Lago Palu

It was beautiful and sunny out and we really needed a break from all the house related chores. Plus I had just scored some awesome new La Sportiva hiking boots at 30% off during the January sales. Perfect for going for a walk in the snow.

Our destination, an hour hike to Lago Palu. Here we are at the start of the trail. There was so much white and powdery snow all around. Everything looked so clean.


I really enjoyed walking in the snow. Plus my new boots were keeping my toes warm and dry. We had to stay on the trail where the snow was packed in otherwise we'd sink in knee deep since we didn't have any snow shoes on.


I was so out of shape (blame the holidays). I complained a little about the uphill but soon we arrived at the lake. You can hardly tell that there's even a lake under all that snow.


And next to the lake was the refugio Palu, where we were going to stop for lunch.


It was so cute inside. Very warm and 'alpine'.


We had a panino and a slice of cake (nuts, I think). Yum. As usual, everything tastes better in the high mountain.


Stefano had this scary-looking herbal liquor shot to finish off the meal. Not for me... ;-d


There was this really cute dog who lived there.


We saw these kids going down the trail on sleds. Whoa. Sharp curves and all! The sleds they had were a little more sophisticated; they had these metal handles on both sides that dig into the snow and can be used to maneuver the sled. On our way down, we saw dozens of 'kids' - young and old - speeding down the trail that way. I was a little envious!


It was so nice and warm that day in the sunshine. Coming up, I actually had to take off my jacket and was just wearing a sweater.

Snow Day(s)

Milan is really having record snowfall this year. It started snowing again on Monday night. On Tuesday, it looked like this outside our building.


Some kids built this cute snowman out front. Reminded me of Long's masterpiece from our last Tahoe trip, only his was better of course!

It continued to snow all of yesterday and this morning there was quite a scene on all the roadways. We started out by car, but decided to turn back when we saw the traffic. We decided to walk instead. See how the right lanes going the other way are completely empty?


It was because there was a big trailer that got stuck trying to go over the highway overpass, causing traffic to come to a standstill. There were cars stuck going the other way too. Passersbys like us were asked to help push. Ok, S pushed while I held his bag. ;-)


Some colleagues on the bus from the city had to get off on the highway when the bus refused to go any farther. Imagine busloads of people walking along the highway! Here's a view of the Milanofiori office park where we work.

At lunch time, the snow flakes were still falling. We headed to our usual lunch place around the corner only to find they didn't have any. The regular food deliveries hadn't come in so all they had were some leftover paninis.


Actually it ain't even that much snow. I remember we used to measure snowfall by the feet in Chicago. But it hasn't snowed this much in Milan since the 80s, so it's turning things upside down here. I'm just hoping it stops soon. I don't think I'll be able to make it my Italian class tonight.

Happy Holidays

Hi! Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a good holiday. I haven't been blogging much as we've been busy with the holidays and the move. And of course I find out it's going to take weeks to get our phone line and DSL connected.

This was a funny scene from one of our last mornings at the Abbiategrasso apartment. I looked out to find dozens of Santa's congregating just outside our window. It was the annual Santa run (I guess).


And here's a cute shot of Stef's nephews and the giant 3kg panettone that we picked up from the Galbusera outlet. The regular sized panettones are usually 1kg or less, so this totally dwarfs those. Stefo swears that these taste better because they use a different batter. Well it does taste pretty good but it's gigantic!