Exploring Milan

We seem to go to Italy less frequently than we did when we initially moved to the Cote d'Azur, which is a bit of a pity. Maybe our passion for Italy has been replaced by a passion for Japan ? Be that as it may, I was looking forward to visiting Milan again, it's been a few years since our last visit. Our "excuse" (as if one was needed?) was the World Expo, which was taking place in Milan this time around.

We decided to stay just outside Milan, in Rho, where the expo is actually taking place - and went for AirBnB, as we do more and more often these days. After an uneventful drive up from Nice, we arrived at Rho just in time for dinner. After meeting our hosts (a lovely elderly couple), we hit the town of Rho. Dining options seemed limited, so we ended up going to the local restaurant recommended by our hosts. The food was OK, but not quite worth the long wait (there was a big group there, which slowed things down). To make matters work, the credit card machine was broken, and we didn't have enough to cash to pay the bill. So off we headed, hunting for a working cash machine with money on it, which didn't turn out to be an easy task (in this day and age??). Well, we eventually managed, and the restaurant owners were kind enough to give me a discount and gave me a free digestif for the hassle ;-)

The next day, on Saturday, we headed off to visit Milan (our tickets for the expo were for Sunday and Monday). We've already seen the main sights of Milan, so were quite happy to just randomly wander around. We start off on the Piazza di Duomo, the main square in Milan, the main attraction of which is  (obviously) the impressive Duomo (cathedral) of Milan. I had hoped to visit the rooftop of the Duomo (apparently it's a pretty cool thing to do), but put off by the ridiculous queues to the ticketing office, we opted not to... So after a brief stroll in the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele II, an impressive shopping gallery just next to the Duomo. 

From there, we continued our stroll around the town centre, eventually stumbling upon Piazza Mecanti (Merchant's square), a medieval square located right in the middle of Milan. It really qualifies as a hidden gem - we never came here during our previous visit - which is a bit surprising since it's right next to the Duomo. Anyway, it's a really beautiful little place where to sit down and relax, and enjoiy the beautiful medieval buildings dotting the square. A real rarity in an otherwise largely modern city.

We then walked down the impressive Via Dante (lined up with national flags, in honour of the Expo, I suppose) to the impressive Castello Sforzescpo, located in the big Sempione park. Built in the 15th century, it was one of the biggest Citadels in Europe. Today it houses an impressive collection of museums. We just had a stroll around, taking the beautiful poppy fields around the castle walls.

By now, my stomach was grumblig, so after consulting our trusty Milan Tripadvisor guide (we recently discovered the TripAdvisor city guide Apps, that can be used off-line - pretty useful when you are abroad!) we ended up in a bakery-restaurant called Patti, where I had the most delicious Cotelletto alla Millanese I've ever had in my life. And those gressini they served before the meal were just, in a word, amazing. So, big thumbs up for culinary Milan, then!

Our apetites sated, we continued our exploration of Milan. After randomly walking around the afore-mentioned Sempione Park, we ended up in the Triennale building - a design museum (naturally, there is bound to be one in Milan - it being one of the capitals of European Design). It's a pretty cool museum, with a huge collection of design of various kinds on display. Plenty of Finnish design (Iiittala, Pentik, Aalto and so forth) on display as well, yippee! The theme of the museum was food (nice choice!) - to tie in with the World Expo theme "how to feed the world".

We continued randomly strolling around Milan, taking in the Arco Della Pace (where, on one side of the arch, there was an anti-gay marriage demonstration, and on the other side, an anti-fascist demonstration ;-). We then made continued strolling around, heading towards the Piazza Garibaldi train station. We stopped for an aperitif at the fancy 10 Corso Como, a rather stunning cafe from an esthetical point of view, almost like having your aperitif in a garden! You do pay for the site, though ;-)

We finished our tour of Milan in Piazza Gae Aulenti - a sort of showpiece for modern architecture. Fountains, fancy shops, cafes, just the place for a Milan facelift for the 21st century, I suppose one could say. Well worth a visit - shows yet another face of Milan.

We ended up dining in a rather disappointing touristy restaurant near Piazza Garibaldi station - the place was pretty packed, but pretty much all the diners were foreigners, always a bad sign... We chose more wisely for luch!

After dinner, we got the train back to Rho, very pleased after a day of pretty intensive exploration!

Back cycling in the Massif d'Esterel!

Time to take out my new mountain bike again. Cycling seems to be the main form of exercise suitable for my body (apart from swimming), due to the problems I've had with my feet over the last few weeks...

