Milan to Tuscany - Day 14 - May 28

I don't think any of us slept.  The sadness and grief washed over us in waves.  We did the best we could to get packed up and get Corey off to the airport, and to wrap up the requirements for my teaching at Cattolica.  It was so hard on so many levels.  

Once Corey headed out, Lily stepped up as to help me piece together the next week that Corey had so carefully planned.  The first order of business was finding and getting the rental car.  It is no small feat navigating city streets in Italy! 

This picture makes me smile.  Packing up the house, getting the rental car to our Milan house, and fitting all of us and our stuff in the car was award-worthy.

We saw a bunch of cars under an over-pass, and quickly realized it was for ping-pong sized hail dropping down from the sky.  Luckily our car did not get damaged. 

When we finally made it to the house Corey had rented, our hearts were filled with beauty.  The driveway up to the house was a mile long, surrounded by rolling hills of olive trees, wheat, and eucalyptus.  Just stunning - with a house designed to take it all in from every room.

After everyone picked their room, the kids tried out the pool and we made some pasta and opened a bottle of wine.  Corey shared a few pics of life his luxe-life in first-class that made us happy.

Milan - Day 13 - May 27

It is hard to write much about today.  What began as any other day, filled with my last class day and a celebration dinner with students afterwards at the Triennale museum, ended with the news of Corey's dad's diagnosis with brain cancer.  Lily, my mom and I received the call when we headed to go shopping.  We headed home as fast as we could and helped Corey with his plans to fly out the next morning.  There is not much airlines will do for travelers experiencing a family emergency, so we used points and booked Corey first class so he could get some rest on the journey.  The rest of us continued to work on getting an early return scheduled and packed up to head to the house that we had rented in Tuscany the next day that was non-refundable.  Below are the pics of the day pre-news.

Milan - Day 12 - May 26

Lily and I headed off for a mother-daughter date to our favorite patticerea from last year.  It did not disappoint :)

While I was teaching, the kids got their hair cut at the salon just below our building

I took my students to Frog today.  I met with a few beforehand.  I love getting to know the Italian students and exposing them to new career paths.  The first pic is of me figuring out the above ground train system for my first time :)  Go me!

After class today, I met Francesca for drinks at this cool little spot, just a few blocks from our place, that looked like a an old fenced in building from the street view and then opened to a labyrinth of cool bars on the other side.

We then met up with the family and Massimo, Chiara and Matilda for dinner.

And of course, gelato afterwards...