Thursday in Milan with Quinn and Marina

content/blog/wk11day4.md

@@ -1,7 +1,118 @@
 ---
-title: "Week 11, Thursday:"
+title: "Week 11, Thursday: Milan, with Quinn!"
 date: 2024-10-10T21:55:00+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/dubzone.png" alt="Credit: Dub Zone, YouTube" >}}
+
+I have to make my way up north from Piacenza province to Lombardy province. Marina and I are picking
+up Quinn today at 12:53 if all goes well, at _Milano Centrale_ (English: Milan Main Station). It's
+not too far a drive, and we have more than enough battery to get us there. We wake up at about 09:00
+in time for a quick breakfast, we check out and leave the hotel at 10:00. 
+
+The drive up to Milan is quick, once again over the _Autostrada_ (English: highway) for which we pay
+a bit of monies, but then get to drive with 130km/h (80mph) in one go all the way up there. Although
+we do have lots of energy in the battery, we think it's a good idea to top off just before Milan.
+This way, later this week when we leave, we will be able to drive all the way to Switzerland without
+haging to think about it again. 
+
+We choose the charger in _San Giuliano Milanese_, as it's very close by, but also directly adjacent
+to the motorway offramp. This means we won't have to get multiple tickets and pay twice. At the
+mall, we park and it takes uncomfortably long before the car starts to charge, but eventually it
+does its business at 108kW so we can safely shop.
+
+We drink an espresso and a cappucino at a local coffeeshop, and it tastes just great, and much
+better than the filter drip coffee at the hotel earlier this morning. After that meaningful break,
+we go into the candy shop, called _Ovunque Dolce Salato_ and discover that it, in fact, is not about
+salads, but about sweet and savory, everywhere. Candy store, hell yeah! I send Quinn an overview pic
+of the Monster drinks, and because the conversation times out, I decide: one unit of Straw Bebbie
+Rehab and one unit of Lemon Ice Tea Rehab. Marina grabs some chocolate while she's there. It's
+euro's, so we are winning, here.
+
+We've paid our dues in the candy shop, and the car is ready to rip. I drive us up to Milan and our
+hotel is quickly found - on the outskirts of town and on a pretty big access road, I manage to force
+the vehicle through the tiny tube that is the parking garage entrance, and cram it into one of four
+ienie-meanie parking lots. No dents, scratches, or collapsed building structures! We check in but
+it's only 12:15 so we're a bit early. No worries, we'll come back later, _grazie mille_!
+
+We've decided to take the 35min stroll from our hotel to the main station. The Sun is out, it's
+beautiful weather, and we enjoy the commute to _Mailand HB_. When we get there, it's only eight more
+minutes before the train from _Zurich HB_ is supposed to call. Quinn is ready to go, and meets us in
+the arrivals/departures hall of the station. It's a magnificent building, I have to hand it to the
+Italians: they know how to build pontifically.
+
+A hug is offered, and given, and we go get ourselves some public transport tix. We'll be here for
+two and a half days, so we get a 72hr ticket for the three of us. That'll take any confusion and
+anxiety out of the &Ouml;V, because this city, like any modern and properly planned for one, has
+_one ticket_ for any transport type (bus, tram, metro, train) within a certain zonal range.
+Brussels: pay attention and take notes!
+
+The trams, by the way, are super cute. My buddy Tara on Mastodon is from these parts, and she tells
+me that (some of) the San Francisco trollies were gifts from the city of Milan. I'm amused and
+amazed: I was feeling a sense of _D&eacute;ja Vu_ on these, but now I got it!
+
+We walk around town and see the more obvious views (main station, the cathedral, the gallery),
+but we also have two missions. The first one is that Quinn wants to get a few piercings done at the
+same place he was at last year. We make our way over there, but seeing as it opens at 15:00 only, we
+have some time for a quick lunch. I do believe Quinn was malnourished, seeing as how quickly that
+_Carbonara_ was inhaled... I myself had a more modest _Tagliata_ with Bolet mushrooms, in a laid
+back simple place that Marina found.
