Milano/Monza

Returning to my old stomping grounds. It was pretty fantastic taking the train from Vernazza to Milano Centrale. I can't remember how many times I went in and out of that station as a missionary. The time that we spent in old areas of mine was truly incredible, especially to be there with my wife. We caught a connecting train to Monza, and called Nadia to pick us up when we got there. It was fun to see her again. She is my Italian mother and took good care of me for the better part of a year while I was in Italy. She's great. Better than great. Fabulous. Her and Emanuele fed us food to die for the whole week we were there and treated us like family. Plus they loved Lisa.

We spent one day in Milano with me playing the tour guide to Lisa. I think my favorite part of being with Lisa in Italy was just how excited she was to see and hear and yes, taste everything. We spent most of the time in Milano running from site to site.


We started in the Piazza del Duomo and walked through the Galleria, a huge shopping center before going over to the Duomo di Milano and walking in, around and up to the top of it. It has some pretty spectacular architecture and quite the history. We took lots of photos and had some beautiful views of the city with the Alps in the background. For lunch we went and ate at Luini's. How does one explain the magical amazingness that is known as Luini's? Luini's sells panzerotti, the original pizza pocket, like a mini calzone. Just think of homemade dough, great cheeses, meats and sauces all rolled up into one and then baked. Drool. We used to the love eating there as missionaries and I wasn't disappointed when Lisa and I went. Panzerotti and aranciata sanguinella (blood red orange soda). We ate our exquisite cuisine overlooking La Scala before meandering off to Europe's most expensive street, Via MonteNapoleone. We were quite appalled at the expensive fashion on display in the windows. I think Lisa's favorite was a handbag in one of the windows, but she was out of luck as the price tag was 12,900 Euro. The rest of the day was spent walking through Castello Sforzesco, Parco Sempione and shopping on Corso Buenos Aires.


During our stay in the center of the Po River Valley, we talked and talked and talked with Nadia and Emanuele. Nadia was baptized while I was serving in Monza and she kind of adopted me. Her husband, Emanuele never joined the church but was really supportive of Nadia. It was somewhat surreal being there with Lisa. I have so many memories inside of their home, and with them, that are tied to being a missionary, so it was strange to be there and experience that with Lisa.

Nadia spent a day with us, as a guide to the fabulous city of Monza. We went to the Villa Reale in Parco Monza and walked through the city center as Nadia gave us a running history of the area. It was great just to be there and see familiar sites. It is not the prettiest part of Italy, not by a long shot, but it is my Italian home. I love it in that little city north of Milano.