Kitty’s Place

Date created: 2001-05-20 17:54:57

It is 4 years since I started journaling online. Then it was something I had to do after I spoke with my dad for the last time. I thought of him a lot on Saturday and wished he could have lived long enough to come here and see that the kidlet and I are happy and settled in Sweden.

When I started journaling I never thought I would stick with it but 4 years later here I am. I wonder where life will have taken us in another 4 years. *smile*

I love the tune the ice cream truck plays. It makes me want to run out and buy something. *laugh*

Friday my fellow took the kidlet to drive a go cart (is that one word?) He really liked it a lot. So they did have a fun day together.

Saturday I got up early, picked up the stuff to make couscous salad for my fellow’s sister’s birthday party. She turned 18. We went over a bit before 1300 and had a lovely time. It was a small group and everyone had fun. She got some great gifts. The one I thought was coolest was a little key ring watch that looks like a cell phone. I bought her a cute purse in Milan and also a Prada wallet. It was a bit of an extravagance but I think that when you turn 18 you should get something special and something of good quality. She seemed to like both. LL made her a necklace and he bought her two bracelets and a unicorn keyring. He made her a really nice card as well. It seems I never have time to do any crafts but the kidlet makes up for that. *laugh*

We came home and watched the Eurovision contest. The kidlet fell asleep in the first half hour. He actually fell asleep before it started but woke up for chips and dip and then crashed again.

Sunday I did housework. Cleaned bathrooms, caught up dishes, stripped beds, vacuumed and did laundry. I was done at 1900 and then my fellows came and picked me up and we ate pizza at farmor and farfar’s. They had been out working on our car for the afternoon. I stayed up way too late working on homework but I got to watch Desperate Housewives so it was worth it. *laugh*

Today I did a presentation in math and worked more on the interview report. I finished it when I got home and sent it off to another woman from our group to polish it up. We picked the kidlet up at 1230 and came home. Then they went off to work more on the car and I did more laundry, this time I washed all the large and small throw rugs. I managed to get all the pictures for my presentation on churches in Milan resized and uploaded to the school server. I have them in a word document and have started writing out the accompanying swedish text. That is the hard part. *laugh* My fellow got his new glasses today. He is to wear them when he is at the computer. I looked into the living room while I was making dinner and the two of them looked so cute, father and son, side by side, in front of laptops with their glasses on. *smile* He is still not feeling well and I so hope the glasses help.

Day 3:

We were up early, showered, ate and were on a charter bus by 0815. Our first stop was Crespi D’adda. It is a worker’s village that was built in the late 1800’s. I thought the layout of the village was interesting and the architecture was interesting as well. The village church was very orthodox and really fabulous to look at.

Next stop was Verona. What an absolutely lovely city! Marble everywhere, painted walls, beautiful buildings. I was just in awe of so many things we saw there. Our first stop was the amphitheatre. We ate our picnic lunch there. I was not as impressed with it as I was with the one in Athens but perhaps that was because they were in the middle of dismantling a production and there was so much stuff laying about that it detracted from the beauty of the structure itself. From there we did a small walking tour that included seeing Dante’s statue and Juliet’s balcony. We walked along the canal, looked at bridges and churches and lots of lovely faded murals on walls. We bought ice cream and ate it as we strolled. Saw lots of men selling fake Gucci stuff. Eventually we ended up at an outdoor market and I bought a few souvenirs. It also bought myself a gift, a black purse with a cat face painted on it. It is not any designer thing, not even Italian, just something that I liked. *laugh* After shopping we went to a cafe and had cappuccino. The main draw of the cafe for some of the women was that it had “real” bathrooms. It even had those disposable paper seat covers, an improvement from the hostel that even lacked the seats. *laugh*

Sirmione was our last stop of the day. A spa resort, it was a tourist paradise. Lots of tiny shops to look in, stunning architecture to ooh and aah over, a pier to walk on and enjoy the water. There were signs of wealth everywhere, mostly in the cars parked or driving slowly through the tiny streets. We ate dinner there, pizza at a little outdoor restaurant. The pizza was 35 crowns, the specialty coffee I had was 75 crowns. *laugh* I did more shopping there and then it was time to head to the bus and back to Milan. We got back to the hostel about 2200. One of the lovely parts of the day was that we passed orchards and vineyards and it felt like home. We even saw a small winery.

