Had a bit of a laugh on the train from Ventimiglia to Milan, John was studying his Italian only to look across the aisle and see an Italian, studying his English. The Italian looked at him, realised the joke and laughed. Strange things indeed....
As we walk through the door, there is a happy smiling face to greet us. Welcome back, our room is ready, have a nice stay. Get to the room and this is what we see.
Funny buggers, I had requested Goose pillows cause I could, so they covered the whole bed with more pillows than anyone would need, biscuits, chocolates and nibbles.
Off out to explore. There is an area called The Brera in Milan about a 20 min walk from Berna which houses the Academy of Fine Arts and the Art Gallery. It has a somewhat bohemian feel to it, similar to Montmatre in Paris. It also houses lots of bars and restaurants, good night life in general.
So we look for a place to have a drink, find a corner bar with seats outside, sit down, order the vino, only to be told we must eat as well because Happy Hour is over! Italians have some silly rules.....so we get up and walk away, not ready to eat yet.
It took some time, but we walked past the Tennants Scottish Pub (enough is enough) to find a little bar in a cobbled stone street, where we had a glass and when time to came to pay, the waiter bought the bottle out and poured the remaining bit into our glasses, no charge, cause what else was he going to do with it. Nice touch.
On for dinner, we choose an outside eating area where we in close proximity to a trio of Netherlandy type people. Pasta was good and the wine was a thinnish but flavourful one from the Valtellina area. One of the trio asked John if it was any good, so he gave him a taste. He proceeded to order something else....
On my return from the toilet, I found John deep in conversation with our table neighbours.
It turns out they were Norwegian and were on a Prison Conference. One was the big boss, who had worked in Manchester for a couple of years and couldn't believe John had found the best Guinness ever in Nice. One was a rehabilitator and the other was an advisor. They were very interesting to chat with and a lot of fun.
The advisor is a writer and according to his mates is apparently good at making up stories. They play the same games as John and I do...you pick a couple or a group and make up a story about them, as in, guess what nationality they are, what they do, all that sort if thing. After a little while chatting, the advisor told us this is what he had been doing with us. He could not have been further from the truth.....He thought we were English, me from Bournmouth and John from Newcastle, and we were on our second date. I asked him what led him to his conclusion and he said it was they way I looked into John's eyes. We didn't tell him we'd been married for 32 years, didn't want to make him feel too bad.
We all thought it was hugely funny and his friends ribbed him mercilessly that he had got it so wrong!
The waiter arrived with the mandatory Limoncello as we asked for the bill, and returned to give the prison group their Limoncello, whereupon, he refilled our glasses!
We walked off home having had an entertaining night.
Nearly home, we were accosted by a fellow from Kuwait, who needed 20 euros so he could be in contact with his family to let them know he was alright. If we gave him our email address he would ensure the money would be repaid.
We hadn't had that many Limoncellos..............
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