A Milano!

So my work has once again taken me on an international trip, but thankfully this time I was a little closer to home, and more importantly - there was Prosecco aplenty. I jetted off to Milan for 2 nights and 2 heavy days of brainstorming, but despite the limited sleep and surging stress levels, I would take Italy over Saudi any day!

Bobzy and I had a fun 5:30am start to get us to the airport, only to have a flight delay that left us rushing to our meeting. I did manage to order ‘due biglietti per il treno a Milano’ so our journey went as smoothly as can be hoped for. We were obviously very grateful that the Milanese weather had decided to make us feel at home and bucket it down. This meant we turned up at the office wet through, having had no lunch, and more than a little stressed. Thankfully, being Italian, they refused to let us carry on without food lining our stomachs, so we were swiftly taken to a nearby panini shop for ‘the best panini in Milan’. Although it’s a claim I can’t prove or disprove, it was one very tasty panini.

So, fed and watered (in more ways than one) we began the meeting. There was an interesting bunch of creatives round the table, including architects, engineers, technological experience experts (whatever that means) and opera directors. Although we didn’t make that much headway in terms of the task in hand, we did at least come to some sort of agreement and finished our meeting at around 7pm. By this point Bobzy and I were once again very tired and hungry, so were sent back to the hotel to change before being instructed to meet a few of the team for dinner at a nearby location, and we obliged.

Our arrival at dinner was met by a larger than life Italian with glasses that turned out to be fake (apparently they made his face look thinner). He poured us all a glass of Prosecco without asking (we must have looked stressed) and wined and dined us thoroughly. Even at the end of the meal I politely declined a drink but was promptly poured a very large measure of hazelnut liquor. It was like liquid nutella. With alcohol. Yum! It certainly sent me into a much-needed deep sleep.

The next morning was another early rise, a disappointing breakfast, and a long, long day of brainstorming. In the same seat. In the same room. Of the same office. But nevertheless we talked, we scribbled, we argued and we agreed. Mostly in English. Sometimes in Italian. For some reason I felt the need to keep nodding even when I hadn’t understood the last 10 minutes of conversation. I also picked up on some of the sassiness of the Italian creatives ‘Capito! Capito!” I get it already!

When we finally extricated ourselves from the meeting (after everyone else had disappeared an hour or two before!) Bobzy and I once again dolled ourselves up and proceeded to meet Barney - who by some lucky coincidence is now living and working in Milan for 6 months) in a nearby Trattoria of Sicilian origin. The waiters spoke almost no English, found my stunted Italian rather amusing, but plied us with lots of delicious food and wine, making for a most enjoyable evening once again, made even more delightful by the company!

The next morning heralded our last day in Milan as we piled into the airport taxi, weary, not particularly warm and a little worse for wear. Our journey was made the slightest bit more exciting by the fact we were headed to the wrong airport (a fact I only realised 20 minutes in to our journey), but we did eventually make it to the right place, at roughly the right time, and on to the right plane. Thank goodness for that. Arrivederci Milano!