Day 4:

We slept late! We got up at 0800 and it felt like a great luxury. *laugh* We showered, ate and headed back to Castello Sforzesco, this time to see the museums it houses. It was not well organized however. We were q group of 39 with varied interests and 12 museums to choose from. So the logical thing would have been for them to issue 39 tickets. But they “couldn’t” do that. Instead we got group tickets that meant we had to follow one of the teachers who had a ticket and hope we ended up where we wanted to go. I followed a group heading in the direction that the arrows indicated was the ‘treasury’. We followed signs across the courtyard, walked up 109 stairs and came to the fashion museum. We looked through it and it was quite lovely. Then we asked about the musical instrument and were told to go down one floor. There we were told it was closed even though we could see people in there. Finally after descending two more floors we found someone who spoke enough english to explain that we had come to the exit doors of this group of museums. He came down with us and directed us to the entrance that was nowhere near where the signs seemed to indicate. *laugh* The next museum we got to was an egyptian one and even there we had some confusion about us going in with the group ticket.

At that point I decided I had had enough. *laugh* I was very tired and confused about where the couple of musuems that actually interested me might be located, so instead of hunting in frustration I went out to the park and sat in the sun and wrote out postcards. It was a lovely, quiet, relaxing couple of hours. I also finished souvenir shopping there. When eve
ryone was done in the castle, we broke into groups and went for lunch. After lunch we walked back to Duomo and on the way we took in the beauty of Piazza Mercanti and Palazzo Reale. At 1400 my group met up with Birgitta in front of Duomo. She is a swedish woman who moved to Milan in 1969. We interviewed her over fika on the top floor of DKNY (I hope that was the name of the store *laugh*), that looks out onto the roof of Duomo. This was the second of my assignments in Milan. It was interesting to hear her story of how she ended up in Italy and the similarities and differences with Sweden. After the interview we went back to the hostel and I finished writing postcards and relaxed for a couple hours before dinner.

At 1915 we met up in the lobby and headed back to Duomo where we met with the rest of our group. We walked from there to Sans Egal for our only meal together as a group. 3 of the young men did not make it to dinner and I heard rumours it was due to overindulgence during the afternoon. *laugh* Dinner was nice, the food was good and the wait staff were fun. There was a lot of singing, not an unusual thing with swedes decide to toast each other, but after hearing us sing, the staff were talked into singing us an italian song of the same type. *laugh* I had a main course of baked smoked cheese of some sort. It was very good and the taste made me think of the smoked whitefish I used to buy at the farmers market when we lived in Welland. That night I had wine with dinner, but since it was one glass, I did not suffer the pain that many of the younger students who frequented night clubs every night, felt. *laugh* It was close to midnight when we got back to the hostel and by that time of night the lone “lady of the night” we had seen on previous evenings, had friends on the other street corners.

Day 5:

Our final day in Milan was a free day. We had to check out before 0930 and we left our baggage in a baggage room at the hostel. After a shower and breakfast, we checked out and then everyone broke into little groups and we did our own thing. I headed back to Duomo with Cyndy. We walked around the cathedral and checked out little streets around it. We saw a quaint little church tucked into a corner and snapped a picture of a pretty fountain. I needed stamps so we made our way to the main post office, only to discover they did not sell stamps. We were directed to another post office building around the corner where we bought 30 stamps, “licked and sticked” them and mailed off my postcards. We ate lunch in a little cafe and I shopped at Prada in the Galleria. Then we went up on to the roof of the Cathedral. It was breathtaking. I am terrified of heights but the only time it bothered me was walking down stairs, even though they were totally enclosed. *laugh* I can’t even begin to describe the beauty of the spires and the intricate detail of every column and statue. I think that roof excursion was the high point of the vacation.

