DAY 133

Monday 21 November 2011

Stand by your van (Excalibur)

Paolo

Having spent the night in our "new" heated van, we wanted to be gone before 8 and got up at 7:40 to do it. Drove down the road to pick Nicole up at Lisa's dorm, and she said she was really excited to see our new ride. White and very tall. We said goodbyes to Lisa and hit the road for Milan, straight south, and a reunion with our next door neighbors from the camp in Budapest.

We might not have tried to experience Milan without the invitation of Paulo and Paula, with its reputation as a very big city with not so much antiquity and other sights to recommend it. But with the enticement to be shown "his Milano" by a renowned architect, we wisely said si, and it was one of our best decisions so far.

So back quickly to the border of the Italy we had come to love, and as we pulled over to get our documents in order we looked up to a most interesting sight: a gigantic Christmas tree flying through the air, high above us! It was at the end of a very long rope or chain or something attached to a helicopter, probably headed to some city in Switzerland to become the town tree in the town square.

Digging a heel in this bull's crotch is good luck

We managed to make it to GianPaolo Corda's office without too much difficulty, and he immediately started making it easy for us by sending us around the corner (out of our poorly-chosen illegal parking spot) and into his building's gated lot, where we took his spot and left our motor home secure, and hopped into his comfy Mercedes. Then we were off to a driving tour down the main boulevards of this famous city, with expert commentary from our gracious host, a lifelong resident, benefitting not only from his knowledge of Milan's long history, but his perspective as a city planner, who literally knew every street.

We finally parked for the walking part of the tour, past piazzas never named for the person whose statue was there, to a massive galleria that combined allegiance to city and church, past a building very dear to his musical heart, La Scala. (When he said he loved to go there and attended at least one performance every season but was not among the most wealthy who had season tickets -- often passed down through many generations -- Charles said he understood: he told Paulo he watched the Lakers faithfully on TV but couldn't afford to attend many games in person. Who knew Staples Center was so much like La Scala?)

Elaborate window displays are not only for looking: One could look from
the outside while a worker inside showed you what you wanted to see
upon request

After catching our breath at the sight of the incredibly ornate facade of the famous duomo, Santa Maria Acuna (fourth-largest cathedral in Europe), Paulo put aside his plan to save the inside for the later tour and said we could take a "quick peek," which turned into more than a half an hour of wonder at the acres of art, much of which we might have walked by without the appreciation he offered. A priceless gift. Before much longer Paula was on the phone asking, Where are you? Lunch is ready! and we headed for their home on the edge of the city, the penthouse on the 11th floor, a warm welcome and incredible lunch from the multi-talented Paula, and an introduction to their family friend houseguest, young musician Giovanni, according to Paulo (and he should know) a most gifted jazz saxophonist, and an engaging, enthusiastic conversationalist.

After lunch (the big meal in Europe, late in the afternoon) we drove him to the train station, then continued on our walking tour. We cut through the famous fashion district and covered a lot of kilometers and centuries and wound up walking the entire length of the ancient city, to the old castella, and considered looking inside at a late-in-life pieta by Michelangelo but it was starting to rain so we headed for the metro, back to the car and home to another fantastic meal by Paula. Did we mention they had invited us to stay for a couple of nights? Impossible to consider saying no.

DAY 325

Thursday 31 May 2012

These days may be boring to you but they were needed for us. Nicole worked super hard sorting photos and loading and arranging them on our blogs, all of us caught up writing a couple, and through Internet research and computer calls to CA made arrangements for renewing home and auto insurance, car registrations, mail unforwarding, tenant move out schedule, etc. etc. The rut begins.

Asparagus liqueur?

But we planned for this time, made possible because of Roos and Henri's generous offer to come anytime and stay as long as we wanted in their guest house in southwest Netherlands. A delicious Dutch supper with them in the backyard, after work and before tennis lessons, with ham and creamy mashed potatoes and huge thick white asperagus with cheese sauce, reminded us we're still not back in Kansas.

The European trip still wasn't over. We also found out, in researching our planned two-three day drive along the Rhine River, that it was possible to take reasonably-priced all-day cruises. And that a musician friend would be playing at a blues fest just 15 minutes away on the upcoming Saturday.

