Ciao from Milano!
The Monday at work proved relatively uneventful, but several things were put into place. The BART ride to SFO was free, and quite crowded.
The flight to Frankfurt was surprisingly calm & steady - possibly even relaxing but for the oddly crying baby (who only ever seemed to cry rhythmically when the entertainment stopped) and the passionate Frenchman arguing about Segalene Royale to his grunted-agreement cohort. Thankfully my glares must have been matched by others, as the flight attendant kindly asked them to stop in their native tongue - and they did.
Plus Side: Film - The Painted Veil ... but I felt cheated on the sex scenes, given the boundaries The Lover reset - perhaps I was on the censored United Airlines version.
Down Side: Paying for the booze on this International Flight ... it's not that I'm a lush, but shelling out another $5 for a red wine with dinner after already shelling out thousands for the flight seems a bit, crass?
The management at Frankfurt was efficient, but confusing. First the bus ride from a gate that was already connected to the terminal. Second, the sorting area with signs that were meaningless. Third, having to use the German Passcontrolle as the port-of-entry to the EU...when there was none in Milano. I can't help finding this altogether confusing, since my last flight had me in a segregated security cordon at Heathrow, and my official port-of-entry was Linate itself.
The flight to Linate was quite wild. I don't know if the bilingual pilot was in a rush against the fading sunlight or had a hot date in Milano or something, but he took off like a bushpilot in the 767 at a very sharp angle (50-60 degrees), took on quite some chop over the Alps, and then landed at an equally sharp angle at Linate. It was quite the parabola experience.
The wedding is tomorrow, and promises to have long bits of standing and sitting...I'll make sure to have my compfy pants and socks. ;-)
The flight to Frankfurt was surprisingly calm & steady - possibly even relaxing but for the oddly crying baby (who only ever seemed to cry rhythmically when the entertainment stopped) and the passionate Frenchman arguing about Segalene Royale to his grunted-agreement cohort. Thankfully my glares must have been matched by others, as the flight attendant kindly asked them to stop in their native tongue - and they did.
Plus Side: Film - The Painted Veil ... but I felt cheated on the sex scenes, given the boundaries The Lover reset - perhaps I was on the censored United Airlines version.
Down Side: Paying for the booze on this International Flight ... it's not that I'm a lush, but shelling out another $5 for a red wine with dinner after already shelling out thousands for the flight seems a bit, crass?
The management at Frankfurt was efficient, but confusing. First the bus ride from a gate that was already connected to the terminal. Second, the sorting area with signs that were meaningless. Third, having to use the German Passcontrolle as the port-of-entry to the EU...when there was none in Milano. I can't help finding this altogether confusing, since my last flight had me in a segregated security cordon at Heathrow, and my official port-of-entry was Linate itself.
The flight to Linate was quite wild. I don't know if the bilingual pilot was in a rush against the fading sunlight or had a hot date in Milano or something, but he took off like a bushpilot in the 767 at a very sharp angle (50-60 degrees), took on quite some chop over the Alps, and then landed at an equally sharp angle at Linate. It was quite the parabola experience.
The wedding is tomorrow, and promises to have long bits of standing and sitting...I'll make sure to have my compfy pants and socks. ;-)