While at home this past winter, we decided to keep the boat projects to a minimum. We had done most everything on the "To Do" list during the last three winters in Turkey, plus Berkeley East was in a boat yard where little English was spoken so communicating BE's needs was challenging. Before leaving Italy last fall (with the help of Google Translate) we arranged a couple of preventative maintenance projects, including the servicing of the motor and gearbox that furls Berkeley East's mainsail inside the mast. This is supposed to be done every five years, but ours continued to work perfectly year after year, so why fix something that isn't broken? This is a philosophy that we live by in most every aspect of our lives, but with cruising, you really don't want things to break while in a remote location, so after 10 years, we finally acquiesced and sent a perfectly good piece of equipment in for "preventative maintenance."




The company that makes the motor is in Sweden, but it is actually manufactured in Slovenia, a small country just across from Fano, Italy where Berkeley East was wintering. So one might think the motor would just go to Slovenia for maintenance. But instead it was shipped to Sweden then (apparently due to its age), the motor was sent to the UK, where they proceeded to break it. We're pretty sure the technician tested our 12-volt motor on a 24-volt system. After days with riggers and electricians working onboard Berkeley East, testing and rewiring, it was concluded that the motor was dead. Ultimately, the manufacturer agreed to send a replacement. But first they had to find one, make some modifications, and then ship, all starting domaini (tomorrow).




It sounded simple, domani (tomorrow), then domani. Now the question was what to do while waiting? Boat work? Or travel? We decided to do a little of both in Umbria.

You may wonder what kind of boat work we would do in Umbria, a landlocked region known for its landscapes, traditions, history, artistic legacy, and wine. Wine is the operative word here, as BE's wine bilge was nearly empty, so wine provisioning was an essential boat chore.




We had been to Umbria five years before and loved the countryside and hill towns. On that trip, we did a lot of wine tasting, but this visit, we were on a mission and there was no time to dawdle. We stopped at a few of our favorite wineries and acquired their best varietals until our little Volkswagon rental car was struggling to get up the hills. We stayed in Spello, a small town that we fell in love with one evening five years ago, where we met some Californians at a cute enoteca who rented an apartment and spent half their year there. That evening we began making a plan that some day, when we are done cruising, we will do the same; stay in favorite towns and cities around the world for months, rather than days, at a time.









We found the same restaurant and spent another wonderful evening conversing with the owner (through Italian interpreters) and met another American family that had bought a place in Spello and split their time between Miami and Italy. We wondered if we should stay another day and look at real estate. But our motor was coming domaini (tomorrow), so it was back to Berkeley East with our ship's stores (wine).

Holiday? What holiday? It turned out that Monday was a holiday in the UK, and domaini (tomorrow) was no longer possible. Now it was Martedi (Tuesday). We stowed our wine purchases in BE's bilge, and thought about what to do over the weekend. We could replace toilet hose, or go to Venice. It was a very tough choice.








This was our fourth visit to Venice. We love the beautiful canaled city and were happy to spend more time there. But it wasn't all pleasure. Like Umbria, we had a goal: finding the perfect piece of Murano glass. One would think this would be a simple, pleasant task, but neither of us are good shoppers. We had shopped for Murano glass before and could never bring ourselves to spend the money. Then, last year, we inherited a beautiful piece of Murano glass, the Ivins Family vase, which had a wonderful story about its purchase.




So we decided that if these very frugal people could part with the dollars for a memory, we could too, and we decided to find the perfect companion piece. After two days of wandering through Murano and Venice galleries, finding many lovely pieces of art that met our requirements, we decided to let the family vase stand on its own (guess we are even more frugal than the previous generation). We gave up on shopping and flew the drone, before heading back to Berkeley East for our Martedi (Tuesday) delivery.



CLICK PLAY AND THEN EXPAND THE VIDEO OF US IN VENICE ITALY


No holidays, no excuses, also no guarantees. Now it was Mercoledì (Wednesday) definitely Mercoledì (Wednesday), which to us, also meant domani (tomorrow). Ha! Mercoledi la prossima settimana (Wednesday, next week). We drowned our sorrows in Italian food, and made a plan to work on Berkeley East for the week, as there are always many boat projects to do. Then, one of us said, "Milano is just a train ride away!"





We had never been to Milan before, so there were no goals to meet, no missions to accomplish. This was simply a trip to soak up the atmosphere, and explore the sights. Milan is the second richest city in the European Union, after Paris. The city is a major world fashion and design capital, so most people go there to shop. Luckily for us bad shoppers, there is much more to do in Milan than try on clothes. We spent four days exploring, and even did a little window shopping.





The 100th running of the Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) finished right next to our hotel while we were in Milan. The event had 161 riders cycling over 3,600 kilometers, and in the end, the top three finishers were just 40 seconds apart. Thousands of spectators lined the streets to cheer on the riders as they screamed through Milan into the Piazza where even more people waited to see them cross the finish line. We were fortunate to be in town, and find excellent seats to watch the riders.





Duomo di Milano, the gothic cathedral, took nearly six centuries to complete. It is the largest church in Italy, and the fifth largest in the world. Its archetecture includes more statues than any other building in the world. There are 3,400 statues, 135 gargoyles and 700 figures. Cannels were built specifically to bring the marble and stone to the building site. Some are still in existence in southern Milano. From the rooftop you can fully appreciate the architecture, and the complexity of this cathedral.







Milan is recognized internationally as one of the world's most important fashion capitals, with most of the major Italian fashion houses and labels based there incuding Armani, Bottega Veneta, Dolce & Gabbana, Trussardi, Valentino, Versace and Ermenegildo Zegna, to name a few. Mary admired a Dolce & Gabbana fish dress, but decided, given the 5,000€ price tag, she'd rather buy some shoes.





We couldn't leave Milan without seeing L'Ultima Cena, The Last Supper. The mural covering an entire wall was painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the late 15th century. The painting represents the scene of The Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples. Leonardo depicted the consternation that occurred among the disciples when Jesus announced that one of them would betray him. It was truly beautiful.





Upon returning to the marina from Milan, the motor was not there yet but it would be there domaini (tomorrow). And finally, domani did happen. Once installed, we held our breath as we pressed the button and the sail glided out of the mast, and back in again. After 38 days and many wonderful experiences, Berkeley East, and crew, were finally ready to leave Italy, domani.