Woke up in the Paris apt and checked email to make sure the Wilsons had made it on the plane in Chicago toward MXP – they were on their way. Whew.
George and Martha arrived at the Paris apartment from CDG around 8, then she and I popped down to get croissants and also some baguettes for the train. We had a cup of cafe au lait and chatted while Mark finished packing. We got their phones situated and talked about a few things they could do today, or while they are there, and then M and I left for Gare du Lyon.
Left the apartment, got a great shot of G and M in the window above, then walked across the river and up a couple blocks by the St Germain Auxerrois church – so beautiful!). We caught the metro at the southeast corner of the Louvre (Louvre/Rivoli) and it took us straight to Gare du Lyon without any changes. Last year we didn’t know about this easy possibility and we made two train changes with George and Katharine and Martha and their luggage and ours. And a stroller. Lots of stairs. It was very, very impressive and I wonder if George has forgiven us yet. I fear that might have been his introduction to Paris… not good! We had such a great time with them there otherwise, though. 🙂
Anyway, the train to Milan leaves from Hall 2 so we walked through the old station to this newer area. We waited for the sign to tell us which track and when the number 21 came up about 20 minutes before our departure, we started walking toward our train car, which was quite a long way…
It was another beautiful day so the views out the windows were quite beautiful. Part of the time we took some empty seats on the other side of the train with a bigger window (and facing forward).
We had a good little picnic of the remaining Bresaola, the bread from this morning, the remaining grapes and the last of the Trefle de Perche (a new-ish goat cheese that we tried last year and really enjoyed). Mark played a bit of Angry Birds…
Pulled into Stazione Garibaldi on time (5:51), waited a few minutes for a taxi, which took us within a few blocks of Gretchen’s apartment (a touch painful not to at least stop by) and to Linate (noted Saturday afternoon is a good time to cross Milan!). We walked up to the Budget counter and Charlie and Nancy were there. I thought they would’ve had about an hour wait but they had just arrived. It turns out that the bus I had researched to get them from Malpensa actually only runs a couple times a day so they had had to get a bus to Centrale and then a bus to Linate.
We picked up our car and headed toward Barzano. Only made one wrong step (missed the Tangenziale leaving Linate and had to turn around – no biggie) and arrived by 8:00 or so. Mark and Laura were there and they had only been here about 30 minutes. It all worked out great! Turns out, though, that they were looking for a house with #1 Poggio Verde (which is the address to use to look up the villa on google maps). Fortunately Sergio, who lives here full time, passed by and helped get things sorted out. He called Gretchen to confirm they were supposed to be here and then let them in. 🙂
We pulled out food we had brought from Paris, along with the items Mark and Laura had picked up at a market on the way (I sent them a list in case they had time to do that) and we had a wonderful dinner of prosciutto cotto, bresaola, salad, bread.) The Wilsons were remarkably awake right up to bedtime!
George and Martha on their arrival and our departure from Paris
Hither, Yon and Skies 