The musical backdrop for this mostly-indoors day was exceptional but curious: a French-language (Belgian?) FM station with whiplash eccentricity: Dwight Yokum, Fats Domino, Moody Blues, the Chiffons, Mark Knopfler, Ray Charles, Allison Kraus, John Lee Hooker, Carl Perkins, Leonard Cohen, John Fogerty, Dean Martin, the Drifters, George Harrison, Peppermint Harris, Boz Scaggs, BB King, Lyle Lovett, Led Zeppelin, Loudon Wainwright, Albert Collins, Patti Smith, Pink Floyd, Hal Ketchum, early Rolling Stones, the soulful original "Mockingbird" by Inez and Charlie Foxx, Desmond Dekker's version of "You Can Get It if You Really Want," Neil Young doing doo wop and country gospel, Sting jazzing up "Dark Star" and so many more that kept us highly entertained and also amused at the scattershot/schizoid programming.

Dian stayed up late to finish her Keith Richards bio (thanks, Mary and Nigel). "Feh," Charles sneered, "I knew of him when he was only Keith Richard."

DAY 324

Wednesday 30 May 2012

Drowning can occur

We were up with the rooster call which Nicole reported had been incorporated into her morning haziness as a screaming person - more than once. Life in Neerkant was decidedly at a slower pace than the Andrews were used to but it was a welcome repite from go, go, go. Cousin Roos and Henri allowed us to do our thing in their hand built guest house. Dian blogged from 6 AM to 9 then crashed again till noon. In the afternoon Dian, with dogs Mabel and Max jumped into the back of Henri's 30 year old army jeep with Roos at the wheel and Nicole riding shotgun. They headed to a canal where swimming was allowed. It didn't take long before everyone was in and it was only later that Roos mentioned the water had eels in it and rats along the shore. At least not leeches thought Dian.

Bumping along in the jeep after their swim the trio went to a bunker from WWI that was still standing in a farmer's field. They also saw where an '80s music star lived. Upon returning to the house they found that Charles had prepared a delicious Greek salad to go with the spaghetti dinner. Henri came back from a seminar and we all sat down to dinner in the backyard patio.

As soon as the meal was over Roos went out to collect door - to - door for cancer research and other causes. Charles and Dian happily contributed when she came by and then she was off again doing the volunteer job she'd done yearly. After having the last of Charles' chocolate birthday cake with ice cream for dessert, Nicole and Dian took the dogs for a walk then konked out. Well, Dian fell in bed while the NightHawks stayed up and worked on the computers. (Luckily we had Roos' to work with too!)

DAY 323

Tuesday 29 May 2012

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Charles, happy birthday to you!”

We awoke at 10 and decided to have breakfast outside on the beautiful, sunny day that was Charles’ 65^th birthday. We had eggs with ham, tomatoes, cheese, mushroom, onion, and coffee and juice and apples. Still, Charles had to prove his still-concave-ness so he laid down on the lawn and gave us proof.

Roos had already gone off to work and Henri had left for a two day seminar, so it was the three of us  opening presents that morning. Charles got handmade cards from Nicole and Dian for each of his gifts, one a painted card of the Loch Ness monster by Dian, and the other a rather unconventional card using a  magazine with speech bubbles next to the models to convey a message. Charles loved the cards and each of his gifts: an orange shirt (perfect for Holland, their national color), a dark chocolate bar, a 21-year-old scotch whiskey from the Edinburgh Scotch Whiskey Experience, a little king figurine, and a book purchased in Ullapool.

Nicole and Dian went to Jumbo to pick up supplies for their Mexican dinner (plus birthday candles), but the store was out of avocadoes! What a tragedy. Still, they recovered and improvised a little and were okay. Back home, Charles read an e-mail informing us our tenants would like to stay until August 10^th, an additional 10 days to the extra month they chose to take, as well. We knew this would make it harder to acclimate when we got back, but we were happy they were enjoying the place so much, so it was overall good news. 

The concave lives on

Roos came back home with a gift for Charles, a beautiful wine stopper, and Indian bindi stickers for Nicole. We chatted about family back home over the burrito dinner, sang a few songs, then had the chocolate cake Roos had whipped up specially for Charles right when she got home. It was delicious to say the least, but what’s new? The gang wished Charles one last happy birthday, then we went to sleep.