On Christmas Day, we had a few people over and during one of our conversations with friends, I tried to explain about a misunderstanding that happened before we moved here.  Of course, without a lot of thought I am fairly rubbish at telling a story, as N pointed out, and V ended up completing the story.  So I will try to be faithful to the version he told, which was far better anyway.

About 3 years ago, we came to Italy in the weeks leading up to Christmas.  We stayed at a nice hotel near the Duomo and it snowed a little as well, so with the lights it had a real Christmassy feel.

We liked particular areas of Milan, as tourists, such as the area around the Duomo, the Golden Quadrilateral and, in particular, the Brera district, one of the few areas that were not bombed out of existence during the war and where they have renovated a lot of the old buildings.  There are many restaurants and in the evening, often, the street traders come out to sell famous-names, rip-off, handbags, jeans, shoes, etc.

So, as we go to the Brera, at the end of the main street (Via Fiori Chiari), there is a ‘banner’ in lights which says ‘Brera’.  The rest of the street is lit by lights (usually white, which is particularly stunning).  We enjoyed strolling down there, looking at the, now mostly closed – it was late evening – shops and picking our restaurant for our evening meal.

We went back to the hotel and noticed at the end of the street was another of the ‘banners’ in lights.  This one saying ‘Auguri’.  So, we thought, we are in the Auguri district.

The Auguri banners were all around the Duomo, at the end of streets leading to the Duomo.

The next night we went to the Navigli district, where the canals are.  This is further from the Duomo than the Brera district, in a southerly direction (Brera is to the west of the Duomo).  Then, we didn’t really like it so much, but there are lots of bars and restaurants and now, we realise, it is a great area.  At the ends of the streets were more banners – also spelling out ‘Auguri’.  Wow, we thought, this district is huge.

We were only there for a long weekend, but had to go east from the Duomo at one point.  After some time we hit more of the banners, again spelling out ‘Auguri’.  Our suspicion was roused.  How can this whole area be the Auguri district?

Of course, then, or sometime later, we found out that the word Auguri means something like Best Wishes or Greetings, so it was not a district at all, but just wishing everyone a Happy Christmas!  We felt a little foolish, but at least when people were wishing us ‘Auguri’, we weren’t responding with ‘Brera’.

So, as this is the first post of 2007 – may I wish you all Brera!  I hope the year brings with you much happiness.