I get my workout on while BW has breakfast with two pretty ladies, Kayla and Lauren. Jason and Griffin, who are just down the hall, come to hang out while the intrepid Kat takes the subway to a yarn store she discovered. Colt and Logan sleep in awhile.

After a big breakfast BW’s not interested in shopping or lunch. Griffin wants to build some Minecraft. The rest of us head out to shop.

Logan needs some summer duds. This heat requires the cool.

Kayla is our navigator and doesn’t steer us wrong. Before too long we hit a store with a big men’s department, basement level. And they’re having a major sale. Yay! I have a pretty good sense of Logan’s style, and naturally Lauren does. So does Kayla. And Logan knows Logan. Colt wanders around, then finds a chair.

The issue is Logan’s size. He’s long and extra lean, but we start loading up. And off to the dressing room he goes.

I find another pair of pants, easy-breezy, and holding them up see they strike as Colt size. Take them over. You like? He does, and goes to try them on. They work. Now Kayla and I determine we must find a shirt for him. I see this sort of pale tangerine, ask if he likes. He hesitates. I assure him he can say no. He says no. We find another he does like.

Upstairs for the girls to poke around before we check out. After a hunt, Lauren finds a bathing suit. I grab two cloth totes to handle our scores. Check out’s interesting with the language barrier. She keeps asking me questions in Italian, and I look helpless and smile.

One bag for each manly man to haul.

Kayla navigates us to The Duomo. Hard to miss its enormous magnificence.

Crowds of people here, and swarms of hopeful pigeons. Across the street, someone plays a violin, and the music just soars in the air. There’s actually the occasional fluttering breeze under the white, baking sun. Like good tourists we take lots of pictures before our short hike to our lunch spot. And we’re right on our designated one o’clock time for it.

In the same timely fashion Kat and Griffin show up. Kat is riding on her exclusive to Italy linen yarn discovery. But pizza is the name of the game here. Little do we know when we order these are not the more personal size deals, but full size. We barely have room on the table for the many pies. Fortunately, they’re very, very thin crusts, and we’re hungry. Serious damage is done by the time BW and Jason arrive.

After lunch, and on the way to our tour of The Duomo, the girls find a stand that sells pretty fans. We hike back to The Duomo, and since we’ve pre-purchased our tickets, are directed around, and around, and around the back where there’s no line waiting in the blistering sun. Kat fans the poor guy standing in that sun checking tickets. He is grateful.

In we go, and because they’re small, into separate elevators to the first rooftop level. Stunning views, and the sheer stunning glory of every line, all the peaks, the multitude of statues. Hardly a wonder it took centuries to build. We wander, take pictures. Griffin gets in on the take pictures game. Through narrow archways, under spires with various saints and the occasional gargoyle looking down at us. And up to the second level for more. Find a little shade and sit on sloped stone slabs.

Another level is 90 steps up. BW is much, much better than last year, before his surgery, but 90 steps is just no for him. He heads back to the elevator, and the rest of us climb. And climb. And climb.

Whew!!

But as Griffin says to me: Worth it. Milan’s all spread out far below, and there are all the carved figures no one sees unless they’re up here. What a wonder of craftsmanship, long, long vision and dedication.

And down we go. Down endlessly on curved and narrow stone steps. Down again, and down some more. And how about down more yet? Holy crap, not there yet.

Finally, breathlessly, in the church, all that magnificent stained glass and dark wood. Kat goes to fetch BW, and I sit awhile with Griffin. Don’t mind sitting a bit! Dig out some Euro coins so Colt and Kayla can light candles. Wander to look at the main altar, the smaller ones, the soaring ceiling.

And when we’re done, Kat leads the way to the subway that’ll save us a quarter mile walk in the heat. We buy water and drink like camels.

In the subway, Kat helps a mother and son who can’t figure out how to buy their tickets. And ends up just buying them, because she’s Kat. Meanwhile Jason is talking to two guys, and it turns out directing them to the right train. As Kayla points out, both Kat and Jason look like they know things, and look kind.

Both are true.

A ride back on the crowded car takes us steps from our hotel, where wilted, we all head to our rooms to clean up and decompress before dinner.

I hear music, singing. And I go to the window, out to the balcony to see a busker beside the fruit stand below. American songs. Including Hotel California. If I’d been down there, he’d have some coin in his box from me.

Logan opts out of dinner, too much sun, but sharp at seven, the rest of us are seated under pretty fairy lights, surrounded by big windows. A bottle of Pino Grigio for Lauren, Kayla and me, and it’s very, very good. I order the sea bass, and since they’ve already brought Griffin some fries and grilled chicken, I want some fries, too.

Our server is simply lovely. She might as well have read our minds before we spoke. My fish is downright fabulous. Lauren, the very good girlfriend, orders some dinner for Logan and runs it up to him. It’s a wonderful family minus one meal, start to finish. And the finish is dessert. Kayla highly recommends the cappuccino, and since she’s on her sixth of the trip, I take her word. Both that and my baba are perfect. My pretty little cake is served with berries so fresh they might as well still be on the bush.

Now I wish I had 90 steps to climb as I’m so, so full.

In bed and conked by ten.

I need that workout this morning. Then the girls are shopping. We have a couple destinations in mind for our last full day in Milan. And dinner plans a subway stop or two away.

Nora

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