Tick, tick, tick. Last tourist stop. Marathon bib pick-up @ MiCo (Milano Convention Centre) via Metro. Easy navigation. Modern, well-marked/labelled (used both red & yellow lines).
HUGE marathon, nice-sized Expo. NYC & San Francisco bigger, but this one – soooo international, many countries represented. Like walking a row at the UN (United Nations). Runs represented from France, Czech Republic, Switzerland, UK, Poland – and host country Italy, of course.
FREE is for ME. Entered a drawing (& WON entry) to a far far-away December location but… still gotta get there. Fingers crossed I receive a lottery ‘thumbs-up’ from JAPAN, where ideally I’d tag Continent #7 over Thanksgiving break. So it’s Osaka or Abu Dhabi (no joke). Either way, all signs pointing to SEVEN CONTINENT completion in December 2019 (life goal, half-year early).
(Strangely, geographically, much the Middle East is technically Asia.)
Just 26.2 miles of cobblestone to go AND a big plate of PASTA. Pre-race carb-loading in ITALY — HIGHLY recommended. Tomorrow we run, tonite we EAT. Gracie mille, Milano. Molto bene!
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- MiCo bib pick-up
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- International Expo
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- tomorrow we RUN 🏃
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- tonite we EAT 🍴
Milan Running Festival
45 minutes standing-room only, Como to Milan. Not the ‘Eat Pray Love’ commuter experience to Switzerland days ago. Weekend train to the Region’s big City. Steady, reliable & clean – just less Euro-glamour ‘packed in’ standing with your luggage. Ticket on the Express train.
Como San Giovanni ➩ Seregno ➩ Monza ➩ Milano Centrale
Arrived Track 2. Station abuzz, reminiscent of New York’s Grand Central. Old electric lines & diesel still in the States, but day’s trek super déjà vu of my 9 year-work commute, New Haven to NYC.
Pulse, pulse, pulse. Shop sounds, travelers racing, speaker-barked announcements. So much ENERGY. Transportation hub of Northern Italy’s Lombardy region. Metro transfer/travel ‘round Milan or other dream train connections: Rome, Florence, Venice, Naples. Buzz, buzz, buzz.
Taxi’d to my hotel digs, beautiful Italian-owned building steps from Sunday’s Marathon Start. Bag drop, mental regroup. Milan Day. Just a few gotta/haftas on the list but ALL happening today.
Teatro alla Scala. da Vinci. Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Milano’s il Duomo.
Mini-break before attempting [marathon] bib pick-up. Nutella crepe & an outdoor cappuccino (new day, new city, same Italian diet). Metro ticket in-hand. No stopping. Go, go, go!
Absolutely anything is possible…with Nutella ❤️
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- Como to Milan
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- Stazione Centrale
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- Rome, Florence, Venice, Naples
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- the great Leonardo
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- Opera House (1778)
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- Duomo di Milano
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- fifth largest Christian church (in the world) & the most statues
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- 6 million visitors per year
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- Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
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- Prada, Versace, Vuitton
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- Viva Italia 🇮🇹
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- crepe & cappuccino
Stazione Centrale & Milan’s il Duomo
Second day belly-filling mid morning on Turkish kebabs & rice. Not very Italian but certainly more substantial than the native expresso & cigarette start. (People still smoke, seriously?)
Train Thursday, boat queue Friday. I heart European travel.
Purchased a hop-on hop-off day pass but arrived, settled on a single-stop destination: Villa Carlotta in Tremezzo. Y’all know I dig history. No tour of the 17th century villa itself (found myself indoor ‘done’ after 2 days of rain). Today’s OUTDOOR plan: the Villa’s extensive botanical garden.
Rhododendron & azalea. Roses, hydrangea & camellias. Trail-walked thru non-native bamboo, palm. A citrus grove of lemons & oranges. Personal fave? Rustico Pra di Oc, ‘the Rural House’.
Quiet. Peaceful. Located on the trail’s far perimeter, abandoned by old & youth ticket-holders alike. Slow-walked a mile thru the Villa’s olive gardens. Found beauty in the garden’s simple ingredients. The Villa’s tall native grasses, its Mediterranean roots. Bellissima ❤️
Completed the afternoon with another outdoor cappuccino. Two weeks before Easter (official tourist season start), happily secured a table overlooking scenic Lake Como. Perfecto. Check, done.
Concierge coordinated a private rustico dinner in Old Town (off-season perk). Raw fish appetizer, quail, risotto alla Milanese (saffron rice, nutmeg, marrow). Go BIG or go HOME, last nite in Como.
Local train, new hotel. Tomorrow’s memory: Milano.
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- ferry to Tremezzo
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- il Giardino Botanico
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- Museo degli Attrezzi Agricoli
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- Rustico Pra di Oc
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- uliveto (olive tree grove)
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- camellia
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- Lake Como ❤️
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- Oratorio Sommariva
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- Citrusis Tunnel
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- last day in Como
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- risotto alla Milanese
