Coming to a Close...

The year (and this blog) is coming to a close... Here are some of my favorite memories of the year and this blog... Focus today on visitors! I had so many visitors to Milan, and we did so much in the city! Some of my visitors even dragged me off to other awesome cities. (I am not saying I fought them!)

Who came to visit:

• Ross came to visit in February. Besides hanging out in the city, we went to Paris and Venice for Carnevale. In Milan we mostly relaxed!


• Esther and Tom stopped in near the end of April. We ate a lot of different foods, visited the Duomo and downtown in general, and headed to Navigli to have really good pizza.


• Miranda came for a long weekend in May, and we really made the most of it! Besides eating lots of good things, we also trekked out to Lake Como and Verona! I had my first visit to the Brera with Miranda.


• Blake came in the middle of May for an artists' symposium. Eating and drinking were again major highlights of the visit, but I also took my first trip up to Lago Maggiore both to see the Borromeo Islands and to enjoy the art show! Blake and I visited Museo del Novocento.




• In June, Gerri, Chris, and Linda came for the FINA World Master's. I entertained them for a couple days in Milan, and helped them head on to Riccione, and then met them there for a few wonderful days at the beach and cheering them on at their highly successful competition.


• Linda came to visit in Italy in September and October. She didn't come to Milano, but I met her for two wonderful weekends, in Venice and in Rome. In Venice, we dined and lived the chic life, while in Rome we did even more sight-seeing! We really romped all over the city.




• Ross, Mark, and Mary came to visit in October. Ross spent nearly a week with me in Milan, while Mark and Mary stayed in Milan then headed to Firenze for a few days. Then we all met in Venice!


• Heather and Konrad stayed a weekend with me in early November. We had a lot of gelato and went to the Science and Technology Museum, the highlight of which was the submarine tour!




• Stan stopped by Milan the weekend after Thanksgiving, and I joined up with him to visit some of his old haunts.


• Finally, my sister came for the first week of December. We headed down to Florence to stay with Heather and Konrad, bought masks in Venice, and celebrated the day of the patron saint of Milan, Sant'Ambroggio!

Well, that's quite a long list of visitors. I didn't realize how lucky I was to have so many guests 'til one of my Germany-living friends told me that I was her first visitor after living for Germany for just over a year. I'm lucky to have so many intrepid friends!