The In-Laws come to Italy!

My in-laws (Josh's mom Laura, and her husband Mike) arrived on October 6th and were a welcome sight! It was so great to see family in Italy!! Some people were shocked that I was so excited to see my in-laws, but what can I say... they are fantastic! I consider myself lucky that I married into such a wonderful family!

a regular that works on the street selling flowers/animals
made out of vegetables

 
They arrived in Milan in the morning and we had most of the day to bum around Milan (and try to keep them awake). They didn't sleep much on the flight over, so they were running mainly on adrenaline (and coffee) that day. Of course, I got a sinus infection a few days before they arrived. This seems to always be the case when I see them! Last year at BOTH Thanksgiving and Christmas I was sick when I saw them. I'm seeing a pattern here... Luckily we had some mucinex that took care of the problem. That stuff is my new best friend :)

the  massive bronze doors at the duomo

We showed them our apartment, then went downtown to show them the center of Milano. We grabbed lunch near my offices at a little caffetteria, then walked to grab some American coffee (a welcome sight to Mike!!), and toured the Doumo and Galleria. Josh and I recently learned that one of the mosaics in the Galleria has a "hole" that you stick you heel into, make a wish and turn around once in. Italians are very superstitious so there is always something that you touch or do for good luck. Apparently doing this will make your wish come true. So, we had to try it for ourselves. Only time will tell if my wish comes true :) And no... I'm not going to tell what it is!

main sanctuary inside the Duomo

a creepy statue in the Duomo that catches
 my eye every time

bronze doors at the Duomo- you rub the
legs to ward off bad luck

At the Galleria

Of course, we also had to show them Via Monte Napoleone (the famous shopping street) and show them the Ferragamo store. A little background on that- Laura's ex-brother in law lives here in Italy (Josh and I call him Uncle Joe and see him pretty regularly). He currently works for Ferragamo, so Laura was curious to see what he does. She was excited to see the men's store that was just completely remodeled and opened about a month ago. Although, she may have felt a little shy because she didn't want to go in.


We hit the grocery store after that to pick up food for dinner. I was so preoccupied with cleaning and recovering from my sinus infection in the week leading up to their arrival that I didn't have time to run to the grocery store. So... we subjected them to our grocery store Esselunga. They enjoyed it! I forget how fun it is to see how grocery shopping is in other countries. Josh wanted them to get the Milanese cuisine that he has perfected, so he made some Risotto alla Milanese. Of course, it was a big hit!

The placement of the hole was interesting...

At this time (about 8PM) they were so exhuasted that Laura could hardly keep her eyes open at the table. Josh enjoyed making fun of her for that! But we decided it was time for bed.

The next day we were on our way to Venice. Stay tuned!