Bambino and I spent part of the day in Milan. I loved the Duomo.

Bambino was quiet in the Duomo, and I think the scope of the place impressed him. He really liked the pigeons in the piazza. However, his highlight of Milan was the AC Milan store. The lovely staff adored my “bambino molto elegante” (he has a good stylist). They let him run around the store for roughly 20 minutes, kicking a ball, blowing kisses, and being hugged by attractive Milanese women, while yelling “Ball! Goal!”. Bambino may be an AC Milan fan for life. (Or, at least until the AS Roma match.)

Overall, the Italians have been wonderfully patient and kind to Bambino. He’s making lots of friends. About 50% of the time, he replies back with a “Ciao!” now. The other half, he answers “A choo!”, as if the person sneezed.

He also likes trains.

We had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in Varese , the gnoccheria.

Then, we ran into this guy,

Bambino told Zio Wede that next time, he was to bring Zia Tiff and le Bambine. As the grown ups chatted at an outdoor bar, Bambino snuggled up in il Marito’s arms and slept. In his words, today was “happy, happy, happy!”

Il Marito spent the day at the office, but Bambino and I got to spend most our time outside In the sunshine. It was glorious. I didn’t realize how much I missed sunshine and warm weather. (It better not be snowing when we return home!)

This morning, I started chatting with an older gentleman in the piazza, and he asked about where we live. I told him that, in many ways, our home is like Varese. It’s near lakes, has a beautiful downtown, good food and friendly locals. I showed him a few pictures, including one of this winter.

I can see the Alps from here. They get Snow (with a capital S). But my new friend looked shocked. He advised me that both he and I were better off staying in Italy. (Don’t worry. We’re coming back.)

After chasing pigeons in the piazza, we visited the Gardens of Estense, near our hotel. Apparently, Stendahl called Estense “the Versailles of Milan.” Bambino loved the fountain, the playgrounds, and the terraced gardens. We will be revisiting Estense this week, but with the baby carrier. I worked off last night’s pizza pushing him up an alpine hill on a gravel trail.

Post-adventure, Bambino took a nap. A 4.5 hour nap. He awoke laughing and ready to go. After lunch, Bambino insisted we visit a bookstore. How could I say no?

Then, il Marito came home, we had a nice dinner, blah, blah, blah. More importantly, Bambino had his first taste of gelato.

A picture says a thousand words. It was a good day. Buona notte, amici.

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