We all met back at the hostel at 1600, gathered our luggage and headed by subway back Central Station. This time we were early enough to take a few minutes and go in and see it in all it’s splendor. It is really an impressive building. We took a bus from there back to Bergamo. The bus was late leaving which meant we were late checking in and I was actually the second last person to get on the plane. We left Bergamo at 2030 and everyone was exhausted. I actually forgot my swedish and my russian classmate had the same problem, so at times our conversation was really funny. *laugh* We got to Skavsta at 2300 and then had a charter bus for our trip home. It made various stops on the way and I got off the centrum and walked the 3 minutes home at 0200. *laugh* My fellow was awake when I got here, I had something to eat and crashed. Vacation was done. *laugh*

Ponderings:

Milan is a very tourist driven city and english is the “international” language most often used with tourists there. I was very surprised how little english many of the people at tourist places had. I guess it is that here in Sweden so many people speak english so fluently, I expect the same level of fluency in other places. I loved the elderly woman in Crespi D’adda that I bought post cards from. She gave me a lesson in italian while ringing up my purchase and making change.

I had read that italian people appreciate when tourist attempt to speak their language so I took along a swedish italian dictionary/phrase book. However I have become so programmed to speak swedish in stores etc. that even though I was thinking in english and occasionally even the correct italian word, when I opened my mouth, swedish fell out. *laugh*

Day 1:

Monday the 9th was not much of a day in Milan. I left home a little after noon, took the train to Stockholm with a group of classmates and when we were all gathered together we took a bus to Skavsta airport, a 90 minute trip. We were in the check in line before it was even open, so our group got the priority seating, although I was number 65, the last of the priority boarding passes. We flew out from Sweden at 1730 and arrived in Bergamo Italy at 2000. The italian man who sat next to me was correcting some document and he fell asleep sitting upright with his pen hovering over the page. I guess it was not an exciting read. *laugh* From there it was an hour long bus trip to Central Station in Milan. There we waited while the teachers went and bought bus tickets (a single trip pass cost 10 crowns and a 2 day card was 55 crowns) and then we stood at the city bus stop and waited for a bus, 39 tourists, each with a suitcase and a backpack. Needless to say we did not all fit on the bus, which was rather full already when it arrived at the bus stop. *laugh* Those of us who did not manage to squeeze onboard headed down to the subway instead and took the train to the youth hostel we were staying at. It was close to 11 pm when we finally got settled into our rooms. I was in a room with 5 other women all of whom I knew and liked so it was a very non stressed week in our room. *laugh* The room had 3 sets of bunk beds, a window that did not close and no lock on the door. We did get a lock to put on a locker outside the room and locked up our belongings there during the day. We all fell asleep very quickly that night. *laugh*

Day 2:

We were up at 0700 so we could all shower and eat breakfast before we all met up at 0900 to head into the city for a guided tour. The common bathroom was interesting. There were 4 toilet stalls and the toilets were 12 inches high and had no toilets seats on them. There were 6 showers which did have shower curtains and then there were a dozen sinks with mirrors over that were made for people much taller than my 5 feet. *laugh* On the up side there was always hot water no matter what time of day you showered and it was kept clean. The cafeteria where we had breakfast was plain and functional and the breakfast fare was plain but plentiful. Once everyone was ready to leave, we each got a 2 day metro pass and headed for the subway. We went to Duomo and as I said in a previous post it was just unbelievable to step out of the subway station to the street and be met by the most awesome building I have ever seen, the Cathedral.

We met our tour guide there, a nice italian man who lived in Sweden for 18 months to learn the language and spoke in such clear and understandable swedish that I thoroughly enjoyed the whole tour with him. The last time I did a guided tour in swedish was at the Cathedral here in Uppsala and the guide used such obscure words that even the swedes in the group got frustrated with her. *laugh* We started the tour in Duomo and I took notes to use for our Milan assignment for school (this was after all a study vacation *laugh*). The church was impressive inside as well and since it took 600 years to complete it, there was a lot of history to hear.

Next stop on the tour was Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. This shopping centre was lovely. In the centre, under a spectacular glass dome, you find splendid mosaic tile pictures on the floor. The four corners of shops in the centre are Louis Vuitton, Bernasconi, Prada and McDonalds. *laugh* Above those shops are 4 lovely murals that depict Europe, Asia, North America and Africa. I could have stayed there for hours just soaking in details. But of course the tour moved on.