So off I headed to the Massif d'Esterel, to meet up with Gilbert and Philippe, my usual cycling partners. We did the same tour as last time - starting at Philippe's place in Les Adrets, we headed via Saint-Jean-de-Cannes on to the Col des Trois Termes. And then after some uphill cycling, back to Philippe's via Les Adrets.

A rather stunning beach @ Toulon

Normally people from Nice go to Toulon mainly for one reason - to visit Ikea. And that's what brought as to Toulon this Sunny Saturday as well. We had a table to change (we got the wrong colour last time around). Things started off rather badly this time around too - seems that the table was composed of two boxes, and that we had left the other one at home! NOOOO.... Thankfully, turned out we'd actually picked up one of the boxes when we bought the table in the first place - so no need for a round-trip back to Cagnes (and full points to Ikea's customer service!).

After a "delicious" Ikea lunch, we decided to head off to the beach before driving back to Cagnes. After consulting Mr. Google, we ended up in a nice little secluded beach East of Toulon - a real private little heaven, a little rocky bay with its own little port and small hamlet. It wasn't the best possible place for swimming, with all the rocks and cliffs making access a bit difficult, but still much preferable to your typical overcrowded Cote d'Azur beach.

Barbeque in the Vesubie Valley

I've been doing Italian conversation for a couple of years now, and am getting along fabulously with my group. So I was quite happy to accept Henriette's (or Erica, as her Italian pseudonym goes!) invitation to come along for a BBQ, especially when I heard where it was taking place - Berthemont. Berthemont is a village located in the far away Vesubie Valley, in the Park National de Mercantour (in the Alps, basically).

So basically, Henriette and her husband have a house in the Alps, as well as a flat in Cagnes-sur-Mer, for when they miss a bit of urban life and the beach. Not a bad life, eh?

They're property in the Vesubie Valley is, in a word, stunning. The view from their annex, where the party was at, is quite simply great. The place is surrounded by mountains. No complaints about the big garden either.

The party was great fun. Most of our group could make it, including our teacher Annamaria (who's pregnant, and has been replaced by another Italian lady, Anna, over the last few months. Glad to hear everything is going great for her!), Laure, Virginie, Lucie and hubbies.

As expected, the food was fantastic, and the grand finale was, well, grand! (we finished with a pyramid of Champagne glasses, pretty cool!). All in all, not a bad way to spend Ascension Thursday! Grazie mille, Erica e Christian!

East Village and Harlem

Our second day in New York started in East Village, a part of Manhattan we didn't really get to visit on our last trip. East Village used to be a less-than-glamorous part of New York, a real melting pot where immigrants from East Europe, Italy and other parts of the worlds all migrated and mingled. Later on, it was the playground of hippies and the Beat generation. These days, it's gentrifying again, as one can expect, but still retains some of that alternative culture atmosphere, apparently... We were keen to find out!

We started out by visiting the Tenament Museum, a place that brings that immigrant past to life, apparently. We took a tour that told a tale of a typical Irish immigrant family that lived in the area. Very interesting & sort of interactive kind of experience, which tells a personal tale while setting it in an interesting historical context. Well worth the 20 bucks entrance fee!

After a nice lunch in a decently-priced burger joint, we headed for the legendary Saint-Mark's Place, which is kind of the main street of East Village, at least from a spiritual and historical point of view. There are plenty of historic buildings here, bringing back memories of the area's more distant and upscale past (Alexander Hamilton's house is located here, for example). More recently, the place became the favourite part of town for the hippies - a few quirky shops in the area serve as a reminder of those crazy days. A pretty cool street to wander down, all three blocks of it!

Saint-Mark's Place ends in Tomkin Square Park, a nice piece of Greenery, still a focal point for students, artists and other cool people. The sun was out and it was getting a bit hot, so we decided to head for an ice cream. After a quick consultation of Tripadvisor, we ended up having our sugar rush at The Big Gay Ice Cream Shop (c'mon, how could we pass up on a place with a name like that?). It was all very gay (I mean, one of the ice creams was called Salty Pimp, LOL), but hey, what's most important, the ice cream was excellent!

We ended our visit in East Village by checking out Saint-Mark's church (for which Saint-Mark's Place is named, unsurprisingly). Dating back to 1660, it's the 2nd oldest church in New York. The place was shut for visitors, but a janitor kindly let me in and even let me take pictures.

And then, it was time to head down to Times Square for what I'd been looking forward to for quite some time - a proper Broadway Show (Mathilde got me tickets for a stand-up comedy show by none other than Jeff Garlin, of Curb your Enthusiasm fame). After a walk around the theatre district, we made our way to the show. So how was Jeff, then ? In a word, brilliant. The warmup acts were OK, but Jeff really gave me a sore belly after all the laughing. What was brilliant was the guy's ability to improvise and interact with the audience - true comic genius!

