Has it really been three weeks?

 

Since we arrived in Milan we've enjoyed beautiful weather. Some days have begun a little cloudy and hazy, but then the sun has shone through. The temperatures soared last week but have now returned to pleasantly warm weather, perfect for exploring our new city by foot, tram and metro.  It's been even more fun exploring as we've had visitors already. 

Nic, a lovely friend I worked with in Sydney, stayed in a hotel down the road last week, so we toured the sights of Milano.

 

 We introduced Nic to some of our new favourite aperitivo bars,

 

browsed the shops along Corso Buenos Aires starting at a well known metro station.

Perhaps you recognise the name?

Window shopped on via della Spiga

 and strolled through our soon to be new neighbourhood, via Stendhal in Zona Tortona. 

After a relaxing weekend with Nic in Menaggio on Lake Como, Stefano and I said, "Arrivederci Nic!" and "Buongiorno Maddie!"

On her way home from another European adventure, our darling niece Maddie flew into Milan. She seemed instantly at home looking very Milanese sipping a capucci at our new favourite café on via Foppa.

We look forward to welcoming Nic and Maddie back to Milano one day very soon.

fino alla prossima settimana

The same...but different!

For our return to Milan we once again flew with Emirates but this time we took the evening 9pm flight arriving in Milan around 1.30pm the following day.  What a difference it made flying through the night. No jetlag, unlike the trip last year when Stephen’s sleep pattern became so interrupted that over several weeks Cherie noticed him morphing into someone she’d never met before, “Grumpy Stephano”.  Not this time!


At long last, we're back.

The next most obvious difference has been the summer weather.  We arrived to blue skies, balmy temperatures and wonderful, bright evenings where it’s not dark till after 9.30pm.

With the lovely long evenings there’s plenty of time to enjoy Milan’s aperitivo bars. We’ve revisited some of the ones that Stephen and Cherie discovered in winter last year when they huddled inside.  But now in summer we’ve discovered more places to sip a glass of vino or a cocktail, and nibble on an aperitivo snack while sitting at sidewalk tables enjoying the passing Milanese parade.

 

 Having settled into our tiny studio apartment we’ve enjoyed walking along leafy shaded streets and discovering little gated, grassy parks that were invisible during the winter.  Last year by the time I arrived in winter they were bare and lifeless. Now they are lush oases dotted through this bustling city. 

So our return to Milan has been a little the same as last year but mostly it’s been very different, in a good way.

vediamo  a presto.

 

The move is on!

That's it. The work permit that we naively expected five months ago.

When Stephen took along this fancy bit of paper to apply for his visa last week, the friendly official at the Consulate in Sydney announced, "That's rare, we hardly ever issue working visas. Only about five a year."
Perhaps that explains why it has taken so long.
Now, rather than feeling jaded about the lengthy bureaucratic process, we feel like we've won a very special lottery!
We're excited all over again.

With only a few weeks till Stephen flies back to Milan, we've begun a list frenzy.
Lists for culling, packing and storing.
Lists of repairs and lists of jobs to complete.
Lists of friends and family to see, and lists of favourite places to visit one last time.

Yikes! The move is on! Yes, really.