On Tuesday we were somewhat relieved to leave the heat of Parma, but otherwise sad to leave the land of Verdi (pic of Verdi Monument in town), birthplace of conductor Arturo Toscanini (pic of his birthplace, but the museum like many things in Parma, was closed when we went), and locale of our friendly Parma landmark, the Piazza Garibaldi (pic at night), from which we could always find our bearings again amidst the maze of alleys in the heart of town. Before we left, however, we were glad to discover that some of the shops were open after vacation, on Monday. In one back-street shop selling a beautiful selection of kitchen items, we met the most kind, elderly shopkeeper who tried mightily to converse with us despite the language barrier, and I think wanted to adopt Gidget as a daughter.
The sacred and the profane: We took the regional train to Milan, home of high and weird fashion, industry, and the often dysfunctional La Scala opera which seems to be firing or scaring away conductors, on strike, etc. half the time as far as I can tell from what very little I know of opera. We stayed near Linate Airport to facilitate a morning flight back to Seattle. Since this part of town seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, we hopped on the metro (subway) for a very quick trip to the duomo in Milan and back.
The very impressive but faintly garish Gotham City-ish duomo (pic) was the attraction for a mass of tourists, many of whom were being screened at the entrance and being told at least to cover their shoulders (tank tops, shorts and sandals seemed to be the clothing of choice to visit this famous cathedral!) Immediately next to the cathedral is the beautiful Galleria (pic), itself a monument to consumerism (Prada, Gucci, and McDonald's all inside !?!?). Look up and the beautiful glass dome and soft golden light greet one's senses. Look down at the inlaid metal mosaic work, and cigarette butts fill the cracks. In the square, hucksters try to get money from visitors by offering corn seed which attracts pigeons for photo opps, then aggressively insisting on money. Thankfully, we did not have to fight off any pickpockets. I was glad we chose to spend most of our time in a small town with a life-sized personality, rather than this tourist trap. Perhaps with more time, Milan would reveal its charms but we were unfortunately on our way home.
Some reflections: Having been back in the states for 3 days now (and still a little punchy from jet lag), some things that stick in my memory are:
One of the most beautiful sounds in the world must be small children speaking Italian. So melodic and expressive!
There is a certain politeness -- or on the other hand, it might be a certain stiffness or formality -- to the conversational speech that is different from conversations in the U.S. I for one liked it. Almost always, even among co-workers, we heard a "Gruetzi" greeting in Switzerland, or a "Prego" acknowledgment in Italy. With a very few exceptions, we were thankful to have friendly, warm interactions with most everyone we encountered.
All food in Switzerland is strikingly expensive. We had some of the best tap water anywhere (it freely flows out of beautiful fountains throughout the town of Luzern), yet in restaurants, it is assumed that one must buy an overpriced bottle of water that doesn't taste as good as the tap water. There are so many other examples of relatively environmentally-friendly practices in the places we visited. The bottled water thing really confounds me.
Even in borderline foul weather, the Lauterbrunnen Valley is stunningly beautiful... the sounds will remain in my memory like a siren song.
I feel privileged to have seen and heard Maestro Abbado and the LFO. He is one of a kind, perhaps the conductor of a generation.
In an age of petulant, childish behavior among many so-called "leaders" (Exhibit 1 is the U.S. Congress), it is refreshing to see individuals like Claudio Abbado and Daniel Barenboim, who give so much of their time and energy to working with youth, crossing national and cultural borders, raising money for charity...
Hoping for a next time, and to all the nice people we encountered: Auf Wiedersehen and Arrivederci.
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