I thought I would follow up on my trip to Italy. The purpose of the trip was primarily business, but Pam Turner and I managed to add on a few days at the beginning to take in the sights of Milan, visit Lake Guarda and a drive to Mantova.
After leaving the car with at valet parking, it was a relatively short journey and despite a fairly long delay we eventually arrived at Milan Malpensa at 9:00pm, three hours later than expected. The Italians are known for their attention to detail and fashion sense; even the Easyjet staff definitely looked more stylish than their UK based counterparts.
There were some adventurous times during our 5-day stay. We braved the hectic Italian motorways and took a few wrong turns along the way (sometimes TomTom is rubbish) but eventually arrived in one piece at the Air Hotel Linate. Unfortunately the delay meant all that was left at the hotel restaurant was limited fare. Certainly more unfortunate was the nightclub situated beneath our rooms. The bassline of dodgy Italian techno reverberated through the floor and kept us both awake until 3.30am. After a day of soaking in the sights of Milan and Lake Garda, we arrived at our hotel in Pergognaga (Hotel Ristorante Novecento) where we were greeted with the glowing Italian welcome we’d come to expect. [/caption] From a business point of view, the trip was a successful one.
The hospitality was amazing and we were given a full tour of the production facility before starting work. After two long days, the other visitors went home and Pam and I spent a final night in Suzzara before heading back to the airport on Wednesday morning. One thing I learned from queuing at the airport is that Italian people do NOT know how to form a line. It is the strangest thing. The people are great, but if you leave any space between you and the people around you someone will come in and stand in front of you. Anyway, I’m sure I could go on and on about stuff we did on the trip but I’m sure you have other more interesting things to do 🙂