Taxis, angels and ice cream

Angels, taxis and ice cream are today's themes. Angels just because and taxis because I'd like to share snippets of Milan's taxis with the author of that great blog about the life of a NYC taxi driver, and ice cream because I promised to report on Milan's ice cream, and a promise is a promise....More......

Sunday's (Nov. 28) blog entry was dedicated to Milan's taxis and a great NYC cab driver blog I follow (http://www.nyctaxiphoto.com/). The light wasn't the best--cold cloudy day with a few snow flakes--and, since I use the automatic settings on my camera (I've learned some of the manual settings, but get a chance to use them so seldom, that I forget...it's easier to keep the limitations of the automatic settings in mind, and use them as "light painting" techniques, rather than seeing them as hindrances), any movement became a blur.

Good light yesterday and today,
so yesterday I snapped the yellow taxi stand phone thingamajig especially handy for independent drivers not belonging to a consortium. Calls go straight to this phone/intercom thing, the next cabbie in line answers, and is off to pick up the caller. Less handy for clients, though. If there are no cabs waiting, the phone just rings, and rings, and rings, whereas the consortiums are able to radio all their cabs, to see which of their available drivers is closest to the caller. Can't remember if the independent drivers cost less--they should, if there are no network costs--, but I doubt it.

Today, an equally chilly but lovely day, I snapped two taxis waiting at a stand just behind Milan's brand new museum dedicated to 20th century art. Retrofitted into a pre-WWII structure, it is so new that it literally has been open only a few days. More on it in a later post.



And now, the ice cream. I've passed this fairly new shop a few times. "Hmmm, are they trying to be clever?," I wondered to myself,"what could they mean by 'side G?' Is it a funny take on the Italian way to refer to the derriere, especially of a woman ['side B'/'lato B']?" My only excuse is that I always was passing on the tram, too fast to ponder it, and then forgot. Til I passed on foot the other day, and finally got it (I'm not usually this slow, honest): "G-Lato"...gelato...aaahhh. There's also the catch phrase in discutable taste (no pun intended).

The inside of the store is modern, but the sidewalk seating is delightfully kitschy, something that has only just started to catch on in Italy, at least in Milan. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and lots of people might find it difficult to attribute beauty to these little guys, but they sure are lots of fun.

Now for the important bits...the ice cream is spectacularly delicious.

Thick.

Creamy.

Tasty.

A bit pricey, but worth it.

Oh, the sacrifices of a gelato critic.