A tram ride in Milan

The first thing you’ll notice about the trams in Milan is that they are orange, slow and extremely noisy. Milans historic trams, dating to the 1920s and 30s, are a piece of Milan’s history and traditions.They exudes old-fashioned elegance with its wooden seats and interior and glass lamps hanging from the ceiling.

 

The historic trams can be rented for personalized tours. And that’s exactly what I did! I was organizing a seminar in Milan for 80 people. After the seminar and before diner we went on a little sightseeing tour through Milan by tram. For 80 people we had three trams. Sitting on the wooden seats is not too comfortable and drinking a Prosecco in the moving tram without throwing the drink all over the place is not too easy, but all in all it is a very entertaining experience.

Each tram had a tour guide that told us about the Milan history. I have to admit, in the tram I was, not many people paid attention. I felt a bit sorry for guide. We rather enjoyed our company and the drinks! After a twenty minute ride we stopped and got the chance to walk around Il Duomo. Although it was already 8 o’clock at night, the piazza in front of Il Duomo was full of people. That’s Italy, that’s the South, where people live at night!

 

After a walk all around the Duomo, we went back to the tram and took the last part of the trip. It was another half an hour through Milans streets. This is quite a different way of touring Milan – I liked it a lot and our seminar participants from all over the world liked it even better!

Taxi drivers in Milan, Italy

Taking a taxi in Milan is very entertaining. Here are three stories that happened to me on the same day:

1^st taxi from the hotel to Il Duomo:

The driver realizes very quickly that we are not Italians. He is asking us, whether we are here for fun or for work. We say “both”, first fun, then work… :-) When we are asking him, where the best shopping places are, he grabs the map (while he was driving!), puts it over the steering wheel and says to the girl in the front: “Watch the road while I show you on the map…” Traffic is not light and right in front of us is one of the old Milan trams! But apparently that is no problem at all… He is telling us, where we should go. He is talking with his hands and  in all the languages he knows: Italian (of course), English (a little bit) and German (“tschüss”). He is very entertaining and enjoying our company.

2^nd taxi from we-don’t-know-where-we-are to Il Corso Buenos Aires:

Four girls (American and Swiss) with an Italian taxi driver. First thing he needs to do is calling his moglie (wife) and telling her that he has four girls in the car, but: “ti amo”, “I love you”, “ti amo”, “I love you”, “ti amo”, “I love you”, “ti amo”, “I love you”, “ti amo”, “I love you”… And then he keeps telling us “mia moglie”, “my wife”, “mia moglie”… It sounds as if he has to make sure that we really understand he is a married man

3^rd taxi from Il Corso Buenos Aires to the hotel:

This guy looks very miserable. Although he speaks a little bit of English (and we speak a little bit of Italian), he does not laugh about our jokes. Instead he is calling one person after the other on the phone. It is not the first time that I am surprised to see taxi drivers on their phones without headsets or loudspeakers (not that I see this only in Italy…). Shouldn’t a professional driver be more professional?? My Italian is very limited, but from the first two phone calls I can tell that he does not agree with the person on the other end. The third phone call beats everything. We understand that the driver is talking with his moglie – again… But this time, we never hear “ti amo” or “I love you”. What we do hear is that he has a huge issue with his mother-in-law. They are talking about the same subject again and again. He keeps saying “you don’t understand” (in Italian, of course) and “it is not a question of pride”. He even apologizes several times. He is fighting with his moglie and I am only waiting for the moment he is asking for a divorce. It sounds pretty bad.  I can’t believe he is having this serious conversation in front of his customers. Apparently he does not care whether we understand what he is saying or not. While he is getting more and more upset, traffic is getting worse and worse. There are a couple of times when he is nearly causing an accident. When we finally arrive at the hotel, the conversation is not finished at all. He says to his moglie “wait a minute”, takes our money and then goes on talking with her… It was entertaining for us, yes, but at the same time it was sad and embarrassing that we had to follow such a personal and serious conversation.