From the galleria we headed to La Scala Opera House. It was closed for extensive renovations in 2001 and just recently reopened. We saw it from the outside only and also saw the statue of Leonardo da Vinci that stands in the middle of Piazza La Scala.

The final stop on the tour was Castello Sforzesco, a magnificent fortress that houses 12 museums and a beautiful public park in the middle. I bought postcards there after the tour was over and strolled a bit in the park. Then the tour guide said that he was heading back to Duomo and if we wanted to follow along he would show us reasonable places to eat. So we went to lunch at a restaurant that was cafeteria style, had good food, good prices and was obviously popular because over the course of an hour, the line moved quickly but never diminished in size.

Once the tour was completed we were free to go where we wished the rest of the day, as long as we travelled with at least one other of our group. I headed out with some of the women I was rooming with and we saw lots of interesting architecture and lovely roof and balcony gardens. We went first to the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio one of three romanesque churches in Milan. The museum there has some impressive treasure but it was closed to viewing the day we were there. The church was founded by Aurelius Ambrosius (St Ambrose) and his remains can be seen in a crypt under the main alter, along with those of two martyrs.

The next church was San Lorenzo Maggiore, another romanesque church. This church has 16 Corinthian columns in front of it and they in themselves were marvelous to see. Inside was a bit plain, although we did see a statue dedicated to St Lucia. There are stunning 5th century mosaics in a section of the church that was a pay to enter area. I had no problem with the paying but just in front of us was a large group of rowdy school children who were so loud that we could hear them at the other end of the church, so we went on with our walking tour of the city.

The third of the romanesque churches we saw Tuesday was Sant’Eustorgio Church. The most notable fact about this church was that at one time it supposedly housed the remains of the three magi.

We also saw Santa Maria delle Grazie from the outside. This church is where da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’ can be seen. Because of the popularity of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, demand to see this painting is great, so while our trip planners were assured last year when they contacted the church that there would be no problem getting tickets when we arrived in Milan, we actually only got 4 so a lottery was held and 4 lucky students did get to see it.

We had enough of churches at that point and headed to Navigli Canal District. We strolled for a couple of hours, peeking into courtyards and shop windows. I had to go in to the huge Hello Kitty store we saw on one corner. *laugh* We also Murphy’s Pub and I said I am sure I have seen one of those in every big city I have ever been in. *laugh* We eventually found a little corner store and bought stuff to make a picnic lunch to take with Wednesday. I bought kindereggs for the kidlet there. They were cool. Instead of a chocolate egg with a toy in the middle, this one opened into two halves and in one was layered chocolate with two chocolate covered hazelnuts and the other side had the toy. A final stop at a bakery where we bought dinner (I got pizza) to take away and then we took the subway back to the hostel. It was 1900 when we got back there, a very long day of walking about. We chatted, ate, showered and went to bed about 2230. Some of the women went out and looked for a grocery store and found a big one where they wandered the aisles for a long while. *laugh*

Day 3 will follow.

I cannot believe it is already Friday. This week has just flown by.

Monday was a not too very busy day at school.

Tuesday was fun because a number of us uploaded our Italy pics to the school server and there were several hundred to look at.

Wednesday the kidlet went on a class trip to the castle at Rosersberg. My fellow had his CT scan Wednesday afternoon.

Thursday the kidlet had an appointment with the speech therapist and my fellow had rashes on his hands and feet from a reaction to the dye used in the scan. The speech therapist was thrilled with LL’s progress and said we can call her in 6 months and decide then if he needs another appointment or not. There is a marked difference in his speech since he first saw her a year ago. We went to Sollentuna this time, since the speech therapist had moved to a new hospital. So of course we had to go to Sollentuna centrum and shop some. Tiimari had a 50 - 70% off everything sale in progress so we got supplies for the kidlet to make a birthday card for his aunt, who will be 18 tomorrow. We also checked out the toy store and the kidlet got some hand rolled chocolate truffles that he has been eyeing up for a while. It was a fun afternoon.

Today I did a book report in swedish class. I also had a presentation to do but we ran out of time so I will do mine next week. The ones we did have today were very interesting. One of my classmates made up a list of books for summer reading. All are books written by immigrants to Sweden. The kidlet stayed home from fritids today so I got to take one bus to and from school, no switching. What a treat that was. *laugh* He and pappa are not here and I have no clue where they might be, but I hope they are having fun.