We finished our perfect New York day with a nice dinner in a South African restaurant.

The next day, the plan was to visit Harlem properly. We started off by heading to Morning Side park. Amazing, how things can change in a couple of decades. Today, it's a lovely oasis of Greenery - yet 20 years ago this was one of the dodgiest places in New York, full of drug dealers and other dodgy characters...

After quickly checking out the massively impressive Gothic Revival style Cathedral of Saint-John the Divine (it's the 3rd largest church in the world), we headed for breakfast (must get ones priorities right, after all!) near Columbia University.

We then headed off to stroll around the campus of said educational institution. This venerable university is the oldest one in the state of New York, the 5th oldest in the United States, and naturally one of the country's Ivy League Universities. To quote wikipedia, Notable alumni and former students of the university and its predecessor, King's College, include five Founding Fathers of the United States; nine Justices of the United States Supreme Court; 43 Nobel Prize laureates; 20 living billionaires; 29 Academy Award winners; and 29 heads of state, including three United States Presidents. 'Nough said. The campus was just as one would imagine of an Ivy League University, with a nice Alma Mater statue watching over it all.

After visiting the impressive Riverside Church (built by none other than one John D. Rockefeller), we headed off to check out General Grant National Memorial. Completed in 1892, it pays homage to the Civil War hero (and later president of the United States) Ulysses Grant. There's an interesting museum recounting the "heroic exploits" of Mr. Grant (well, heroic, even if most people tend to be of the opinion that his victory of General Lee had more to do with the industrial might and superior numbers of the Northern states, than the military genius of Mr. Grant). Well, be that as it may, an interesting place to visit.

We then headed back to explore Harlem. And what an interesting neighbourhood Harlem is. It still has a very afro-american feel to it, with folks chilling out in the streets - the place really has a neighbourhood feel to it. I really hope the place retains that unique spirit it has kin spite of the inevitable pressure of real estate prices going up and all that. The gentrification can definitely be felt in many parts of Harlem, with the old Victorian-Era brownstone houses being restored and sold at no doubt lucrative prices...

We checked the main sights in Harlem, starting with the interesting Shomburg Centre for Research in Black Culture, a public New York City research library, possibly the largest archives on black history and culture in the USA. Quite an interesting place to visit, a pity we didn't have time to stay for very long.

By now it was time to have a bite to eat after all that walking around in the heat. Our cool Airbnb host Daniel had recommend a place called Dinosaur Barbeque for lunch, and, well, we (or maybe rather, I) just couldn't pass up on the opportunity to have lunch in a place called that. The name is pretty descriptive, big portions and family fun all around. Just the way I like American food.

Our appetites sated, we continued exploring Harlem. We checked out Striver's Row, a collection of late 19th century houses, which was where the succesfull Harlem residents lived after world war I, when African-Americans started moving into Harlem.

The next stop was Apollo Theatre, a real New York and Harlem landmark (such names as Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie from the Swing Era, or more recently, Bill Crosby and Richard Pryor, made their names here). Still going strong, apparently.

But we just really enjoyed walking around Harlem and taking in the very special atmosphere of the place. Unfortunately, we had a flight to catch though. So after saying by to our host Danny (who is so far the coolest Airbnb host we've had the pleasure of dealing with), it was time to head off to the airport.

So how to best sum up our 2nd visit together in the Big Apple ? Well, saying it's one of the great cities in the world is kind of stating the obvious, but well, there you go. It's one of maybe 10 cities that you could easily visit 10 or 20 times during your life time and barely scratch the surface of the place... And just to hammer in the point, Harlem was a real revelation - a place unjustly neglected by tourists (lucky for us, though!). I believe we shall be back one day!

Back in the Big Apple

We continued our American adventure with a few days in New York. We arrived at LaGuardia airport on time, and took the bus into the Big Apple. We were staying in Harlem this time, something I was really looking forward to. Harlem, of course, is the place to explore Afro-American culture in New York (and in the States in General). We were dong Airbnb again, and were able to find our flat without any problems. Our host was the super-cool Daniel, an actor whose done a fair bit of Broadway and a bit of telly too (he even had a bit part in House of Cards, how cool is that ?), who gave us plenty of excellent advice on what to do in Harlem.

