{"id":113,"date":"2005-12-04T19:22:00","date_gmt":"2005-12-04T19:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sararosso.com\/wordpress\/2005\/12\/04\/december-snow-holidays\/"},"modified":"2011-01-12T11:51:00","modified_gmt":"2011-01-12T09:51:00","slug":"december-snow-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2005\/12\/04\/december-snow-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"December: Snow & Holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ok, there’s no denying it’s December and the holiday season is coming up. Personally I think I’m really lucky as I will only be working about 15 days of this month…this week, I work two days thanks to the Patron Saint of Milan, Sant’Ambrogio, on Wednesday, and the Immaculate Conception<\/a> on Thursday, and then most companies decided to throw in Friday, too! Then, we’re shut down the week between Christmas and New Year’s, and then we’re off to London the first week of January. (Oh yeah, Befana<\/a> is on the 6th of Jan, so we have that off, too!)<\/p>\n

Saturday morning, Sante has a very early-morning start (alarm at 4.30am) and we both woke up to the sound of the snow plower going down our street. What??? It hadn’t snowed for four days, and went to bed snow-free! <\/p>\n

I think at least five inches must have fallen that night. Sante, who had a train at 5.45, left the house to catch the bus at 5.15. No bus passed in either direction, and he went on foot to the train station, about 25 minutes. He said he walked in the middle of the street most of the way because it was like walking through sand on the non-plowed areas.<\/p>\n

Here’s our house, on the left, first floor with that beautiful<\/i> terrace. <\/p>\n

In Milan, there was chaos, with fallen trees blocking streets and the trams being snowed in. On the way home, many trains were cancelled, and Sante waited over an hour for a bus, replacing the train service, to arrive. About 15 minutes into the bus ride home, it gets stuck in the mud, and all the passengers have to walk on foot to the nearest train station, about 1\/2km away. He was happy when he finally got home.<\/p>\n

Today went very early to local mini-mall (9am) and usually they have tastings and free punch or something every afternoon to “reward” their customers, so we knew we would be missing that day’s apple pie or cookie. On our way out, we saw a small gathering around a Christmas tree, and people were tossing ornaments into a box…and walking away with 30-count boxes of Ferrero Rocher<\/a>!! Hold on a minute!!<\/p>\n

Well, as quick as my mind’s lobes connected the boxes of chocolate stacked up next to the sign about the “free” game, I pushed Sante over there. 2 out of 3 balls in the box won. He won easily, and I debated whether I should try as well, which in the end my holiday spirit lost and greed won. It was like taking candy from a multinational corporation. We walked out with 60 Ferrero Rochers, feeling like we had robbed someone, or that someone would say, “Ok, give it back now. It was a joke.” <\/p>\n

Sante remarked that a game like this only worked in the north of Italy, because in Puglia the first few people who discovered this game would have called all their relatives to hurry down there, and probably the one running the game already told everyone the night before, and the prizes would run out in the first five minutes. Thank goodness for that!<\/p>\n

We also passed the gyrating, Yellow-Rose-of-Texas Santa again…this time he was singing the Oo-Ee-Oo-Ah-Ah, Ching-Chang, Walla-walla-bing-bang Witch Doctor song (if you have no idea what I’m talking about, you’re very lucky). Again, another holiday classic!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ok, there’s no denying it’s December and the holiday season is coming up. Personally I think I’m really lucky as I will only be working about 15 days of this month…this week, I work two days thanks to the Patron Saint of Milan, Sant’Ambrogio, on Wednesday, and the Immaculate Conception on Thursday, and then most…<\/p>\n

Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,2,5,13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-113","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-holiday","7":"category-italy","8":"category-milan","9":"category-pavia","10":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4uB1-1P","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2190,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2009\/12\/22\/milans-white-christmas\/","url_meta":{"origin":113,"position":0},"title":"Milan’s White Christmas","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"December 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"A snowstorm struck yesterday in Milan, one that sent my colleagues scurrying home at 4pm (we're usually in the office until 7pm) and none of them arrived home before their normal 7.30-8.00pm return time - there was that much casino craziness and traffic due to the 30+cm (10 inches) of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Italy"","block_context":{"text":"Italy","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/italy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Little yellow car covered in snow, Milan, Italy, December 22, 2009","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2564\/4206069808_c2f9a8dfcd.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":181,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2006\/08\/10\/free-weekend-in-londonwho-could-ask-for-more\/","url_meta":{"origin":113,"position":1},"title":"Free Weekend in London…who could ask for more?","author":"Sara, Ms Adventures in Italy","date":"August 10, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, family and friends, for those of you keeping slight tabs on our whereabouts lately, we were traveling through Heathrow this morning. We're now in High Wycombe in the Holiday Inn, a city where they evacuated 9 houses from suspected terrorists. :) The next available flight to Milan is on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Holiday"","block_context":{"text":"Holiday","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/italy\/holiday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":305,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2007\/02\/26\/carnevale-war-zone\/","url_meta":{"origin":113,"position":2},"title":"Carnevale War Zone in Milan","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"February 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I know you thought Carnevale was on Tuesday, and it's over, right? Wrong. In Milan, Carnevale is on Saturday (due to the Ambrosian rite), and it was this past Saturday. We went to the Duomo area because we heard there was going to be a sfilata, a parade and were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Behind the Scenes"","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The future and the past","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/137\/400899576_8499b387c5.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3932,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2010\/12\/23\/unusual-christmas-decorations-in-milan\/","url_meta":{"origin":113,"position":3},"title":"Unusual Christmas Decorations in Milan","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"December 23, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"One thing that may not be very known about Milan is that it is a city of cranes. And not the feathery, flighty kind. The ugly, disrupt-the-skyline because I'm building something kind. And they are building quite a lot in Milan. This is some of the beauty I can see\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Holidays"","block_context":{"text":"Holidays","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/holidays\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/whatisee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/IMG_3408-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":183,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2006\/08\/17\/ferragosto-il-palio-the-quiet\/","url_meta":{"origin":113,"position":4},"title":"Ferragosto, Il Palio, The Quiet","author":"Sara, Ms Adventures in Italy","date":"August 17, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Folks, I'm changing from Blogger to Wordpress, so bear with me. A few inconsistencies will show up! :) This post was written yesterday. Feel like dating yourself? How many of these GUI Desktop evolutions have you used? We all need a Captain James Kirk pick-me-up: Star Trek Inspirational Posters -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Holiday"","block_context":{"text":"Holiday","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/italy\/holiday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":106,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2005\/11\/18\/crisp-cool-winter-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":113,"position":5},"title":"Crisp, Cool, Winter Day","author":"Sara, Ms Adventures in Italy","date":"November 18, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Today was one of the most beautiful days I've seen in Italy in a long time...clear, sunny and crisp, it was one of those days that made everything sparkle and seem greener, fresher, cleaner. Being from California, it was also one of those days that said: Holidays! Sorry, no snow\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Holiday"","block_context":{"text":"Holiday","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/italy\/holiday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2877,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113\/revisions\/2877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}