But that’s the Italy we love: a country and its people full of live!

Berlin – Rosa Luxemburg

On my city trip to Berlin I was confronted by German history wherever I went. The German history is part of my personal history, too. My German grandmother was pregnant in 1945, when she had to escape from her home with two little children. By the time, her husband, although being a civilian and not working for the army, was killed in the war.

I was impressed by a lot of things in Berlin. For example looking at all the memorials for people who had been shot when trying to escape from the Eastern side of Berlin to the Western side – some of them in my age…

Very close to our hotel was the Rosa Luxemburg Square. Although I have heard her name before and knew she was a famous part of the German history, I have never been aware of who she really was. Rosa Luxemburg was a Marxist theorist. In 1915 together with Karl Liebknecht, she co-founded the anti-war Spartakusbund (Spartacist League). On 1 January 1919 the Spartacist League became the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). In November 1918, during the German Revolution she founded Die Rote Fahne (The Red Flag), the central organ of the Spartacist movement. When the revolt was crushed by the social democrat government and the Freikorps (WWI veterans defending the Weimar Republic), Luxemburg, Liebknecht and some of their supporters were captured and murdered.

All across the Rosa Luxemburg Square you can see her quotes written in the road surface – I was nearly run over by a car trying to read them… Here are some of my favourites:

 

“Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.”

“Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently.” (Freiheit ist immer die Freiheit des Andersdenkenden.)

Only through the conscious action of the working masses in city and country can it be brought to life, only through the people’s highest intellectual maturity and inexhaustible idealism can it be brought safely through all storms and find its way to port.

Italian Market in Cannobio

Cannobio is the first Italian town after the border between Switzerland and Italy. You can reach Cannobio by boat from Locarno or Ascona or by car. Every Sunday the market takes place along the promenade. There is a lot of traffic in the little town and it is not easy to find a parking space, but meanwhile the Italians are pretty well organized and show the tourists where to park (although of course that is not for free, it costs € 3.50 or CHF 5.50 for the whole day).

I mingled with a lot of Swiss and German tourists browsing through the long aisles of booths lined up along the lake. One side of the Cannobio market is a tremendous food market, featuring local vendors of meats, wines, cheeses, sweets and so much more. Many are offering free samples of their food. I love going to Italian markets. They are not as cheap as they used to be, but it is still an adventure to feel the Italian market atmosphere and to taste different kind of salami and cheese. There is nothing better than fresh Italian salami!

The other side of the Cannobio market has the usual assortment of clothes and leather goods. I wouldn’t buy any shoes, as they are far too expensive on the market, but you might find some nice clothes for a fair price. This fall scarves in all colors are a must buy. You can find them in nearly every booth from € 5. Although my wardrobe is full of scarves, I couldn’t resist buying a new one – and I am sure, next time I am standing in front of my wardrobe looking for a scarf to match with my dress, I won’t find the right color I am looking for…

Giovannis rules…

Have you always wondered, what is going on in the mind of a real Italian macho? I had the pleasure to meet one of this species and he was kind enough to lead me into his world. Believe me, these are all his words, I didn’t make up any of them! –  I am not saying I like this kind of thinking nor do I understand it, but it is funny to know.

Let me introduce you to Giovannis rules:

The perfect woman has to be half your age plus seven years (e.g. when Giovanni is 40, his perfect girl-friend is 27)!

American girls are very open, Swiss girls not so much!

If there is two girls, you go for the ugly girl first (to get the nice girl!)!

Being pretty is not everything!

How girls walk in high heels is very important!

Girls are like traffic lights:

Red signal: stop – if you want something from her, it has to go through your wallet…

Yellow signal: caution – you will have to use a lot of energy…

Green signal: full force – go ahead

Giovannis advice to this rule: make sure, you are not colour blind…

Don’t ask her out on a first date more than three times! (After that you should realize, she is definitely not interested!)

Never change your strategy – change the girl!

Always listen, but never try to understand a girl!

