From 7be63aac0649ee748093444f38331bd399508cf9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Pim van Pelt Date: Sat, 12 Oct 2024 15:44:46 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] Friday --- content/blog/wk11day5.md | 113 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-- 1 file changed, 110 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/content/blog/wk11day5.md b/content/blog/wk11day5.md index c71fff8..317169e 100644 --- a/content/blog/wk11day5.md +++ b/content/blog/wk11day5.md @@ -1,7 +1,114 @@ --- -title: "Week 11, Friday:" +title: "Week 11, Friday: Poldi Pezzoli, Fiorentina" date: 2024-10-11T21:55:00+02:00 -draft: true --- -{{< image frame="true" width="17em" float="right" src="/img/headline/todo.png" alt="Credit: " >}} +{{< image frame="true" width="17em" float="right" src="/img/headline/noraenpure-09.png" alt="Credit: Nora en Pure, YouTube" >}} + +The sleep in our little hotel in Milan was alright, although the bed is incredibly hard. Luckily, +the sheets are soft though, and I have Angel and Ahu with me, which helps with the sleeping process +a little bit. We took our breakfast at 09:30 or so, as Quinn was knocked out for the greater part of +the morning, and I also did not set an alarm clock. + +Marina would like to go to a specific pasta joint called 'Pasto: Laboratoria' which doesn't take +reservations and is open from 12:00-15:00 only. It's a quirky place, she says, but we intend to have +a late lunch there. We therefore have about two and a half hours or so to explore the city. + +As we walk down the _Dateo_ metro station, Quinn has shivers as it reminds him of _Liminal Spaces_. +There's two very long escalators here, perhaps each some twenty meters in height, and there's nobody +on them. We are completely alone here - did we manage to find the _Back Rooms_? Maybe not, as the +wallpaper doesn't seem to fit, so we take the metro to the Cathedral in the middle of town, and it's +brightly lit by the Sun peeking through the clouds. For a Friday morning, we're surprised at how +many people are still crowding at the queues to visit the inside of the structure, but we're not in +the mood to stand in line for a few hours, besides, we have pasta to eat. + +Instead, we head for a smaller museum called _Poldi Pezzoli_, which consists of some twenty or so +rooms with decadent art from all periods of history. THere were many paintings, sculptures, clocks +and watches, rings and necklaces, and most rooms were in some style of the period, with furniture, +artwork, bowls and china, you name it. I really liked the multimodal experience. + +At the end of the walk through _Pazzoli_'s collection, we visited the doanstairs area which features +an armory, that is to say: a room full of swords, sables, gauntlets, chainmill suites, helmets and a +beautiful collection of rifles and pistols, all antique. It was an impressive building! + +At 12:45 or so, we arrive at the pasta lab. Marina and Quinn were here a few months ago, and +remembered there was a line to get in, and only three dishes on the menu. Today, there is no +wait, but there are four dishes. We each choose one: + +* **Marina** takes gnochetti with beets, making it fiery purple +* **Quinn** takes classic pasta fusseli with pesto, making it bright green +* **I** choose a classic pasta with pomodoro and basil, making mine red + +We each stole a bite or two from the others, and in general had a wonderful lunch. I noticed that we +seem to have beat the crowd, as when we left, there was a line of twenty or so people waiting +outside. Hah, we got lucky on this one! + +We don't feel like going to more musea, but Marina has an idea. There's a statue here described as +_L.O.V.E._ and it's apparently right next to the stock exchange. I was curious to see what it was, +and as we rock up to the place, it turns out to be a huge hand made from white stone, with all +fingers truncated, except the middle finger. It definitely looks like it's saying FFFUUUU to +something, and it's not clear to me why this would have the name _L.O.V.E._? But I like the +juxtaposition it shows, between the stock exchange and life as we know it. + +The weather is still sunny and pleasant, so we decide to take a walk. There's a canal through Milan +that runs through the neighborhood of _Navigli_, and there's restaurants, bars and little street +vendors all along this canal. We walk it back downtown, and then we see a familiar street: the one +in which _Piercing'n'More_ lives, so Quinn stops by and says hello to the lady who gave him his +penultimate ear piercings last time he was in town. + +It is at this junction that I decide my walking and city touring is