Friday

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 >}}