Always shave at night (he didn’t say where though…) – that saves you time in the morning!

Finish the wine, before you start with dessert!

No one makes better Tiramisu than his sister (he never tried my friend Victorias Tiramisu!)!

When you buy the shoes, buy the matching belt at the same time – or you will never find a matching belt!

Sunglasses are very important to look cool!

Manchester (UK) is boring, Philadelphia (USA) is THE town to be!

It’s not good to go to a hotel bar and drink beer, after beer, after beer! …but a good Italian Mirto before going to bed can’t harm!

If you go out while on a business trip, don’t take more than four colleagues with you – it would spoil the whole fun!

Bologna, Italy

Bologna is known as the gastronomic capital of northern Italy. The local osterie and trattorie are often the best places to sample the traditional dishes (tortellini, tagliatelle, mortadella and of course pizza) and good local wines at low prices.

While in Bologna on a business trip, I made it my mission to find the best tiramisu in town! So far, my Italian friend Vittoria, who lives in Switzerland, makes the best tiramisu. When tasting Vittorias tiramisu, you can feel angels dancing on your tongue!

I was in Bologna for five days and tasted four tiramisu (you don’t want to know how many kilos I gained during that short time…)! The first one was in the Savhotel. After a local dish with tortellini I ordered my first tiramisu in Bologna. My high expectations where blown away only at the sight of it. The tiramisu was very yellow, had hardly any chocolate on top and tasted far too creamy. Worst of all the lady fingers and the alcohol were completely missing. This was no tiramisu – zero points for Savhotel!

Occupying a late medieval building in the heart of town, the Diana has been popular since 1920. This restaurant offers three gracefully decorated dining rooms and a verdant terrace.  Although the service was poor (the waiter kept forgetting about our order several times), the food was very good. I had tagliatelle alla Bolognese. It was the only night, when I did not order tiramisu, but ice cream with chocolate sauce.

The following night we asked our concierge for a real local place with good local food. He sent us to Ristorante Anna Maria. The walls were full of pictures of celebrities from all over the world, the waiter spoke fluently English, the menue was in English – this was no local place at all, it was rather a very famous tourist restaurant, full of Americans, French, Germans and us Swiss. My bistecche with potatoes  was good, but we could see straight into the kitchen, where Chinese people were preparing the food – is that supposed to be local?? Local means to me that Mamma Anna is standing in the kitchen, preparing the pasta herself! I still had to try the tiramisu and guess what? It was another disappointment:  It was prepared carelessly, the lady fingers looked burned (very dark) and the whole tiramisu was very crumbly. Out of 10 points I gave them three points.

I couldn’t leave Italy without eating a pizza. Nicola’s serves the best pizza in Bologna. Set in a beautiful, quiet square, it is best to visit when the weather is good and white-clothed tables line the pavement. The pizzas are huge (bigger than the plate!), crisp and the toppings delicious. A bottle of Brunello di Montalcino made this dinner perfect. This should be the perfect place for a perfect tiramisu – I thought… But again, the tiramisu was very yellow and very creamy, just not how it is supposed to be. It was better than the first two tiramisu I had, so I gave it five points.

I was nearly giving up on finding the best tiramisu in town, when my friends friend Giulia took us to the Nu Bar Lounge beneath the arcades facing the Piazza Maggiore. This is one of the most trendiest place in Bologna, where all the hip and good looking people spend Friday and Saturday night. After all the food we had eaten during the past five days we were not that hungry. So we went with some prosecco, insalate caprese and mortadella – delicious. I didn’t expect to get tiramisu in a bar, but when I read it on the menu, there was no way I would miss this. I ordered my last tiramisu and finally, finally, finally I felt the kisses from heaven! The tiramisu had the perfect shape and consistency, a lot of chocolate on top of it and you could taste the alcohol! Vittorias tiramisu is still the best of the best, but I gave the tiramisu at the Nu Bar nine points. If you are looking for the best tiramisu in Bologna, this is the place!

