In Milan, They Thought We Were Crazy!

Rick Steves says that the further South in Italy you go, the more intense it gets.

Our feeling is that in Rome and Naples, the locals are laughing with us. 

 

In Florence, the locals were laughing at us. 

 

And in Milan, they thought we were absolutely insane.

 

We are really fairly reasonable people and don’t make a lot of demands, but quite often got looks of complete puzzlement in Milan.

 

Nowhere was this more true than at the Villa Malpensa Hotel.

 

We stayed here on our last night when we went to Europe in 2012.  The airport is 30 miles outside of the city of Milan.  There is a good train that goes to the airport, but with the cost of hotels in Milan and the early time of our flight, staying near the airport made sense.

The Villa was built by an early aviation pioneer in Italy, and is a beautiful building.  They are very close to the airport and have a free shuttle service.

In 2012, we were in Europe for almost a month.  We were absolutely drained by the last day.  So we headed to the hotel fairly quickly and planned to spend the day just relaxing.

When we checked in, we met this guy….

 

Well, this is not an actual picture of him, but he did look a lot like this.  Interesting man, and he really blew hot and cold our whole stay.  We were never quite sure if we were going to be chastised or greeted warmly.

As we walked around the grounds, looking for the advertised pool, the garden staff gave us really puzzled looks.  It turned out that the pool was closed for repairs.

As we sat in the outdoor gazebo area, the other staff gave us puzzled looks.  One lady came out to set up tables for a gathering, and decided not to leave the table clothes.  Who knows what those crazy Americans would do to them!

 

We had lunch in a little sitting room, as they were working on their snack bar.  I was thoroughly tired of ham and cheese, even if it was Italian, by this point and ordered a Tuna Sandwich on White Bread.  The waiter started to argue with me, but then concluded I was just a crazy American, why bother.

 

So, when it was time to plan our last night in Italy, we decided to come back.  We had to return our car to the airport.

 

Helpful Hint…follow the signs that say “Car Hire,” there are none for Car Rental Returns.

We went outside and called the hotel for the shuttle to come get us. 

“Where are you?”

“Exit number 10”

Click!  I told the B.F. that the guy hung up on me!  But a few minutes later, there was the van.

When we got to the hotel, we realized we had left our hats sitting on a post at the airport.

Ooooooops!

Okay, okay….truth be told….I left the hats behind.  The B.F. was in charge of all of our ever-increasing luggage and I was in charge of the hats.

Oooooooops!

So we unloaded the bags from the van, I was put in charge of checking in, and the B.F. explained to the van driver that he needed to go back to the airport.

At the desk, I saw that our same friend was in charge.

 

When the van driver explained he had to take the crazy American back to the airport, the desk clerk was in great disbelief!  Who but a crazy American would make such a request!?!?!  (honestly, the airport was really only a couple of miles from the hotel)

 

 

As I was checking in, the clerk asked if I had 2 rooms.

Um, no, just one.

Apparently, I had somehow indicated there was only one of us checking in.  It was okay, he could add another, but it was going to cost more!  Note:  Later I saw another woman check in, and had the same issue, so I’m thinking it is a flaw in the website!

He then DEMANDED we make dinner reservations!  We could see why this was important, as we were one of three parties in the whole, huge restaurant!

 

By then, Dennis was back with the hats, and we were escorted to our room by the van driver –slash- bell boy.

Heavens, what do you tip a bell boy in Italy?  We gave him a five, since he was so nice about going back to the airport.

We got our luggage organized for the next day’s trek to the airport and went to the EMPTY dining room.  The waiter was just able to squeeze us in.  We ordered glasses of wine and a simple dinner.  The food was okay, the wine was okay.  The waiter did drop off the rest of the bottle of wine at no charge, so that was nice.  It wound up being one of our most expensive, less impressive dinners, but it also took little effort on our part.

 

We did go to dinner at the unfashionably early time of 7:30 and were surprised when they sat another table.  It was two Italian gentlemen.  We had a theory they were Mafia and were there to make a hit…but have no evidence to support our idea.

 

They did have one of my favorite desserts of the trip…vanilla ice cream with a balsamic vinegar reduction.  Sounds weird, I know, but yummy…The B.F. passed on that dessert, not being a vinegar fan.

 

We then got a good night’s sleep, had a fairly decent breakfast at the restaurant and took the shuttle back to the airport.  We had to do some searching for the Customs office to turn in some VAT paperwork, and then through security and the long walk to the gate.

While standing around waiting to be let on the plane, a tall gentleman made a point of forcing his way through the crowds and standing RIGHT IN FRONT of me.  But it worked to my advantage, I drafted off him to get onto the plane quicker…let him do all the shoving, I just walked in his wake.

 

And then, just 20 short hours later, we where home….

 

 

….and this is all I have to say about that!