its an epic, far above the usual footy chants! Ripe for a good cover version!
Ah to be in a position of power where you can say what you like!
This week after the historic US election victory Mr Berlusconi gave us his Obama quote ''Obama is young, handsome and also tanned, so he has all the qualities to agree with you'' .
While this was met more with amusement in Italy as a joke and even compliments for the good PR it would bring, across Europe and abroad seemed to be recognized more as a very public gaffe and even a little outrage in places.
More info on BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7715016.stm
Great list of Berlusconi's top gaffe's on the below - a personal favorite
"I don't need to go into office for the power. I have houses all over the world, stupendous boats... beautiful airplanes, a beautiful wife, a beautiful family... I am making a sacrifice."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3399427/Silvio-Berlusconi-10-memorable-gaffes.html
All this reminds me of the comments of Prince Phillip my own favorite statesman - who I often thought about as I traveled with my old international role with Yahoo! Price Phillip did a lot to build international relations and promote british culture worldwide, here is a map (thanks to aardvarkmap.net) of some of his best quotes around the world including the classic 'Do you still throw spears at each other?' his question when visiting the Aboriginal Cultural Park in Australia
Prince Phillip's map of the world
So an ongoing source of amazement for me since I've moved to Milan is how/where and when people will park their cars. It is common to see cars triple parked, I've seen cars parked next to the tram lines on traffic islands everywhere! I'll try and post some of them as and when I see them, the new panda above is not bad at all despite being parked over a street!
Last Saturday was a bit of an overdose on Italian food, beer and wine at the famous Salone Del Gusto the worlds largest food festival in Turin.
An amazingly huge event which covered a huge number of excellent quality stands selling snacks, samples and everything you could imagine food wise from across all the Italian regions. They had an enoteca with wines across Italy which we investigated thoroughly (see Silvia investigating below), sadly there was only one UK stall I found selling Whiskey, but you know maybe next year....
One unexpected highlight was the Italian micro brew beer tent, which featured some excellent small production beers from across Italy, lots of excellent dark beers and stouts - big difference to Nastro Azzurro!
More pics on Silvia's flickr - warning some photos maybe hazardous for vegetarians!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/squeakandsleep/sets/72157608558471855/
Overall we did feel the event was pretty pricey compared to some other smaller events we've been to or similar this in California, but the quality was great, roll on 09. More info http://www.salonedelgusto.com/
