Breakfast at the hotel had someone else making my hot chocolate – fantastic – accompanied by a chocolate croissant. Then meeting the group in the lobby along with our host, Valentina Perrone, before heading out to the bus. So up at 6:30, down to breakfast at 7:15, back up to the room, back down by 8am. We got on the bus around 8:40, and then a long drive to the fairgrounds. Once there, we went to the International Business Lounge (IBL), were welcomed by the president of Salone, and finally started visiting showrooms around 11:00 – ah Italia!
Back to the IBL for lunch around 1:30pm. Another architect I met on the bus, Marc Cerone, works with Adrian Smith in Chicago, knows of Neil Frankel, and I also met Craig Aquart from Miami (originally from Jamaica) and Miranda from LA now (and 9 other places she’s lived). Miranda starts at Meta later this month and will be driving sustainability initiatives for their 28 data centers. Marc had a meeting in Milan with a stone installer, so I took the cab with him back to into the city. The Indro Montanelli Gardens were across the street and contain the Planetarium and Museum of Natural History.
I spontaneously decided to visit the Duomo and walked there, along with going through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele. It felt like the time (4:30pm or so) for an Aperol Spritz, and I found a café that looked right at the front of the Duomo. There was an American couple sitting next to me and I struck up a conversation. She mentioned having a couple of clothing stores in Cleveland, so I made the leap and asked if she had been in the schmatta trade – and she was, so we then had a whole Jewish connection conversation. She and her husband are from Cleveland, so I mentioned Nan Buxbaum from Shaker Heights, but not connect there, other than hubby saying he cycled with a Buxbaum. There was another couple on the other side of them and when leaving they said hi and said the overheard us and were Jewish also – small world. From there down to the subway back to the hotel and thinking about dinner.
I WhatsApp’d Miranda and we made plans for dinner, but still couldn’t get ahold of Craig, and Marc was on a business call. It turned out our host Valentina gave him my wrong number. Miranda and I met in the lobby and she suggested calling his hotel room (“How many Craigs could there be?”) – duh! He was up for it and we headed out to Nàpiz' Milano that Miranda had found. Awesome, awesome pizza!! When we sat down, they brought over glasses of prosecco and some “pizza-ish” bread. We ordered 2 pizzas along with wine, then needed another pizza. Craig had never had pizza in Italy before – and this was some of the best I’ve had. In fact, Craig has never been in Europe before. Miranda is vegan but somehow managed to taste the ham on the 3rd pizza. Back to the hotel at 10:30 to get ready for tomorrow at Salone.
Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/g3bMV9y8RAanQwfM8
Back to the IBL for lunch around 1:30pm. Another architect I met on the bus, Marc Cerone, works with Adrian Smith in Chicago, knows of Neil Frankel, and I also met Craig Aquart from Miami (originally from Jamaica) and Miranda from LA now (and 9 other places she’s lived). Miranda starts at Meta later this month and will be driving sustainability initiatives for their 28 data centers. Marc had a meeting in Milan with a stone installer, so I took the cab with him back to into the city. The Indro Montanelli Gardens were across the street and contain the Planetarium and Museum of Natural History.
I spontaneously decided to visit the Duomo and walked there, along with going through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele. It felt like the time (4:30pm or so) for an Aperol Spritz, and I found a café that looked right at the front of the Duomo. There was an American couple sitting next to me and I struck up a conversation. She mentioned having a couple of clothing stores in Cleveland, so I made the leap and asked if she had been in the schmatta trade – and she was, so we then had a whole Jewish connection conversation. She and her husband are from Cleveland, so I mentioned Nan Buxbaum from Shaker Heights, but not connect there, other than hubby saying he cycled with a Buxbaum. There was another couple on the other side of them and when leaving they said hi and said the overheard us and were Jewish also – small world. From there down to the subway back to the hotel and thinking about dinner.
I WhatsApp’d Miranda and we made plans for dinner, but still couldn’t get ahold of Craig, and Marc was on a business call. It turned out our host Valentina gave him my wrong number. Miranda and I met in the lobby and she suggested calling his hotel room (“How many Craigs could there be?”) – duh! He was up for it and we headed out to Nàpiz' Milano that Miranda had found. Awesome, awesome pizza!! When we sat down, they brought over glasses of prosecco and some “pizza-ish” bread. We ordered 2 pizzas along with wine, then needed another pizza. Craig had never had pizza in Italy before – and this was some of the best I’ve had. In fact, Craig has never been in Europe before. Miranda is vegan but somehow managed to taste the ham on the 3rd pizza. Back to the hotel at 10:30 to get ready for tomorrow at Salone.
Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/g3bMV9y8RAanQwfM8