"Fashion Claire"

Italians are known for their style.  Nowhere is this more true than in Milan.

Given I've managed to network my way to hearing about a possible work opportunity on the basis that my shoes are really good (they are good shoes), you know you're in the right office.  Still, I was massively flattered to be complimented on this very simple dress no less than by three different people (male and female).

Yes sunglasses inside, but they were commented on too!

It's a simple white shift dress from Zara, with studs on the collar and down the back.  I wasn't sure about this dress but bought it from the amazing Zara Milan store without trying it on.  Note - usually I'd have gone for the black one hands down, but I still wasn't sure about it the morning I wore it, but as it was so sunny, I thought it was worth wearing.  Glad I did.  It went down v well, people asking where it was from.  I even got called "Fashion Claire" by a particularly stylish associate.  Which I will take and run with as the biggest compliment I may ever have received.

Clique in Torino

MMore visitors! This time, we day-tripped to Turino (oh lovely Torino) and wandered with an associate from work who is lovely (and a friend of his, who was also lovely.  Italians are great *massive stereotype but it's a positive one....*)

Sunday we had brunch at La Cantina della Vetra, which I can only recommend.  We rolled home.  The dessert table was especially good...

Photos of Torino and a generally lovely weekend?  Why not...

Gelato, aperitivo and brunch. And more gelato.

My first visitor to Milan - enter Aislin!  After a slight struggle with the sleeper train, only arriving in Milan a mere 9 hours late (thanks Eurostar for your delayed train, meaning missing the sleeper...), I threw my keys at Aislin at around 3pm and met up with her for dinner.  Weirdly, my first dinner out in Milan.  Friday passed in a day of lunch (bufala con crudo, obvs) and aperitivi (in Corso Sempione and Corso Como).  Saturday, we took a day trip to Lake Como, taking the furnicular up to Brunate for stunning views.  Lunch was in a tiny osteria and we later had gelato whilst sitting on the edge of the lake.  Sunday was brunch at California Bakery (what can I say, I love that place!!) before Aislin had to get on a bus to Linate after an all-too-brief sejour.

Photos are, as ever, included.  Enjoy and don't be too jealous - I understand it was pretty nasty this weekend in London at least.

Mmmm sunny Lago di Como

Antique Aislin

Just hanging at the Lake

Snow in the distance (probably Switzerland)

Epic views

Osteria even had red and white tablecloths

Lake Como

Vintage shots of Como stazione.

Festa della Liberazione

WHOA there.  After several years of using Blogger, Gmail changes and then Blogger does too?  I apologise if the formatting of this post is therefore somewhat strange.

I feel, currently, like it is a Sunday evening.  The very good reason for this is the Italian concept of a mid-week Bank Holiday.  Some of Italy's Bank Holidays are on specific dates, meaning that if it falls on a weekend, you don't get the day off, but if it's mid-week, hello mid-week mini-break.  Today, 25 April, is taken as the anniversary of the Liberation of Italy, when the Nazi army left Northern Italy.  Hence, there were several Communist demonstrations around the Duomo.  How this makes sense, I don't really know (last time I checked, not being a right-wing fascist doesn't automatically make one a Communist) but this isn't my country.

ANYWAY, I celebrated the day by firstly getting up late after a terrible night's sleep, then choosing to wear a red dress (I couldn't quite get green and white in as well), followed by icecream at Grom for a secondee's birthday, exploring bookshops, sitting in bookshop caffès reading the Sex and the City novel in Italian (awesome - it's quite easy, and surely it's useful vocab?) and then going for aperitivo at Bar Bianco and on the Corso Sempione with a friend from uni.   The aim of getting to know different types of Prosecco and discovering the best has fallen by the wayside since I discovered the Aperol Spritz.  Best early evening drink ever.

Aislin is arriving tomorrow - she was supposed to be taking the sleeper train from Paris to Milan, but unfortunately her Eurostar was delayed, meaning she missed it.  Damn you Eurostar!!  So she's in Paris and will be arriving tomorrow around 3pm.  Must check train station!!

Regarding the level of Italian, things continue to improve.  I'm certainly speaking it more in the office (I think people have realised that I tend to understand the gist and can also read/write it relatively well) and I spent a whole Italian lesson basically talking in a monologue about York, what there is to do there, why I went to a sixth form college, what I studied, etc.   Quite proud of myself, actually.  Shame my tongue hurt at the end of it, think it's the shapes that the words form.  Also a shame my accent is still shockingly bad.

To finish, I attach a mini-montage of my outfit below.   Ciao ciao.

An expensive weekend

Can I say "un weekend caro"? One mobile phone, one food shop, one general Zara visit, one brunch, one visit to Biffi boutique (OH MY - thanks for nothing, @Acnestudios for tweeting me about this place)... oh well, at least I have pretty things to show for it and it was an excellent weekend. Which I keep having....

Sensible purchases - both cream, both studded... And flat-ish shoes too

Lovely lace back t-shirt - molto Milanese

By the end, the saleswoman had me down. Lovely jumper.

PS I've started a Tumblr, mostly for photos and quotations, partly in Italian. It's called Fuoco e Elettricità (Fire and Electricity) and can be found here.

It's like being a teenager again

It has been many years (since approx 2nd year at university, so since I was 19) since I have owned a pay as you go phone. It has also been a long time since I've texted using the actual buttons and not using an iPhone/Blackberry. Nevertheless, today, I managed to purchase a Vodafone PAYG Nokia phone, which for topping up €5 per month should give me unlimited texts. Bravo Vodafone. Of course, my rudimentary Italian may not be functioning and I may have to pay more like €5 every time I want to text someone. But hopefully not. Please email/message me if you want the number.

In other news this week, I was planning on going to Venice for the day on Sunday, but as there are train strikes and the trains will thus be somewhat more temperamental than usual, I have decided not to risk it and perhaps go on 25 April (public holiday FTW). Instead, I am probably meeting up with a couple of the secondees for brunch in the Navigli. Today, I feel like I've achieved a sufficiently large amount to continue (doing both a phone shop and a food shop) but I'm planning on: a) going shopping; b) meeting up with a person for conversation exchange; and c) going out for dinner, alone, because I've yet to go to any restaurants for dinner!!

Last night I made it out for drinks with one of the secondees. It's the middle of the Salone di Mobile (sp?) festival here in Milan, so it was somewhat more crowded than usual. I was asked for directions three times. Twice in Italian, once in a mixture of Italian and English (by a French chappie from Paris, who asked where I was from, and then was like "but WHYYYYY did you leave London?!?").

Allora, vado al centro di Milano. Ciao ciao!

A softer side to the city

A follow-up to the previous post, this post shows some of the less hard elements of Milan. I'm afraid I've not got a huge amount to add...

Globe upon globe - Via Canonica

Italy and the EU - Via della Moscova

Fabulous uniform - Via della Moscova

"Nothing new" - Via Canonica