I am home, it has been an action packed week. *laugh* Once I organize my photos and the paper journal entries I made while in Milan, I will do a travel post.

It was lots of fun, we were 39 total, 35 students ranging in age from 19 to 47 and 4 teachers. Everything went very smoothly, everyone seemed to be having fun. I didn’t know so much about Milan before this trip so there was a lot to surprise me. I expected some wonderful architecture but nothing could have prepared me for this! It was just too much for someone to take in in one visit. *laugh*

I got in last night about 0145. The bus dropped me at the centrum and I called Ibo as I made the 3 minute walk home. It was so nice to get here, have a shower, a snack and go to sleep in my own bed. It was nice to see Ibo too of course. *laugh*

Today I slept late, did laundry and have been a bit zombie-like. Hopefully tomorrow will be better and I can make a sensible holiday post. In the interim I will say that we landed in Bergamo around 2000 and took a bus in to Milan. It dropped us at Central Station but between the darkness and tiredness from flying, I could not appreciate it all. We all waited at the bus but of course we did not all fit, so a group of took the subway after the full bus left. So I never saw any of the city really until Tuesday. Tuesday was spent in Milan, Wednesday we went to Verona, Thursday was Milan again and we each did our assigned project that day, Friday was a free day and we flew out at 2035. This time it was 1700 when we got to Central Station and we had a few minutes to go in and see it. I am so glad because it really is lovely. Every day was packed full and we were up early and back late. I don’t remember being so tired when I went on a school trip to Athens, but I was 18 then, maybe that is the difference. *laugh*

The kidlet went with his school on Wednesday to a competition in Stockholm and they won. He got a cute little cap.

The kidlet went to the circus on Friday with farfar. He came home with tales of seeing a whale dancing with a man. Pappa eventually convinced him it was a sea lion, not a whale. *laugh*

Saturday he was off to a birthday party, after a dash to the mall for a gift. He got a haircut while he was there and it looks cute.

Sunday we went to Arlanda so I could exchange currency. I got Euros for my trip, LL got McDonalds for lunch. Pappa got to watch his Formula 1 race in peace. So everyone won. *laugh* I called and talked to Grandma and Aunt Maud, since it was Mothers Day in Canada. Both are well and got to talk to LL for a bit.

This morning I have finished packing and am all ready to leave at 1215. I have butterflies in my stomach from being so excited. LL did not appear too upset that I am off for 5 days, he asked this morning if I could please extend it to 6. *laugh*

I have a postcard list packed and hopefully will manage to get them all sent off early. We have free time Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Now it is time to practice my lone Italian word: ciao. *laugh*

So Wednesday our substitute teacher for math was ill. The course co-ordinator told us to go ahead and do our presentations to each other and then write a little review on each of them. After that was done we had coffee and then I came home and cleaned. I picked the kidlet up at his friends house at 1500 and we went straight to swimming lessons. It was a bit of a busy day, not exactly what I was planning on. *laugh*

Yesterday was a red day, Ascension Day. We didn’t do much at all. Slept in, lazed about and went over to my fellow’s parents to pick up the kidlet’s knapsack. We had dinner there and got home about 1930. Pappa read to the kidlet and tucked him in. Then we watched the South Park movie.

This morning after breakfast I put the dishwasher on and then went off to ICA Maxi and grocery shopped. My fellow picked us up when we were done and once I got the groceries put away, it was laundry time. In between trips to the laundry room, I helped the kidlet clean his room. He was done in time to have dinner and go off to the circus with farfar. I finished laundry and started packing for Italy. I want to check how much my stuff will weigh, because the new suitcase is 5 kg empty. *laugh* I stripped beds and remade them, ran the vacuum and just had a cup of coffee. I have some mending to do and some ironing. But that is it for today. While I was cleaning up here I emptied out the kidlet’s knapsack and discovered he is invited to a birthday party tomorrow. So we will have to go and buy a gift after I finish washing the towels and bedding tomorrow, I have laundry time at 7 am. I need to make a trip to the airport as well and get euros for the trip. I have to admit I am getting really excited now, but I feel bad for Ibo, because he is still feeling ill and he will be here on his own with the kidlet for the week. I am sure they will survive though.

