The Last Hurrah
Il Duomo in Milan
After four long weeks apart, Randy and I reunited in downtown Basel, a town in the German-speaking region of Switzerland. We planned to visit my aunt outside of Freiburg, Germany, one final time while traveling, before settling down.
We met her at the beginning of our trip and sometime in between, so this felt like kismet to visit her before ending our Magellan time.
We enjoyed an excellent lunch with my aunt and my cousin at a traditional Black Forest restaurant, and then the two of us explored back roads through the Southern part of the Black Forest for the rest of the afternoon before returning to Basel.
Innenhof of the Basel Rathaus (Town Hall). Beautifully architecture and painted walls of the center court with strong, dark colors.
Driving leisurely through the Südschwarzwald back to Basel, we saw several communities with castles or castle ruins on our way.
The reason that Cezanne painted the arm of the boy in this painting deliberately elongated is to emphasize the mood of melancholy and resignation without intention to paint realistic. Le Garçon au Gilet Rouge (1890) by Cézanne at the Foundation Beyeler in Basel
Basel appeared to me very similar to Freiburg in the style of the houses and buildings in the old center of the city, which makes sense as both have an Alemannic historical background.
The Alemanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes starting in the first century AD and are roughly the ancestors of the German-speaking regions in Switzerland, Alsace, the German state of Baden-Württemberg, and also being my own roots from my father’s side.
We had two more weeks until our Munich apartment would be available. Instead of driving through the Alps (our original plan), we changed our minds as we encountered colder-than-expected temperatures and decided: Italy it is again!
We had never been to Milan, so we checked it out for a week.
One of the entrances of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II Mall, this one next to Il Duomo in Milan
The historic, glass-vaulted arcade
We got very lucky with the location of our rental place in Milan: a quiet, comfortable neighborhood with lots of smaller eateries only a few minutes’ walk away and, best of all, the next subway station was just around the corner. And the air! Not only was it smooth like velvet, nicely warm even in the evenings, but we had arrived at a time when there was nearly everywhere the fragrance of profusely blossoming star jasmine bushes, blanketing fences and every green area—what an unexpected additional level of experience!
A bustling canal side street in the Navigli district a short walk from our neighborhood
Inside Il Duomo, the largest Gothic church in the world taking over 600 years to complete
We checked out a few tourist spots: of course the famous Duomo …
The Kiss by Francesco Hayez is a masterpiece of Italian Romanticism
… and the Brera Art Gallery, one of the most prestigious art museums in Italy, with large paintings from the Renaissance and Baroque eras (Raphael, Caravaggio, Hayez) — old, mostly religious oil paintings—not so exciting for me though. With exceptions.
We enjoyed our time in Milan, often using the excellent subway system (fast, prompt, clean) and went into a modern district for some clothing shopping, just basics, nothing fancy considering we were in the fashion capital of Europe.
With a nice table available in our apartment, we competed against each other for a third time with our two identical puzzles before abandoning them and, as expected, improved our times, albeit slightly (500 pieces ~ 3 hrs).
On our final day in Milan, we went back to Il Duomo, observed its mix of Gothic and Neoclassical styles as well as the other buildings on the piazza, got a table with a good view in one of the cafés, and sketched the Cathedral and a fountain while enjoying a typical afternoon Italian aperitivo.
We found Milano utterly enjoyable and uncomplicated due to our more residential homestay away from the center of town, and wondered why we had never spent time there before.
Gitty and I arrived in Lago d’Orta two years ago near the beginning of our trip and always thought it beautiful. Returning at the end of our journey to check it out again, we vacated Milan and headed to the lakes area 90 minutes to the northwest. Will Orta still stand up to our recollections? Is it, perhaps, a place to find a future fixer-upper?
View to Isola San Giulio on Lake Orta from the town of Pella on the western shore
We were here previously during the end of September when the water was warm and pleasant. Now, during May, it was a bit colder with less activity on the lake and around its shores, but the season hadn’t yet commenced. The lake is nestled between mountains and sloping hills on all sides, making it a stunningly picturesque place, even more so than we remembered.
We rented an Airbnb in the remote town of Egro on the western side, opposite where we stayed previously in Miasino, one of our favorite communities around the lake. During the relatively cool mornings, we relaxed while working on our computers, and ventured out in the afternoon during the hottest time of the day, basking in the comfort of our air-conditioned car.
We always needed to drive winding roads for twenty minutes to get anywhere from our Airbnb, like the charming town of Pella on the shores of Lago d’Orta.
This very remote, quaint house was near a man-made trout pond and loud restaurant
Driving through narrow streets, curvy roads, tight spaces, and steep hills, we looked at places recommended to us by realtors, stopping at villages all around the lake, trying to get a better understanding of the tiny hamlets and what we really wanted, which mostly amounted to more space than we saw, fewer floors in the houses, and enough room to entertain guests and have an atelier for our extracurricular interests. One multi-level place had only an outdoor shower on the ground floor and steps leading to the second level with huge rises made for giants. Definitely not for us!
During a return visit to our favorite restaurant in Miasino, we overheard a couple of recent arrivals discussing rising housing prices with an Australian buyer who had just put money down on a nearby property. Momentary panic set in that the secret of Lake Orta was out, but we were only scouting, and no new eavesdropping at lunch would force us to act rashly.
A narrow street in the city of Orta
Villages surrounding the lake also had narrow streets like in Miasino
We also plan to check out other cities in northern Italy since our potential second property doesn’t need to be - again - on a lake. (Been there, done that!) Still, Lake Orta is a charming place for anyone interested to buy or simply to visit, and there are still great opportunities if one searches long and hard enough and doesn’t need to be directly on the lake.
View to the North of Lake Orta heading towards the town of Omegna from the panoramic terrace at the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Sasso
Our last day of our two-year journey brought us to a remote hilltop fine-dining restaurant for lunch where we selected their tasting menu, which was outstanding. For the Dolce, each of us had the selection of three items off the dessert cart. Two full carts were rolled out in front of us laden with alcohol-soaked fruits, cakes, zabaione, puddings, and much more. The choice was an impossible one.
It was definitely a delicious way to end a dream, and the after-meal grappa was so exceptional, we had three bottles shipped to our apartment in Munich to keep the memories flowing just a little bit longer.
