Day 1 – Back to Italy

For most people, Sunday’s are chill days…Not for Louis. As a musician, Louis usually spends his Sunday at two Church services and a choir practice. I on the other hand look forward to a lie in, and this Sunday, I had also planned a hot bath and a pampering session to make myself look even more gorgeous, before packing to head to Dublin at 5pm.

Very inconveniently, just before I was going to roll over and head back to sleep, Louis declares he has bad chest pains and shortness of breath. I know men love to exaggerate everything and anything, but as he was potentially dying, I gave him the attention he deserved… and what a fool I was. To cut a long story short, after a 6 hour sit at A&E, having multiple blood tests and X-rays with no food, unpainted nails, unplucked eyebrows, untanned… we were now running 3 hours behind schedule, and both of us still hadn’t packed yet.

Although panicked at first, Doctor Patrick told Louis he was the “healthiest man in Derry”. Not sure that’s too hard though… His results were all clear and he has probably just torn a muscle fibre. Time for Louis to prove his new acclaimed title in his first challenge. He had less than 5 minutes to pack his case. At least he has a reason now for the questionable outfit choices over the next week.

We were packed and on the road to Dublin, Ireland with help from our friend Nicky. We were staying at his house before getting an early morning flight on Monday morning. To celebrate the fact that Louis was very much alive, the boys enjoyed a few glasses of whiskey before hitting the hay. So healthy. 4:45am came quickly and Nicky kindly dropped us off at the airport. Whilst standing in the security queue, I admired how good everyone looked for 5 o’clock in the morning. I looked like a new born mole rat still in the same clothes as yesterday. Shockingly, I slept the whole flight and Louis complained about feeling sick. I fell for this yesterday, I shall not be fooled again.

When we landed, everyone was tested for Coronavirus. Still living! From the airport, we jumped on a bus to Bergamo, a small town near by. And there they were, so big, yellow and curved like the famous Golden Arches, like an M… indicating cheap, delicious snacks. We were slightly embarrassed to say we did queue to get some coffee and donuts but while we were in the queue, a man changed the menu from breakfast to lunch so we left and opted for a more Italian cafe. We got the same food, just for triple the price.

We had to get a short direct train into the centre of Milan. To keep myself amused, I decided to copy every action Louis did. He didn’t seem to find this class craic so I fell asleep again.

To find our apartment we had to do a scavenger hunt. The owner had sent Louis photos and pictures of how to enter. We spent 20 minutes running round an area looking for a similar gate and building. Great fun to be honest. Lovely touch.

We dropped off our bags and let the cleaner get to work. I have extremely high standards, so didn’t want to distract him from getting on with his job.

Although it was raining, we set out to visit Milan’s Catherdral, The Duomo. Inside, the stain glass windows were really impressive and there was a gorgeous flooring that would look lovely in my imaginary house. We climbed to the terrace of the Cathedral and admired the detail which is carved into the stone. It really was unreal.

Pizza time, yeoooo! I am so excited for a week filled with pasta and pizza, so for lunch, my tummy was craving a margarita. Pity I didn’t remember to bring some dominoes garlic and herb dip. Louis had a sausage and broccoli pizza clearly looking to uphold his new title and we shared a bottle of house wine. Perfecto!

After lunch we walked through Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a shopping centre filled with designer shops. Prada, Gucci, Tiffany’s…. H&M, aha I can afford an umbrella from there! Unfortunately H&M didn’t have an umbrella so it was a wet dander back to our apartment. A wet, new born mole rat.

Back at the apartment, we enjoyed a siesta and watched Inferno on Netflix. As Florence is our next destination, we thought it would be a good movie to watch before our visit.

A shower, a bit of make up and brush of my teeth took me from mole rat to super gorgeous model in a matter of seconds, obvs.

Louis was in charge of dinner tonight. After some research he decided we would go for Apertivo. He loves Tiramisu, so when the reviews said it had “the best in Italy”, that got his attention. It was a short walk away, so we bought an umbrella from a nearby street stall and headed on our way.

Apertivo – where you pay for a cocktail and get unlimited food – got off to a bad start for Louis. He was given a tuna pasta dish and had to eat it as the waiter was so lovely…Louis hates tuna! Despite this, a few cocktails by the litre brought him around before we finished with the amazing tiramasu, which was indeed the best in the world. Thanks to La Hora Feliz!

A quick stop to the supermarket before heading home ends of an adventurous start to our latest chapter. Another busy day of Milan sightseeing tomorrow!