+
+Just a bit after 3pm, we rocked up to _Piercing and More_ and, unfortunately, the person who did his
+last few piercings is off today, but will be here tomorrow. Not to worry, this other lady is pretty
+groovy and quickly jams some large needles into the ear: one lobe and one helix are set, and ten
+minutes later we are out again. Not sure I would have laid quite as quietly as Quinn did, but then
+again, this is not his first rodeo.
+
+We think of what to do, and Marina suggests the _Da Vinci_ museum. We went to a pretty awesome
+[[Lightshow]({{< ref wk5day7.md >}})] a month or so ago (doesn't time fly??), but this is a
+permanent exhibition of his thought process and works. And they are clever, we spend a good ninety
+minutes in this place. I found it particularly fun that there's touch screens in which you can
+de-assemble and re-assemble his inventions. If you do it wrong, it falls apart and you have to start
+over. Doing it right after five tries is curiously rewarding!
+
+On the way out, we still have some time to kill before dinner, so we walk up to the park at the
+castle. As soon as we get out, there's at least seven guys that walk up to us and push little
+armbands into our faces. Piss off! We push through them, and into the castle, to enjoy the splendor
+of the building and the park behind it. 
+
+{{< image src="/img/clockwise.png" width="7em" float="left" alt="clockwise" >}}
+
+I select for us a place to eat, but unfortunately they have a half hour plus wait and I don't like
+waiting for a table if I don't know the quality of the food, so I suggest we bounce. We then make
+our way through the city and into one, two, three and four places which we reject. But, the fifth is
+something that floats our boat: [[Bauscia](http://www.bausciamilano.com/)] which is an upscale place
+with fish, meat, and vegetarian. We do something unique: each of us orders one dish which has our
+slight preference and we do thirds-switch:
+
+*   **Quinn** orders the risotto with mushrooms
+*   **Marina** orders spaghetti with black truffle
+*   **I** order Linguini with slow roasted beef ragu
+
+We then each eat one third, and rotate clockwise. I get to finish with truffle spaghetti, which is
+pretty great but honestly I think I preferred the linguini with ragu. This dinner was still full of
+winning though.
+
+Once we settle the bill, I ask if we could maybe walk the twenty minutes to the hotel. I am rozy
+from the wine, of which I drank most (_che sorpresa_), and really tired. As we make our way to the
+place of sleep, I do not recover, but in fact get more tired. Once in the room, I plunge my face
+into the pillow and I'm ready to .. zzZZ!
+
+## Pictures of the Day
+
+{{< gallery-category >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-10/IMG_1989.JPG" caption="A selection of Monster energy drinks at the supercharger near Milan, Italy" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-10/IMG_1994.JPG" caption="A selfie of Marina and I in front of Milan main station, we're about to pick up Quinn!" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-10/IMG_1996.JPG" caption="This train station is really huge, and very impressive. Pictured here, one of the wings with high arches overhead" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-10/IMG_2002.JPG" caption="The trams in Milan are both old and cute. They run every few minutes though. Tara explains that they look similar to the ones in San Francisco, because Milan donated a bunch!" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-10/IMG_2005.JPG" caption="The Duomo di Milano, the cathedral in the heart of Milan, Italy" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-10/IMG_2012.JPG" caption="Quinn lies patiently as his ears get two new piercings. What a hero!" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-10/IMG_2015.JPG" caption="The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, just off the side of the Milan cathedral" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-10/IMG_2016.JPG" caption="In the Leonardo da Vinci museum, many of his sketches exist as models to inspect." >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-10/IMG_2017.JPG" caption="A selfie of Quinn and I overlooking the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-10/IMG_2024.JPG" caption="Marina is mesmerized by the courtyard Roccetta at Sforzesco Castle in Milan, Italy" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-10/IMG_2038.JPG" caption="We did a three-switch-share of our main course at Bauscia in Milan, Italy" >}}
+{{< /gallery-category >}}
+
+{{< gallery-modal >}}
+{{< gallery-script >}}