Our sojourn in the French Riviera had drawn to a close and as usual I felt saddened to leave the place as I took pictures of our hotel room like I usually do before we leave. It also hit me that I have only two more nights in Europe. They say you lose track of time when you’re having a good one and with our fantastic itinerary, I had lost count of the dates or the hours. I got so very comfortable in Europe, the way of life here, to the freedom and most importantly in the company of Andrej, I felt right at home.
Our destination for the day was Milan. There was confusion between me and Andrej a few days before about visiting or not visiting Milan as he felt I was hiding something from him by being reluctant to go there. Since I never bothered to check the map of Europe or Italy for that matter, I thought the city was off of our route and I thought it was okay to not go there if this was going to cause any inconvenience for him/us. I was more interested in seeing Venice so I thought one famous Italian city would suffice for this trip. I’m glad we sorted out this “disorder” in time and went along with whatever he had planned for us. On the way, Andrej told me we would stop by at a village that offered an extraordinary view of the Mediterranean Sea and its coastline. I didn’t bother to ask more questions as all the places he had taken me so far were nothing less than astonishing and I had a feeling this place was going to be a memorable as well. The coastline was fairly visible from the highway, the waters were sky blue and every town perched on top of hills by the seaside looked as scenic as could be. We followed the road sign that pointed towards Èze village. It was a long and winding drive up to get to the medieval village. When we finally arrived, I was awestruck like always because I had imagined this “village” to be rural as I know it in my country. The bucolic setting of the place was hard to miss but it had modern amenities such as cafeterias, classy looking shops and luxury hotels. We slowly climbed our way up to the top of the hill. The houses in the village had uniformity in its appearance and were built from a specific kind of rock (I forget the name). The narrow streets had staircases leading to different directions and we were greeted at every level by nice looking restaurants, art shops and homely cafes. Andrej and I checked on the price and were stunned by how expensive the tariffs were in this supposedly medieval village. I figured it must function as another getaway spot for the wealthy to unwind on weekends and such. Even though the village was breathtakingly beautiful and immaculate in its original, the sky-high prices seemed incongruous with the aesthetics of the place. We climbed a bit further to get to the exotic garden for which the village is known. We bought the entry tickets after agreeing it would be worth it to take a look. And we were right. The garden had all types of Mediterranean shrubs with gigantic cacti standing out the most in the landscape. It was obviously a very well-maintained garden with some ruins and structures left untouched. More tourists gathered as we continued to explore the place. The garden offered a stupendous view of the Mediterranean Sea, the coast and its towns. Standing up to its name, the waters were azure in color and in the horizon we could see a boat or two drifting stealthily on the clear blue waters. I was so impressed with Andrej and commended him for his knowledge about so many exotic places. I asked him how he came to know of Èze but all I got was his favorite dialogue, “I’m smart like that!” I wanted to make a face at him but I secretly knew he was right. I thought I had never seen a view this captivating in my life before and couldn’t stop obsessing about the place and told Andrej we should just live here someday or at least come back to visit in the future.
After Èze, we continued on our journey onward to Milan. Andrej informed me that we would be driving pass Monaco and if I was interested in checking it out. My mind was somewhat in a haywire and I became quite overwhelmed by the thought of seeing all these amazing countries, and a city-state state within a day. Monaco looked absolutely stunning even from a distance with its grand looking administrative buildings, harbor full of yachts, extremely leveled roads, fountains and gardens. From the car, Andrej told me the Formula One race was held on the roads itself and tried to show me the markings…Start/finish lines. After parking our car, we decided to explore Monte Carlo and took a stroll down its walkways. We came across fancy cars all lined up outside a hotel and we could see tourists busy taking pictures of the luxury rides. The place indeed looked very refined and as Andrej mentioned to me earlier about the absence of poor people in this city, I too could not imagine any person living here to be poor. As we checked out the yachts docked at the harbor, it became quite apparent that the citizens here must either be very wealthy or that the wealthy come to invest their monies here. Andrej also informed me that the principality had lax tax laws and with its upscale lifestyle and casinos, it reminded me of places like Macau and Mauritius where wealthy people are known to engage in dubious cross-border economic activities, “round-tripping” as it’s called to avoid paying hefty tax and find a way out from disclosing their unaccounted assets to the government. We sat down at a roadside café and ordered our favorite pizza and coca-cola. The pizza was really nice and we were pleasantly surprised to find it wasn’t expensive at all for a place as upscale as Monte Carlo.
