Though all of you in the States have several hours left to go…happy new year! I have officially been living in 2010 for almost an hour now. After thawing out from the afternoon walk, we went to dinner at an interesting neighborhood restaurant, which served authentic Italian fare, owned, served, and prepared by a Chinese family. But we knew it would be a good choice as soon as we saw the crowds of locals around us, many enjoying a traditional good luck multiple-course New Year’s Eve dinner of “seven seafoods.” We stuck with massive hearty pizzas and limoncello to warm us up instead.
twinkling lights on the Castello Sforzesco
After dinner, we took the metro to the Piazza Duomo to check out the festivities downtown, and as soon as we emerged from the underground it looked and sounded (and sometimes felt!) like we had suddenly come upon a war zone. Firecrackers were whizzing through the air, and popping up suddenly underfoot, or exploding so closely nearby that our ears were ringing. The whole area was absolutely mad, but the locals seemed used to it, walking their dogs and children around despite near misses with mild explosives. We braved the scene for awhile and admired the musically coordinated lights display on the face of Castello Sforzesco.
Don’t try this at home, kids.
We headed back to the hotel just before midnight…the perfect time to catch a viewing of the excellent neighborhood fireworks display. Opening the hotel windows we could turn one way and watch the restauranteurs from earlier in the night setting off fireworks and in the other direction was another huge set…the kind that I definitely think would be illegal for private use in the States: set up on the sidewalk and shooting way up into the air to explode right above the apartments across the street. Cheers!
I feel like I’m there…..pictures look great. Have a wonderful trip all! I hope your mom will want to return to work after her world tour.
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