Alaska’s Flagship Seattle Lounge - N Terminal

After an early but pleasant flight in F from Houston to Seattle, we landed from the north, flying over the Space Needle and downtown before landing in parallel to a Horizon plane on an adjacent runway.

With many hours to wait until our connecting flight to Bellingham, we decided to use a couple of our passes to visit this relatively new lounge for the first time.

We were wowed! Open spaces, a variety of seating areas, a barista (great cappuccino), a bar, and floor to ceiling views of the runways on three sides.

A couple of these loungers became available, and we’ll  probably spend some time relaxing here.

BA First Class LHR-IAH

Our flight from Linate to Heathrow was somewhat marred by a weird young American whose behavior included stretching his long legs up to plant his feet high on the bulkhead both in hotel slippers and bare feet. He giggled loudly at a video he was watching as well. He wasn’t content simply  to recline his seat, but he was bouncing around in his seat from time to time, and banging into the knees of the passenger behind him - Kathy.

There’s not much pitch (distance) between seats in Business Class on a BA A319, and Kathy finally asked him to be so kind as to not slam his seat back into her knees, to which he grudgingly agreed. The cabin crew confided in Kathy that he’s been drinking too much and kept an eye on him. The remainder of othe flight passed with a minimum of two-year-old behavior on his part.

Our flight landed on time and the FastTrack line in Terminal 5 was non-existent, giving us ample time to visit the Concorde Room, and to dine rather elegantly before boarding our flight.

We exited out a back door with the other beautiful people, took escalators down three floors, and caught a train to the C Gates.

We boarded the BA 777 that was to be our home for the next hours. These newish First  suites are wonderful.

We both slept for a few hours, and felt rested enough to enjoy some snacks, the “Poshcorn” recommended by son Dave, along with some “crisps” for Brian, and a lovely cheese plate for Kathy. We shared.

There’ll be time for “tea” before we land, with various sandwiches and, of course, scones and jam and clotted cream.

A delightful flight with a great crew. This has been British Airways at its best today. 

Marriott Moxy Hotel at Linate

Tiny rooms but a decent and friendly place with a paid €3 shuttle each way to and from the airport.

Linate Airport BA Lounge

We’re relaxing in a pleasant little BA lounge with lots of time before boarding our first flight of the day to London LHR.

There we theoretically have 2 1/2 hours to go through security, staying in Terminal 5 before boarding our flight to Houston.

We overnight (for a few hours) at a Hampton Inn near IAH before catching a 6:00AM flight to Seattle on Alaska, landing at Bellingham about 2:30PM if all goes well.

It’ll be a long couple of travel days, starting with a remote gate at Linate.

Trattoria Novegro 11 - What a Find Near Linate Airport!

Every so often, a website pays off. In this instance it was Trip Advisor as we checked in at the Marriott Moxy Hotel near Linate Airport.

We followed Google Maps with some trepidation, but a quiet walk through back streets on a fairly direct route delivered us to Trattoria Novegro 11 in 10 leisurely minutes.

No prices on the menu? Tourist trap? No, not at all. We must have been at least as entertaining to the locals as they were to us, all sitting at long tables in this tiny joint.

We ordered a risotto with sausage and a tagliatelle to start. They were excellent. Actually, it this first risotto of the trip and it was outstanding.

This was also the best bread we’ve encountered.

For a second course we selected the ribs...

The owner recommends the three mozzarellas, which was an interesting taste in contrasts, from fresh to smokey.

A simple salad of butter lettuce complemented the main dishes nicely.

The owner poured us each a generous sip of Limoncello (after a liter or so of red wine out of a big jug) and added up the evening’s bill to €40.

We pressed a few more euros on him for the ladies in the kitchen. What a memorable evening in this literal “Mom and Pop” operation for our last night of the trip.

Arrivederci Venezia and the Hilton Molino Stucky

We say our goodbyes, trundle our Parmesan-on-wheels over the two bridges connecting us to the Palanca vaporetto stop, a boat quickly arrives, and six stops later we arrive at the Ferrovia.

Along the way, we catch a final look at the Hilton, and notice we’re sharing the water with a barge loaded with two big cement trucks.

Soon we land at the train station.

We buy a couple of Americanos to nurse as we wait to board our train and start the long trip home.

This is our most luxurious train coach yet, #9736 Venice to Milan in about 2 1/2 hours.

It’s suddenly a quick good-by as we leave the station and Venice.

The joys of Business Class include Prosecco. Okay, it’s in a paper cup, but that’s preferable to plastic.