We continued to drive towards Milan after this. The non-stop chattering of Italian radio jockeys kept us entertained throughout the journey and before we knew, we were in Milan. Apparently, vehicles are not allowed in the city center and people are required to park their cars on the outskirts of the city, and take the tram or walk on foot. No wonder the city looked so empty and deserted with almost nil traffic. I was getting a little paranoid because Andrej continued to drive on the busy streets despite knowing we weren’t allowed to do that. But he tried to calm me down by either saying, “I can do anything I want,” or, the Italian police are the most chilled and friendly officers so we needn’t worry. I did not want to be a part of this “law-breaking” exercise but stayed on as his partner in crime him anyway. We first went to Piazza del Duomo that houses a group of cultural monuments including the Milan Cathedral. As we entered the Cathedral, we were stopped by a man requesting us to cover our arms (we were both in sleeveless shirts!). This need to observe a “decent” dress code came as an unwelcome surprise because we didn’t face any problems of this nature in France while visiting the cathedrals there and assumed it would not be an issue in Milan either. We debated whether to go back to the car to change our clothes or not. We instead took pictures of the glorious-looking cathedral from outside. There was a shopping arcade in the Piazza and I immediately recognized it from some of the pictures I had seen of friends on facebook. Andrej wondered why it was so popular and saw nothing unique about the place. We walked in anyhow to look around and scout for an Italian jersey for my brother. We did not find the t-shirt but picked up an “Azzurri” scarf instead. We made our way into a bookstore and as expected, every publication was in the Italian language. After spending a few minutes in and around the area, we got back to the car and made our way to Brescia.
Andrej had booked a room for us for the night in a small Italian commune of Brescia. The place’s description read, an “ancient hamlet” and I became all thrilled by the idea because I was looking forward to experiencing a “village life” in Europe at least once during my trip. The place was sleepy, quiet and had an old-world charm. We checked into a pretty looking hotel that we got for a relatively cheaper price. Andrej spoke in Italian effortlessly with the receptionist and I couldn't help but notice how polite and charming he sounded even though I did not understand the language. The bedrooms were cozy with twin beds and the bathroom was spacious. I thought this was the best hotel we had stayed in on our vacation thus far. The location was probably rural for European standards and had hardly any people in the vicinity, but it was far from what one understands as a “village” in India. The man at the reception had recommended a bar/restaurant nearby so we went out immediately after checking into our rooms to grab some authentic Italian grub. As we entered the restaurant, I could feel some eyes on us, mainly old men folks from the village probably wondering where we came from. We took our seats outside in the porch as we looked forward to our Italian dinner. Naturally, Andrej is used to eating classic Italian food as he comes here often to train or compete. He wanted me to eat local food as the locals make it and I thought this was very kind of him. Our waitress was a very energetic and friendly girl and engaged in an animated conversation with Andrej in Italian. Being clueless about what’s on the menu, I let Andrej decide. He explained to me that Italian meals consisted of two main courses so I was already preparing some extra space in my tummy to be able to accommodate both. We ordered for some red wine which too was made locally and tasted like a very fine cabernet. Andrej was drinking at a rather fast pace and I asked him to slow down while he urged me to drink up. First up was spaghetti bolognese for me and Andrej. It was rich and tasted incredible, nothing like the ones I have feasted my heart on before. I tried to eat as much as I could as the serving was pretty big but I also reminded myself that there was another round. The waitress came to collect our empty plates and in no time, brought out our second main course. My roast beef looked dry at first glance but tasted exquisite after I seasoned it with olive oil, pepper and lime. Mosquitoes were starting to feast on my legs but I didn’t care much as I was having too good of a time. After food, we ordered more wine and engaged ourselves in more conversation. I got up from my seat and moved closer to Andrej. In the course of our dinner, I accidentally spilled wine on the table to my utter embarrassment. The waiter made light of the situation and asked me not to worry about it, “happens all the time” he said in his fluent English. Andrej said I was already drunk, I insisted I was tipsy. What’s interesting is that as much as Andrej does not like being labeled a “romantic” guy, I felt if this moment here with him and the place(s) he takes me to are not romantic, I wouldn't know in what other contexts to use that word. The food, the wine, the environment, the night slowly creeping on us and our conversation that ranged from food to dress, from the two of us to our families, from current to future plans whether inane or serious… all added to the beauty and tenderness of the moment. I tried hard to look into his eyes and smile at him every time but I figured I could not do that for too long thinking he might be able to read my private thoughts! And that’s also when I start to giggle like a silly school girl and say stupid nonsense like “I’m laughing because you look funny!” I had such a wonderful time that I wanted the night to never end. Andrej tipped the waiter and we headed back to our hotel room.
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