It was getting late by the time we'd settled in, but we were still keen to get out and explore Harlem. It was pretty much just as I'd expected. It's still got a very afro-American feel to it, even though it's quite multi-cultural in general (plenty of African immigrants from places like Senegal bringing their own touch to the place). Thankfully, Harlem is a pretty safe place these days - it used to be one of the most dangerous places in New York just a couple of decades earlier. It's gentrifying rapidly - I hope the place is able to retain it's cool and laid-back feel in the years to come... We decided to have dinner in a real Harlem institution - the Red Rooster (which was, funnily enough, founded by an Ethopian-born guy who was brought up in Sweden !). Great place for roasted chicken, that's for sure! Loved the vibe of the place too - with live music livening things up!

We started the next day with a proper, filling, American breakfast in Harlem, after which we headed towards Central Park - the plan was to take on the grand-daddy of American museums - the Metropolitan Museum of Art (or more simply known as "The Met"). Now, The Met has it all: an amazing Egyptian collection, Greek sculptures, Art Nouveau design, furniture, American art, Classical European Art, and one of the greatest Impressionist collections in the World.

Seeing it all in one visit is basically Mission: Impossible. So we decided to concentrate on the stuff that we usually like - 19th/20th Century European Art, in particular the Impressionist stuff. I can confirm that their collection is impressive. We also took part in a guided tour taking in their Japanese collection (of course!). All in all, The Met is of course one of the mandatory places to visit in New York, even though I think we preferred the Art Institute of Chicago in the end I think (seems better laid out, friendlier and also importantly, much less busy. What was funny about the Met was that listening to some conversations, I had the impression of being in a Woody Allen movie... ;)

After a rather indifferent lunch in a posh Italian place near The Met, we headed down to the financial district for the afternoon. Mathilde fancied a bit of shopping, whilst I was quite keen on visiting the Groud Zero City and the museum they'd created there. The reconstruction around the site is pretty much all finished now, with the One World Trade Centre building having been completed just a couple of years earlier. Standing tall at 1776 feet (full points to anybody guessing what that number symbolizes ;-), it's the 4th tallest building in the world (and the highest in the Western hemisphere).

There is also the National September 11 Memorial & Museum on the site of the original world trade centre. Two reflective pools have now replaced the site of the original buildings, and the memorial museum is actually mostly located under ground. It's all quite tastefully done I thought, and the museum is really interesting an informative. What I liked about how it was done is that while it pays due respect to the lives lost, it's all quite restrained, and thankfully keeps "non-political" (I was expecting something more "patriotic" than this, so was positively surprised).

We headed back to Harlem for dinner, deciding to try out the Cecil, just down the road from out flat.  It was a pretty nice little place, serving kind of Afro-American food with a modern/international twist. It was a pretty fancy place for having dinner, with a nice and classy atmosphere. The dishes on the menu seemed really interesting and original - even if the food didn't quite live up to the promise (I don't know, maybe it comes from living in France, the home of haute cuisine - but fancier dining in the US is often a bit disappointing to me...)

More Windy City

The plan was to continue our exploration of Chicago with something everybody tells us is an absolutely mandatory experience - an architectural boat tour. Before the tour, we decided to have breakfast by the Mag Mile - we ended up sitting outside at a cafe just by the Chicago Tribune Tower. I feel it's necessary to write a few words about this magnificent building - one of the architectural highlights of Chicago. Built in 1922 in the neo-Gothic style after a competition (Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen's entry actually came second!). One interesting detail about the building - the exterior integrates rocks from various famous buildings from all over the world. Nice idea.

Breakfast out of the way, it was time to head back to the river and catch our boat. Expectations were high thanks to all the good things we'd heard but also the rather steep price tag... And we were certainly not disappointed! Should you ever be in Chicago, this really is one of the mandatory things to do. The 1 1/2 hour cruise gives a great insight into the colourful history of Chicago's architecture. It's interesting to note how the Great Chicago fire of 1871 kind of wiped the cityscape clean, allowing a bunch of creative architects out-impress each others with the most fantastic designs imaginable. This all was made possible by Chicago's location as a major transportation hub and business centre.

There are too many highlights to list here in this blog - but I suppose I ought to mention Sears Tower (oh, sorry, it's actually called Willis Tower these days...), which was the highest building in the world from 1973 to 1998. Today it's the second highest building in the USA and the 12th highest in the world. It's not the prettiest skyscraper in Chicago, but for sure it's one of the most impressive ones...! Quite interesting how it's built up actually - the skyscraper is actually built as a kind of 3x3 matrix - all of the tubes go up to the 50th floor, whereas only 2 tubes remain at the top (all part of a master plan to make the whole thing stand up).

