La vita e bella … and it’s stylish, too

Northern Italians think that they are the “real” Italy. The rest of Italy – and this should come as no surprise – has a different opinion. Yet there’s no denying that Milan is more reminiscent of the rest of Europe than it is of, say, Palermo. Milan’s streets are wide and tree-lined, and the Milanese walk around – generally speaking – as if they were looking for a runway to strut down.

The contrast with Greece couldn’t be more pronounced. The Greeks , even in Athens, have more in common with Eastern Europe fashion than the least fashionable Milanese – not that being compared with, say, Poland is any insult. The average Polish college student makes the average Eastern Washington University undergraduate look as if he/she went to Joe’s Barber College and School of Style.

Baggy pants and baseball caps worn backward have still to catch on in Italy, and it was evident nowhere in our nine days of travel in Greece except on television. Oh, you do see the occasional exception in Italy, as we did in Como when we saw the kids doing their best Tony Hawk impressions. But that’s a rare sight. For the most part, Italians would rather wear Gucci than North Face – even, if they could get away with it, on the ski slopes of the Dolomiti.

None of this, of course, has anything to do with the fact that our European jaunt is nearly over. Sitting here, having killed a bottle of good red wine, tapping computer keys that feel as unfamiliar as dollar bills look dully green, it’s just a way of rethinking all that we’ve done over the past few weeks – and all we have left to do.

Mary Pat and I are already planning our next visit abroad. Maybe Spain. Maybe Morocco. Maybe Australia or New Zealand. Wherever it is, we’ll be looking to experience all that we can, looking for life as we find it – and making it as “real” as we can.

Preferably without the baseball cap.