ITALY, 2006
May 26, 2006
Flight to Frankfurt, then on to Milano and a LONG ride to the hotel downtown.
May 27, Saturday, Milano
I stayed at a lovely new, four-star hotel in the heart of Milano. I was going to be meeting Grazia, a lovely Italian woman I met on the Rutger Hauer.org website. She runs much of his
charitable organization via the website’s auctions and such. I spend about three minutes in my hotel room (arriving at about 3:00 P.M.) before she called. We set up a dinner time.
We ate at a local spot, the Mezza Luna where, she said, Rutger always eats at when he’s in Milano. Needless to say it was pretty scrumptious food. We had a very nice evening,
walking for about two hours in downtown Milano, with her as my guide, eating a wonderful late dinner, then spending another two hours or so chatting.
May 28, Sunday
I woke up late, ate a long, leisurely breakfast at the hotel and started out with a walk to the Duomo Plaza. It was almost 11:00 A.M. when I entered the MAGNIFICENT cathedral and I
walked in on the beginning of Mass. Being a good Catholic I stayed, especially since it was a high Mass. There was a choir of about 100 people, all wearing outfits, half of them
children. There were about 20 priests on the altar and the head priest looked like he was a bishop. It WAS a high Mass, a VERY high one.
Sometime during Mass a young boy, about 12 years old, did a solo. He had a voice like an angel…a future opera singer, for sure. After Mass I hung around to look at the cathedral and
the “bishop” came out in a rather long and fancy procession. He was a CARDINAL, wearing his red hat….even I knew that. No WONDER it was a high Mass. I felt quite honored as I
had never ever gone to a Mass where a bishop presided…but a RED HAT, that was big stuff for me.
He med a press corps outside. Obviously this was a regular event. There was also something special going on in the city, but I couldn’t figure it out. It was a special treat for me.
I spent the rest of the day touring the sights of Milano. What a lovely place. I hadn’t heard many good things about it from someone, but I sure liked it.
For dinner I went up to the roof restaurant and there was only one other person having dinner….so I asked him if he cared to join me. He was delighted. He was a 30-something
British businessman on travel-work. We had an extremely pleasant three-hour dinner and he walked me down to my room. I’ll go back to Milano one day. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
May 26, 2006
Flight to Frankfurt, then on to Milano and a LONG ride to the hotel downtown.
May 27, Saturday, Milano
I stayed at a lovely new, four-star hotel in the heart of Milano. I was going to be meeting Grazia, a lovely Italian woman I met on the Rutger Hauer.org website. She runs much of his
charitable organization via the website’s auctions and such. I spend about three minutes in my hotel room (arriving at about 3:00 P.M.) before she called. We set up a dinner time.
We ate at a local spot, the Mezza Luna where, she said, Rutger always eats at when he’s in Milano. Needless to say it was pretty scrumptious food. We had a very nice evening,
walking for about two hours in downtown Milano, with her as my guide, eating a wonderful late dinner, then spending another two hours or so chatting.
May 28, Sunday
I woke up late, ate a long, leisurely breakfast at the hotel and started out with a walk to the Duomo Plaza. It was almost 11:00 A.M. when I entered the MAGNIFICENT cathedral and I
walked in on the beginning of Mass. Being a good Catholic I stayed, especially since it was a high Mass. There was a choir of about 100 people, all wearing outfits, half of them
children. There were about 20 priests on the altar and the head priest looked like he was a bishop. It WAS a high Mass, a VERY high one.
Sometime during Mass a young boy, about 12 years old, did a solo. He had a voice like an angel…a future opera singer, for sure. After Mass I hung around to look at the cathedral and
the “bishop” came out in a rather long and fancy procession. He was a CARDINAL, wearing his red hat….even I knew that. No WONDER it was a high Mass. I felt quite honored as I
had never ever gone to a Mass where a bishop presided…but a RED HAT, that was big stuff for me.
He med a press corps outside. Obviously this was a regular event. There was also something special going on in the city, but I couldn’t figure it out. It was a special treat for me.
I spent the rest of the day touring the sights of Milano. What a lovely place. I hadn’t heard many good things about it from someone, but I sure liked it.
For dinner I went up to the roof restaurant and there was only one other person having dinner….so I asked him if he cared to join me. He was delighted. He was a 30-something
British businessman on travel-work. We had an extremely pleasant three-hour dinner and he walked me down to my room. I’ll go back to Milano one day. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
