One Small Step for Man

I thought I would record for posterity Linda making her first purchase in Milan, the fashion capital of the world. Surprisingly, it was for a pair of gloves and a scarf - absolute essentials in Sydney's climate. Most surprisingly, she has done very little other shopping here. About the only thing she bought besides the gloves was a handbag, which now makes two for the trip (the first was in Lisbon).

I am starting to think that Linda thinks she has enough clothes to pretty much take her into that age when other people have to dress her and just choose the loosest thing they can find. So instead, in the past few years she has been accessorising. She has more handbags than the pope has rings, but still she approaches them with a gusto formerly reserved for blazers in neutral colors made of natural fibers.

Milan has been a bit of a bummer. I have done something to my right knee and it has severely impaired my walking. Yesterday we only walked a bit before I called it a day and by last night I was seriously contemplating a visit to the emergency room.

But this morning I could at least move forward without yelping, although I sighed enough for Linda to lose all sympathy and become annoyed. Anyhow, faced with not seeing much in this city or watching my knee balloon up like, well, a balloon, I decided to push it a bit today.

It was baby steps most of the way to the Duomo. Then occasionally I would start to feel I was bulletproof and take some normal strides. Then I would feel a sharp stabbing in my knee, yelp appropriately, hobble, whimper, rest and resume baby steps.

Anyhow, I did manage to shuffle to the Duomo and it was worth it. It is one of the grandest churches I have ever seen. All these gothic spires and of a size that I wouldn't go in it had it been built today by lowest priced contractors.

The leg has cut into much more sightseeing, but I think the fashion shops are pretty much the ticket here, so I am not too unhappy. The hotel we are staying at has been really nice and their kitchen is fantastic. They operate on the premise that if you don't order a starter, they pick one and give it to you anyway because they want you to have a good meal. Love the Italians.

Tomorrow we take the train to Verona, home of Romeo and Juliet - or at least the guy who wrote the first version of the story. You can see some of our pictures from Milan by clicking here, and they mostly show the Duomo, the plaza around it, the hotel, the street where our hotel is and some of the cuter dogs that you see everywhere around here. Ciao.