An Exciting Weekend....

Date : Friday 14th March 2014

Time : 13.32

Location : Wyatt International, Birmingham

Office Ice Cream ...

What is that burning ball of light in the sky? 

It's such a rare occurrence that us Brits actually get some sun - that it needs to be celebrated in any and every way possible. 

On Friday, after a serious office discussion, we decided to nip over to the newsagents to celebrate the mild heat with a cheeky office ice cream session. 

On the way over, we exchanged our favourite ice creams. I was happy to teach my colleagues about the delights of the continental Maxibon - just out of this world! Solero was a bit favourite, as, of course, was the classy Magnum...

You can imagine our disappointment when an army (4 of us) turned up to see a completely empty ice cream fridge. Panic ensues. 

We did locate a second freezer which had limited choice, notably

- Strawberry Cornetto

- Mint Magnum

- Chocolate Magnum

- 20p fruit lollies (the really long thin ones).

I went Strawberry Cornetto - as the best of a bad selection - and I must admit, I was slightly disgruntled. It got to the stage where the cone was no longer crispy - just quite soft and rubbery. 

Oh well. 

Lesson's learnt today - 20p fruit lollies .... you know where you stand with them. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date : Saturday 15th March 2014

Time : 18.28 (Local Time)

Location : Piazza del Duomo Milan, Italy

What a place.... 

As I mentioned towards the end of last week - I have spent this weekend just gone, on an all expenses paid trip to Milan, courtesy of Indesit and Arsenal. It was a fantastic weekend - so I'll share some of the highlights! 

This is the Duomo di Milano - simply, Milan Cathedral. The one regret is that this picture just doesn't do it any justice whatsoever. This cathedral is insane - It only took the 600 years to build (they must have been the same builders that build Wembley Stadium ... Football joke - sorry!). It's no wonder it took so long to build though, it's made entirely of marble and comprises more that 3400 individual statues. 

Inside is equally as impressive, the mammoth stained glass windows (the biggest in the world) and the perfectly patterned marble floor are a site to behold. 

This is the very building where Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned King of Italy in 1805 - this fact alone got me thinking about school, and history lessons. You read and learn about a number of events in history, but it really hits you when you're there, in that very spot where something happened 209 years ago. 

Excuse me whilst I remove my philosophical hat ....  

Stomping on bulls nuts...

From the cathedral we made the short walk to the magnificent Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II - one of the worlds oldest shopping malls. 

It's known as 'The Living Room of Milan' and has enough shopping to suffice even the greatest spendthrift. 

Interestingly, no brand colours or identity is allowed above the names of each shop. It must be displayed in plain gold text on a black background. 

Up to 3 years ago, McDonald's had a prime spot in The Galleria - providing a more upmarket offering, along with the traditional Big Mac and co! This McDonald's served wine, pizza and pasta - interesting. 

Since, McDonald's has relocated outside the centre, with everyone's favourite devil gear, Prada, occupying not just one, but two prime spots. 

Interestingly, when I went to Milan about 5 years ago, we ate in The Galleria, and also had a go on the lucky bulls balls. What?!

There is a mosaic of a bull on the floor, and - supposedly - if you spin on your heel twice, it's supposed to give you good luck. Cobblers if you ask me - we were already lucky enough to be in Milan in the first place! 

On Saturday evening we did what all good Italians do. 

We ate. We drank. We conquered .... (that doesn't quite work, does it...) - But we did eat and drink!! The complimentary wine was flowing a little too nicely! 

Lesson of the day - appreciate culture ..... and stop being so philosophical.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date : Sunday 161th March 2014

Time : 10.46am (Local Time)

Location : Museo del Novecento, Milan

The Battle of Horse and Man

At least - that's what I think this was called. 

I think I forgot to mention, I was in Milan with my good friend Robert - he must have thought he'd struck the lottery when I called him about it last week! 

We decided on Sunday morning to visit one of Milan's many art exhibitions. I've never really been into art that much - but it's something I'm open to viewing more of in the future. 

I really enjoyed going around at my own pace, seeing what I was drawn to. That's when I found this picture. I was intrigued. 

I couldn't work out the scaling - is it a tiny room, with normal sized men, but a really short (and long) horse... or is the room normal sized, the horse is still abnormally long, and the men are complete giants (chap on the right, I'm looking at you)...

The thing I really enjoyed, was being able to interpret something in a totally unique way - versus someone else, whom could have a totally different view to yours. There's no right or wrong answer, people see and believe what they want to believe. 

Stadio Guiseppe Meazza

Following a morning of frolicking around art galleries - it was time to head the the San Siro for the main event. 

AC Milan v Parma. I knew from my vast footballing brain (the internet) that Milan are doing badly this season - very badly indeed. It's actually a bit of a shame, because they have a good (ish) squad and a strong young manager. It was sure to be an interesting game, regardless - though, Italian football is not at all famous for it's free-flowing style. We agreed that if we saw more than 2 goals we'd be extremely satisfied. 

Pre-match, we were whisked into a lounge with food and drinks (the wine was flowing again) before being shown to our seats. 

The San Siro is a wonderful stadium. 80,000 passionate fans willing the Rossoneri (The Red and Blacks) on. The atmosphere on a match day is extremely intimidating - at least, that's what it was like when I was in Milan 5 years ago. Not so much yesterday. 

If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say there was about 25-30,000 Milan fans, and no more than 300 travelling Parma fans. 

I was perplexed by the apparent hatred for some chap called Balotelli - I don't know if anyone's ever heard of him? 

The game itself was decent... Well, more than decent. A flavour for what was to come was dished up with the sending off of the Milan 'keeper after 5 minutes, and tucking away of the subsequent penalty by Inter Milan old boy Antonio Cassano. The Rossoneri was not best please. 

1-0 became 2-0 and the game was running away from Milan, until a Balotelli penalty made the last 20 minutes interesting. And interesting it was when Rami (a centre back who had only been on the pitch about 3 minutes) popped up with the equalising header. 

But Parma had too much for Milan, grabbing two goals late on - a special team goal finished with a cheeky back heel from Aumari, and a classic diving header from Biabiany with the last kick of the game ensured the points went back with Parma. 

6 goals. 2 penalties. 1 red card. Not bad. 

Oh. And Arsenal won too. North London supremacy is once again confirmed. 

It wouldn't be a trip to Italy without a cheeky slice - so at the airport after the game it was only fair to dabble with a margarita - the biggest slice of pizza known to man, it should be pointed out. 

Epic pizza slice... 

This has been a cracking weekend. Great fun, great company, we met some really nice people and loved the city. I would go back in a heartbeat - massively recommend to anyone that gets the chance to go! 

Lesson of the day - ENTER ALL THE COMPETITIONS!!!