over. I am three days behind on +my journalling, and it's getting out of hand. Seeing as we'll be going out to dinner tonight, I will +keep on failing to update my journal and I made myself a promise. So: I bail and grab the metro M1 +and then M4 to our hotel, while Quinn and Marina go shopping for clothes. + +At the hotel, I manage to publish [[Monday]({{< ref wk11day1.md >}})], and write [[Tuesday]({{< ref +wk11day2.md >}})], and [[Wednesday]({{< ref wk11day1.md >}})]. I've had a lot to write about +during my travels in Piacenza, Parma and Milan. I fully catch up also thanks to the fast wifi in +this hotel. I have not particularly been blessed with high speed Internet down south of the Alps. + +Quinn and Marina arrive at 17:15, just as I am writing my last journal bits and bobs. I also take +some time to read and respond to e-mail, and I help three of four new members at FrysIX along with +their port and IP allocation. I also see that Neil had added some tests to our `sFlow` plugin, and +this will satisfy the request from the community call last week, at least in part. Adding the first +test is always a bit more work, and adding subsequent test cases is easier. + +We've had a lot of pasta this week, so Marina suggests (perhaps to humor me) to find a steak +_Fiorentina_ (English: T-Bone), and that's totally great by me. We settle on a place called +_Hostaria Terza Carbonaia_, which is a Tuscan restaurant and I loved it, even though we were the +very first people in an otherwise empty place. + +Here, we take some starters with a _Caprese_, a few _Bruschetta_ and Quinn wants his default of +_Carbonara_, while Marina and I share a two-person Steak _Fiorentina_, which comes pre-carved. The +meat is divine and I get lucky as Marina at some point has had her filling, which means I get to +continue gnawing at this bone. At some point the waitress stops by and demands that I grab this bone +with my hands and chomp at it: "This is the Tuscan way", she exclaims. I love this woman. + +After the dinner, Marina suggests washing things down with a _Limoncello_, and this is the perfect +end to a perfect dinner. By the way, we got there at 19:15 and were the first, but we left at 20:50 +with a _completely packed_ restaurant. I could see whole families streaming in, one after another, +at 19:30, 20:00 and 20:30. Amaing restaurant, with amazing people. + +Back at the hotel, which is only two blocks over from the restaurant, we all do our own thing. +Marina draws a few Inktober days of her character _Babs_, Quinn hangs out on Instagram, and I +complete my week's backlog by writing the journal entry for [[Thursday]({{< ref wk11day4.md >}})]. +I'm finally completely caught up! I should write today, but I'm a bit tired and it's now 23:00 so I +turn in for the night. + +## Pictures of the Day + +{{< gallery-category >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-11/IMG_2040.JPG" caption="The empty subway station escalators feel like Liminal Spaces to Quinn" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-11/IMG_2042.JPG" caption="The Apple Store is keeping it classy, in Milan, Itay." >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-11/IMG_2045.JPG" caption="A Selfie with Pim, Marina and Quinn in front of a sunny Duomo, the Cathedral in Milan, Italy" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-11/IMG_2047.JPG" caption="A picture if Il Grande Disco (The Big Disk) at Piazza Filippo Meda in Milan, Italy" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-11/IMG_2051.JPG" caption="The armory at Museo Poldi Pezzoli, in Milan, Italy" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-11/IMG_2054.JPG" caption="My pasta pomodoro at the Pasta Laboratory, a great tip from Marina!" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-11/IMG_2056.JPG" caption="The middle finger raised statue called L.O.V.E. at the stock exchange in Milan, Italy" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-11/IMG_2059.JPG" caption="A picture of some random ruins that were discovered here. Right in the middle of town, half a block has been cordoned off for further excavation" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-11/IMG_2060.JPG" caption="The canal in Navigli quarter, with shops, bars and street vendors all along it" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-11/IMG_2065.JPG" caption="The beautiful Steak Fiorentina that Marina and I shared, at Hostaria Terza Carbonaia in Milan, Italy" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-11/IMG_2067.JPG" caption="Our digestif: a small glass of Limncello, proost!" >}} +{{< /gallery-category >}} + +{{< gallery-modal >}} +{{< gallery-script >}}