E.R. – Emergency Refreshment

It was a hot summer day in the city of Amsterdam. People were sweating. Clothes were sticking to the bodies. Everyone was thirsty. And suddenly, there it was, the Emergency Refreshment (E.R.!!) ambulance stopping right in front of us with squeaking tires. Two cute nurses got out of the car and distributed free, ice-cold Coca Cola to everybody!

Thank you, Coca Cola, for saving us from having a heat stroke!

Haunted Dublin

I attended my first ghost tour nearly 20 years ago in a former prison in Tasmania/Australia. Since then I am addicted, whenever I am in a place where a ghost tour is available, I have to attend. The latest ghost tour I went was in Dublin/Ireland. The Emerald Island is known as being one of the most haunted countries on the planet. Each wave of human culture from the Celts to the Protestant ascendancy has left a mark when it comes to the haunted history of this city.

While in Dublin, you have several possibilites to haunt ghosts. The most famous one is the ghost bus tour. I prefered the alternative, a guided walking tour. Robert, the guide, lead us through eerie, cobblestoned streets while telling us all the stories. We had been there before by brought daylight, a nice neighbourhood. But at night, it looked so much different, kind of spooky. The first story was about Dublin castle. Invaders to the castle were beheaded and displayed on the castle wall as a deterrent to others. Hundreds of decapitated bodies are buried under the castle. Apparently their vengeful souls still roam the castle, poltergeist activity was reported by tour guides. I had taken some nice photographs of Dublin castle during day time. Standing here now in the darkness and imagining dead bodies underneath the ground gave me the creeps.

We moved on through narrow streets and ended up in front of a pub. This is the place, where the famous Hell Fire Club met. Club members known as “Bucks” were from wealthy families.They would meet to drink Scultheen, (special mixture of whiskey and butter), gamble, fight, duel and get up to all sorts of loutish behaviour (including murder). The reference to Hell Fire and links to satanic rituals were mainly symbolic and mostly their raucous behaviour was a parody of the church rather than satanic worship per se. The Hell Fire Club makes todays Hells Angles look like innocent children!

Next to St. Patrick’s church is Marshe’s Library, assembled by Bishop Narcissus Marshe in the 17th century. The Bishop’s ghost is said to haunt the library, eternally searching for the note left for him, hidden inside a book by his niece, who he had reared from childhood. She eloped with a seaman, and left Marshe heartbroken…

The Entrance to Hell was not far away – the passageway between the interior of Medieval Dublin to the area known as ‘Hell’! The ghost of Darky Kelly a famous brothel-owner, has been spotted many times near St. Audoens church. The story goes that she became pregnant with the child of Simon Luttrell, the Sherriff of Dublin – a Hell Fire Club member. Fearing for his position he refused to acknowledge the child as his own and levelled an accusation of witchcraft at Kelly in order to shut her up. Being a lady of the night, the accusations stuck and she was roasted slowly in front of a baying mob.

Darky, the Green Lady, has been seen here, wandering the streets of Medieval Dublin and making her way to the gate at the end of these steps, where abandoned babies were left at the side gate to St. Audoens church. I tried very hard to see the Green Lady – no luck. But still, visiting St. Audoens church at night really sends a shiver down your spine.

Have you planned a trip to Dublin? Why not book a room at the Shelbourne Hotel? In August 1965 in room 256, ‘psychic’ Sybil Leek allegedly contacted the ghost of one ‘Mary Masters’. Mary claimed to have popped her cogs in 1791 due to cholera. Apparently Leek’s mother’s maiden name was also Masters!

Coffee house tour in Salzburg/Austria

As Austria is famous for its coffee tradition, I decided to discover Salzburg in an unusual way: Instead of following the ordinary sights, I followed the coffee houses. And guess what? At the same time I saw all the important sights anyway!

