Ciao, Italia; Next Up: Switzerland

Well, it is hard to believe that my nearly four weeks in Italy are coming to an end.  This morning, before Nawal left, we took the metro to another part of Milano, a neighbourhood we hadn't explored yet but had heard about.  The Brera area turned out to be charming - which makes me think I might need to give this city another chance to discover some of its magic (assuming there is some).  The following are some photos of the Brera neighbourhood, including the jewellery store and my morning "lampone e mangue" (raspberry and mango) sorbet cornetto (very yummy and scooped to look like a flower).

The Brera neighbourhood is filled with little pedestrian streets, unique and independent shops, and pretty little restaurants, bars and gelaterias.  We went there because of an ad in Where magazine Nawal saw for a jewellery designer.  As I say, it is too bad we didn't discover this area earlier as it would have been a great place have dinner (most of the restaurants around the train station leave a lot to be desired - although we found one good one where I am going back to this evening).  Aside from the shopping Nawal did there, we did stop for a gelato, as it was her last chance before she headed to the airport midday for her flight to Amsterdam. 

Ciao, Nawal.  It was a wonderful time and a lot of fun!

This weekend, I think I have mentioned, the UEFA Cup final is being held here so tomorrow is probably a good time to leave.  Andrea Bocelli is teaming up on stage here this evening with Javier Zanetti (don't know who he is) for a charity event featuring a line-up of big names in the world of music and football.  Next, I will take a train to Zürich and start the next part of my trip - this will involve less sightseeing, shopping and probably less blogging and will focus more on spending time with good friends.  I am sure, however, there will still be some stories to write about! 

We spotted this sign at the cashier in a small alimentari (grocery store) back in Lago di Garda and I thought it was an appropriate way to end the Italy part of the blog.  In hindsight, I now wish I had taken photos of the menus we saw that had "interesting" spellings for food items or strange translations.  Ciao, Italia!