Bambini

First impressions in Milan: trash all over the streets but such a pleasant melissa smell when we crossed some meadows.

We were surprised to find a kids festival all over the courtyards of the magnificent fortress ‚Castello Sforzesco‘ – all for free.

In one courtyard, there were scientific games, in another crafting activities like building a catapult or a crossbow, painting pottery. Our girls decided on weaving a bracelet.

On a big meadow, wooden games, advertised as ancient, were set up, reminding us of Spielemobil on Neckarwiese. On a stage, you could watch a magic or a scientific show, reminding us of Explore Science in Luisenpark.

A treasure hunt for collecting stampers in our map, lead us all over the courtyards and around the castle walls. In the end, the price was „just“ a paper castle to build.

We walked a bit through the big shopping streets of Milan and got some very tasty ice-cream. We were very impressed by the dome. In the city, there were many street artists: singers, guitar players, living staues. 

Two acrobatics drew many people‘s attention by loud pop music and by calling to cheer for them. Their flips, handstands, splits, and summersaults were impressive but they also really knew how to turn their performance into a big show where people felt obliged to give money.

Magda was even part of the show. Together with 4 boys, she was standing in a row, bending down and one of the artists did a flip over all of their backs. *cool*

When we came back to Alan, our trolley was surrounded by tons of people, among them police and military! We broke an Italian law by leaving our kids alone. Alan had left the sleeping girls behind to also take a look at the performance and a worried woman had called the police. They had woken up Erna who looked a bit terrified. Everybody failed to wake up Wilma. Apparently, they wanted to check whether the kids had been drugged.

The very friendly female police officer calmly lead us to their close-by police station and explained to us that kids do get stolen in Italy. After a lot of talking to calm the worried woman and us down and discussions among the police, also with their boss via the phone, we finally came to the conclusion that we had to get them all our passports from the car to prove that these kids were really ours. Following the police officer‘s advice, Alan took the underground to go back to our car.

During the entire time at the police station, the people tried to make us feel as comfortable as possible: „Would you like some water or you need to use the toilet? Just let me know if there is anything you need.“, later even „Some coffee, biscuits or something else from the vendor machine?“ The girls decided on a sparkling water bottle each. The soldiers who made the scene look even more serious, usually watch the dome square like any large European square to prevent terror attacks. They actually didn‘t have anything to do with our case, just happened to talk to the police when they were called.

In the end, we had to pay a fine of 40 Euro. The police had decided not to send us to court or charge us for both kids, only for Wilma because the was below 6. Another curiosity: It turned out that the police man and Ernestina had their birthdays on the same day. We also learned that in Italy, you‘re not allowed to leave a dog alone in the car, even when it‘s not hot.

In any case, we took this situation as a very mild lesson to learn that we need to watch our kids better!

Wilma had probably used her time best by not waking up until we had left the police station ;o)

In general, the Italians were super friendly: the women at the weaving stall, asked for the kids names, translated the flyer of the kids festival for us. When Erna‘s treasure map was blown behind a construction barrier, Alan took a metal piece out of its stand to get behind the barrier. A woman who passed by helped him put the fence piece back. A man took a picture when all our girls were lying in the trolley. Three women let us cut the line to the toilet. The guard of the parking lot gave us a 5 Euro discount.

Everybody but Wilma (and luckily the driving Alan) fell asleep in the car. Then Wilma woke me up to show me a puddle under Erna. During her sleep, she had peed. I had used the toilet only with Wilma at the castle on the way back. While we were waiting in line, I already had the thought ‚shouldn’t the big girls also use the toilet after so much sparkling water?‘. But both Erna and Magda didn‘t tell us until we arrived at the car that they had to pee and we thought, we could still make it to a rest area on the highway… 

Luckily, the pee was rather water and when we finally met with Alan‘s colleague Diego in Castel San Giovanni, we could use the restroom of a bowling centre to wash the car seat cover, which turned from dripping wet to completely dry over night.

We had dinner at a pizzaria. The conclusion of all of us: great dough, lousy toppings ;o)

We slept on a rather busy parking lot in the city, by a rather noisy road.