Our hotel Salzburger Hof was close to the main train station. Nothing fancy, but clean and everything was reachable within walking distance. The first morning we asked the hotel staff for a recommendation for a good place for breakfast close by. They told us to go to Kaffeehaus Fingerlos. We were not disappointed. After a 10 minute walk we reached Café Fingerlos at Franz-Josef-Strasse 9. It was only 9 o’clock on a Saturday morning, but the coffee house was already fully booked. We got the last table. High ceilings, old fashioned furniture, friendly service and home-made pastries made this the perfect place for breakfast.

On our walk into the city we passed Kaffeehaus Wernbacher, which was also on my to do list. It didn’t look as nice as Café Fingerlos, but then, we didn’t go inside, so I don’t know what it was like. What I did like were the (German) quotes at the window.

Just across the road is Mirabellplatz, a beautiful park with a little castle – one of the top sights in Salzburg. At the other end of the park you walk right up to Mozart’s residence.

We crossed the river and walked along Griesgasse – just because my friend Pinky liked the name of that street… We didn’t know, that the end of that street leaded us to Afro Coffee at Bürgerspitalplatz. As the name says, it is not traditional Austrian, it is Afro. That’s what the interior and furniture looked like – very special. It has a nice little terrace. We thought about sitting there and have a coffee, but then we realized that the only view from the terrace was right at a dirty, grey wall of Blasiuskirche. We skipped it.

We turned into famous Getreidegasse, the shopping mall of Salzburg. Right in the center of this narrow street, shortly after Mozarts birthplace, is Konditorei Schatz, one of the city’s most enchanting and tiniest confectioneries. The interior, with its Gothic vaulted ceiling, reminds you of a dollhouse, while the sounds of classical music – mostly by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – provide the perfect musical backdrop. I saw about four or five tables and a big crowd that wanted to buy home-made pastries, that was it.

We accidently passed a big flower, fruit and vegetable market at Universitätsplatz in front of the Kollegienkirche. Just a few steps away at Alter Markt Platz is Austrias oldest “Viennesse coffee house” Kaffeehaus Tomaselli, apparently Salzburg’s first Café that opened in 1703. The man himself, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, had coffee there – and so did we. We found a nice table on the terrace on the first floor – perfect location for people watching. The interior of the Café is very classy – too classy for my taste…Silver trays, classic newspaper stands and tuxedo-clad waiters transport 21st-century guests back into “the good old days”. 40 different home-made cakes and pastries are brought out to the guests on big trays – who can resist?? My Häferl coffee was good and the Mozart cake even better.

Across the square in the Brodgasse is Café Konditorei Fürst. This is where Mozartballs were immortalised in chocolate for the first time in 1890. Of course we had to go there and buy some ORIGINAL Mozartballs. This place is a must when in Salzburg!

Another interesting sounding Café on my list was 220 Grad Rösthaus. It is well hidden on Chiemseegasse 5, right behind the big cathedral and below the famous Hohensalzburg Fortress. It is a small, modern place, nothing too exciting.

Café Demel was not on my list, but it certainly is now. Face the statue of Mozart on Mozart Square whilst having your cup of coffee. We found out very quickly that this was one of Salzburgs most popular Cafés – no seats were available. The interior is in a very modern and all purple style. Although purple is not my colour at all, it looked just right for this coffee shop.

For a Sunday morning brunch there is one perfect place in Salzburg: Café Steinterrasse on top of Hotel Stein, the hot location with a view! You only get a table when reserving in advance. But I tell you, it is worth the hassle (even when they are asking you for email address and phone number for the confirmation!). There is a big brunch buffet and the view over the city and the castle is priceless – even on a rainy day like we had.

Right next to Hotel Stein is Hotel Sacher with the famous Café Sacher. It was not on my list, because in my opinion Hotel Sacher belongs to Vienna and not to Salzburg. But if you fancy an obscenely overprized piece of ORIGINAL Sacher tart, this is the place to go.

Every tourist in Salzburg should have gone to one coffee shop at least once to make a visit complete. I am in for one Café every two hours, if you read through this poste carefully, you can tell my favorites…