“Americans who travel abroad are often shocked to discover that, despite all the progress that has been made in the last 30 years, many foreign people still speak in foreign languages.” Dave Barry
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Wise Lord Byron.
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I could notta said it better myself. Nothing is more inexcusable in the contemporary world than those who will not see because they are afraid, because they stuck in the past, because they refuse to use the tools the world gives them.
I knew I was going to take the wrong train
Sant’ Ambrogio Mercato, altre bancarelle. Other items for sale at the market.
Superb butchers selling beef and pork products of all descriptions.

All manner of poultry and poultry products. I think I could hear clucking, so fresh were these products!
Fresh pasta stalls to die for.
And even a small plant/flower stand, with rosemary plants and other herbs for sale:
I think you would have to try really hard to go wrong at the mercato.
Quick: what’s the one food you automatically associate with Italy?
Is it the tomato?
The pommodoro (the golden apple)?
These pomodori were available today for sale at Sant’ Ambrogio Mercato. Are they not gorgeous? They look like rubies and garnets, only edible.
But despite the modern association of tomatoes and Italy, the tomato is of course a new world fruit and was not even known in italia until the Spanish explorers brought back all sorts of flora from the americas.
Ciao, bella! Where have you been all my life?!!
Persimmons. Such a beautiful fruit. Such an unfortunate Italian name:
I love Italia!
Because, seriously, where else in the world can you order a cappucino and when it arrives looking all artistic and lovely, and when you comment on its loveliness, the barrista flirtatiously says to you, “which is ‘bellisimo’? the coffee or me?” and you blush and laugh and say “l’uno e l’altro”. Because honestly, both the barrista and the coffee are works of art!
Psssst…come a little bit closer, I need to whisper something in your ear.
See that picture up there? This is about that.
And this thing has to be kept hush-hush, just between you and me, ok? You sure you can keep a secret? Ok, then (I begin in sotto voce):
I know this picture doesn’t look like much of a picture at all, but I think it is the moon shining over the North Pole on my flight last night from the U.S. to Italy, taken about midnight. But, here’s the thing…I had my iphone pointed downwards, you know, trying to capture the scene below me. But, I am about to describe to you what I couldn’t capture with my camera.
Now, I wouldn’t swear to it on a stack of Bibles, but I do believe that I saw quite a human-looking complex located on several mammoth icebergs last night. There was a big house as sort of the center of the complex, so big I could see it from 35,000 feet above sea (ice berg) level.
There must be a lot of chimneys in the complex because I saw a lot of smoke puffs coming out of what looked like chimney tops.
There were also many adjoining buildings (it all looked kind of ad hoc in construction), and there were a lot of small looking humans who appeared to be dressed in green tunics, tan leggings and felt hats with a feather coming out of the top for stylistic purposes, I would guess. These people were running in and out of all the buildings, often with their arms full of materials. It seemed pretty suspicious to me.
Then there were a series of buildings nearby that appeared, from my vantage point (and by the way, I had this sensation that I was flying in a sleigh instead of an airliner…I know how crazy that sounds, but the feeling lasted only for a few moments and left me shaking my head because it felt like I had some sort of a vision. But, I’m fine, truly) to be barns, like you would keep animals in. A few times I caught glimpses of what may or may not have been reindeer, or a close evolutionary reindeer cousin, at the very least.
Now I know what you are wondering: did I see a reindeer looking animal with a red glowing nose? Everybody is asking that, like it would prove my hypothesis or something! Ha! I would not bet my life upon it, but to tell you the truth, a couple of times I felt like I did see such a critter.
And, even more amazing than all of the above, is that also for a split second in time, I am pretty darn sure I heard a loud, jolly male voice hollering something directly to me, and it sounded alot like “ho, ho, ho.” But, I wouldn’t swear to it.
And, anyway, about the fact that I tried to capture what I saw in a photograph but all I got was the moon up above. How weird is that?
It was quite a flight I had. It might have been the ambien?


























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