It is forever since I updated. Life has rolled along in the interim of course. *laugh*

We did our Africa presentation last Tuesday and it went very well. Wednesday all 3 of us did our little presentations in math class and that went well also. Thursday and Friday were self study days and I kept LL home as well. We had a fun day in Stockholm on Thursday, went in to the city in the morning after I dropped a bunch of flyers into mailslots for my fellow. I knew he had something up his sleeve when he asked me earlier in the week if I wanted to get involved in politics. I didn’t really pay attention at the time but later in the day I realized it was his way of asking if I would do the flyers he had here, since he was not up to it and they needed to be delivered. *laugh* So LL and I took the train to Stockholm, went to MAX for lunch and then hit Clas Ohlson and BR Leksaker. Clas Ohlson had 1 kg of marbles for 19 SEK, so we got two containers full, then we bought more specific marbles at BR Leksaker and I ended up carrying 3.5 kg of marbles home. *laugh* It was a fun day for us, not so fun for poor pappa who was still feeling dizzy and ill.

Friday we slept in and then I took LL to school for 1230, so he could see the school nurse for a check up. After that we waited until his friend was done with his checkup and then they both came back here and played for a few hours. I am sure Ibo was not too impressed, but really the boys were very good and I know they had fun.

Saturday we went to Sollentuna to a flea market that was mentioned on LIS. I went in search of english language kid books, we came home with games, stuffed animals, a musical keyboard, swedish kids books and two books for mom. On our way home we stopped at the library so I could get some research material for the presentation on Gustav Vasa I will be doing in a couple of weeks. Saturday was Valborg and we of course went to the bonfire. It was not nearly as cold as past years and didn’t rain either. Ibo’s dad came here and we all walked over to the carnival about 2030. The kidlet went on a couple rides and then we walked over to where the group who would light the bonfire were gathering. This year my fellow put the kidlet into the line and I got conscripted as well. So we lit torches and then at 2130 we all marched to the waiting pile of wood and lit the fire. After it was roaring we went back to the carnival and the kidlet went on a few more rides and then we watched fireworks. I love that these things take place in a meadow so close to where we live. It was after 2300 when the kidlet got to bed.

Sunday was of course May 1st celebrations. In Sweden May 1st is Labour Day. It is a big political day and of course my fellow was out to do his thing even though he was still not feeling well. There were festivities across from the centrum, a number of speakers, kids games, balloons, hot dogs, coffee and lots of red since the social democrats are the party in power here. *laugh* One of the speakers was really interesting and I listened closely to him, while my fellow and the kidlet manned a kids game. It was a 3 hour deal for my fellow and I was glad that was it, he was much to pale and feverish by the time it was over. I don’t blame him for wanting to be on hand, he was busy with the planning of this for weeks, but I do worry over him.

Monday was not too busy at school, we had a meeting about our trip to Milan, I can’t beleive it is less than a week away. After lunch I headed to St: Gertrud’s school for a very important ceremony, the awarding of a green flag. St: G’s and Rävsta are the first schools in our kommun to win the flag and they did it by learning about and working towards protecting the environment. The english text about it this is here. By the time we got home I was in the grip of a full blown migraine, something I had been keeping at bay all weekend. I took some pills for it and went to bed at 1530, thinking I would just rest a bit
. I woke at 0530 to a little voice saying “mom, I can’t sleep”. The 14 hour nap did knock the headache back at least. *laugh*

Today we had the rest of the presentations in our history/social studies class. I picked up the kidlet and we came home to a very tired pappa. I know the doctor said two weeks but I sure wish he would be feeling better now. He is still feverish off and on, dizzy and pale. He went to sleep at 1830. One good thing was that all the bloodwork they took from his came back normal.

Tomorrow we have morning classes only, then I don’t have school again until May 17th. We have a four day weekend and then Monday we fly to Milan. We will be back late Friday (well the wee hours of the morning on Saturday to be exact) and then we have the following Monday off as a rest day after our study vacation. I keep thinking how much I will miss my fellows but I also keep thinking how fun it will be. *laugh*