So, fantastic way to spend the morning, then. We spent the afternoon walking around the Gold Coast neighbourhood.  It's a historic neighbourhood that was built up and flourished after the Great Chicago fire. It's where the Creme de la creme used to live (and still does - looked like a pretty trendy place). It's the place to check out pre-skyscraper architecture in Chicago, plenty of impressive Victorian townhouses to be found in this part of town. Oh, and one more important fact: the original Playboy mansion was located here!

We stopped for a coffee at a real Chicago institution - the Public Hotel. Pretty atmospheric place for a surprisingly reasonably priced coffee. There were pictures of what we supposed were famous people - unfortunately we're not familiar enough with local history to recognize most of the folks featured in the photos.

We continued our walk by heading into Lincoln park, or more specifically Lincoln Park Zoo. It's a kind of rare attraction in the USA, since it's completely free! Unfortunately it was kind of closing down for the day when we arrived, so we didn't see that many animals. Still a pretty nice place to walk around...

For dinner, it was time to try another real Chicago speciality - Chicago style deep-dish pizza. We decided to go to one of the most famous places in Chicago for pizza - Giordano's (these days a chain of restaurants, actually). Now, I knew that Chicago pizzas are known for being, well, rather filling, but I still figured I'd be able to handle a medium-sized pizza. Except that it's apparently for 4 people. So, delicious as the pizza was, I ended up opting for the doggy bag option... So, yet another must-do-activity-in-Chicago ticket off the list then!

The next day (2nd last day in Chicago :( ), we decided to head off and explore South Chicago. We started with a quick stroll around Chinatown. Chicago's Chinatown, even if it is a proper Chinatown, does not quite compare to what New York or San Francisco has to offer. Also, it lacked the usual hustle and bustle one would expect to find in a "proper Chinatown" - I suppose mostly due to the fact that it was early morning. Well, we had a very cheap breakfast, at least.

Our next stop was the Prairie Avenue District. It's another part of Chicago that was very fashionable after the Great Chicago fire, and there are still plenty of impressive townhouses left that hark back to those old glory days when this was the place to be for the movers and shakers of Chicago. This historic district also houses the oldest house in Chicago - the Henry B. Clarke House (these days a museum). The house has actually been moved twice - the original location was much more centrally located.

hWe then carried on back towards the loop, or rather towards Museum campus, a part of Chicago that assembles a bunch of important museums as well as an aquarium and planetarium. The Soldier Field (where the Chicago Bears, the local football team, plays) is also located here. It's a pretty nice part of town to walk around, but we weren't feeling very motivated (we'd done a lot of walking over the last couple of days - and my lousy feet weren't getting any better!), especially since the sun kept away hidden behind a cover of clouds). We were treated to some great views over the lakefront and the Chicago skyline, though.

Time for a major dose of culture then - we decided to tackle the Art Institute of Chicago. The Art Institute of Chicago is one of the greatest art galleries of the USA, kind of Chicago's answer to the Metropolitan in New York, I suppose. It's certainly a big place, with loads to see. We spent about three hours there in total before reaching a state of saturation (with a break for lunch at Al's Italian Beef again!), mostly concentrating on the impressionist and modern American works of art. I also liked their collections of miniature room replicas from various periods and geographical locations. What can I say ? One of the great art galleries in the world...

For dinner, we decided to try a proper Chicago steakhouse - Gibson's steakhouse. The verdict ? Can't say there was anything wrong with the meat as such, but I was still underwhelmed.

The next day, 'twas unfortunately time to pack our bags and leave Chicago. But, we did have a few hours in the morning to kill before that. We decided to start our last day in Chicago in style - with a proper American breakfast at Yolk. Muffins, fried eggs & potatos, bacon, bring it on!

The weather was quite gloomy, so we opted for a museum, rather than yet more walking around. After quick consultation of our Tripadvisor App on our smartphone we decided to check out the Driehaus Museum. A good choice. The museum is located in a historic townhouse of a rich Chicago banker. Rather than an accurate restoration of the old historic house, it's a kind of showcase of the interior design, furniture and tastes of the Art Nouveau era in Chicago. We really liked the place - all in all a pretty informative visit, and a great way to wrap up our Chicago tour.

We felt rather sad to leave (well, we had a few days in New York to look forward to, so no reason to complain I would say). Chicago was a real relevation for us. I would say it's almost as much a must-place to visit as say New York, Paris or London. In short, a world class city that has it all: architecture, parks, great restaurants, culture, sports and a character all of its own. One of those places I could well imagine visiting again, in spite of the rather long flight...