17 March 09

What a day! Yesterday I woke up super early after the worst night of sleep ever. The bed I’m sleeping on is a total kidney buster – worse than Jenny’s bed. Michelle didn’t believe me about how hard it was until she sat on it herself. Her face was priceless. Told you so. ;)

Anywho, the early wake up was alright as it got us to the Duomo that much earlier. Before we got there, we ran into quite an unexpected sight. We were walked to the metro by our hotel when we heard some squaking sounds. They were coming from behind a vine-covered fence, so we went to peak in and see what was going on. We were definitely not ready for what we saw. There, in the middle of MIlan, were a dozen......pink flamingos! Within the gate was a really lovely yard/garden, complete with small flamingo pond. Crazy, huh? We thought so.

The flamingos in the middle of Milan:


A random beautiful building on our walk to the metro:


When we got to the Duomo, I was knocked over with the sight of it. Holy impressive. That church is massive and very, very ornate. We started by taking a couple of shots outside, then headed inside.

The Duomo. Isn't it huge?


Another shot of the outside. I love this picture; I feel like it should come with a choir of angels singing in the background:


A statue in the Piazza del Duomo. As my hilarious friend Nikki pointed out, Ray-Ban should be boycotted for this:


A shot of me standing in front of one of the main doors. I look so tiny!


The floor was so beautiful. It was a flower-patterned marble, but the pattern was really large. They laid it out in black, tan and white, which somehow made the large, bold pattern more subtle.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but I found this picture online showing the floor:


There were also these huge columns (you would need like four arms to fit around one) that were scalloped at the base to compliment the floral pattern in the floor. So beautiful. As for the ceiling, I have no idea how to tall it was, but it was quite breathtaking. And then there was the glass. They had these gorgeous stained glass windows all down the sides with three super large windows at the back. I counted, and they were about twelve normal panes wide and probably thirty high. They were unbelievable beautiful – I have never seen stained glass windows that size. While I was looking at them, two bishops (?) and a priest walked out of a small enclosed chapel. It was actually a striking image of them in their bright purple robes against the color glass of the large windows. If only we were allowed to take pictures inside...

The large stained glass window from the outside. Look at the size of it!


After looking around the inside, we went to find roof access. I wanted to take the lift to save my knee, but the man there told me and this old lady (with two canes) that it was closed and to take the lift on the other side. We both thought there was only the one lift, but we were like, “Okay, I guess he knows better than us.” So we walked all the way around to where the stairs were only for them to tell us there was no lift on that side, but the lift on the other side was open. We told them it wasn’t and they assured us it was. So we walked all the way around again just to have the lift operator once again tell us it was closed. We told him his friends on the other side said it should be open and asked him why it was closed. He said he didn’t know, but that there was a gate in front of it with a “closed” sign. So we walked all the way around again to inform the stair operators that the lift was indeed closed. They were sticking to their guns that it wasn’t, but I really didn’t have time to wait around for them to get their act together. I paid for my stairs ticket, sucked up the pain and walked up. Once I got to the top, I started walking around when – oh my stars – I ran into the lady with the two canes. I looked at her, rather bewildered, and she said, “The lift operator was wrong. It was open and they let me up.” I can’t even begin to tell you how mad I was. But I told myself not to let it spoil my experience.

The view at the top of the Duomo was nice, but I mostly enjoyed seeing the detail of the cathedral itself so upclose. We spend quite a bit of time at the top, taking pictures and enjoying the view.

A collage of the Duomo. Click on it to view it larger:


When we were done, I told Michelle I was going to try to take the lift back down. I went over to where the lift was and called it up. I explained to the lift operator that he had told me the lift was closed several times, so I had sucked it up and climbed the stairs on a bad knee. I offered to pay the extra 2,00E for the elevator ticket, but he would not let me ride back down. I reminded him once again that it was him who wrong and wouldn’t let me up the lift in the first place and that I had a hurt knee that killed, especially when walking down stairs. All he could reply was “No possible.” I could have hit him. Seriously. I was so angry, tears were forming in my eyes. But I held my fist, and my ready-to-let-him-really-have-it tongue, and painfully (and sloooowly) gimped down the stairs. That totally had me peeved for a while, but I again told myself not to let some moron’s incompetence ruin my day. I was, after all, in Milan, Italy – how bad could it really be?!?!

After the Duomo we walked through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. The entrance and ceiling are very cool, but the inside is much smaller than I thought it would be. It wasn’t really as impressive as it looks in pictures. I did, however, get a supermodel pic in front of Prada.

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II:



Me posing in front of Prada:


After the gallery we exited right in front of the Teatro alla Scala, Milan’s famous opera house where Verdi premiered almost all of his operas.

The outside of Teatro alla Scala:


We went inside and wow – definitely one of my favorite places of the trip so far. (Sorry though, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside.) All of the walls are upholstered with the richest stain fabrics: cyan with kelly green embroidery, spicy orange with deep red, sunset yellow with robin’s egg blue – each color pure and luscious. There are gorgeous teardrop chandeliers in the main gallery, with cream walls and gold-gilded trim and filigree. The opera house itself has a small orchestra section with red velvet chairs; the rest of the house is lined with private boxes upholstered in red on red fabrics with white and gold wood.

While we were there, there was a crew of musicians preparing for a concert. One of the men was tuning pianos and, when he finished, the mater pianist came out to place his pianos. He would play, move the piano a couple of inches, play again, move it a centimeter or two, play it again, move it again, etc. It went on for about ten minutes before we realized he was going to be awhile. He was an incredible pianist though and the acoustics were insane – it was like he was playing right next to me, but we were all the way at the back of the house.

After listening to Mr. Piano Man, we went and sat in the gallery for a bit. Michelled noticed two champagne flutes tucked behind one of the decorative busts. I can’t imagine 1) how incredible the operas there must be, and 2) how elegant the entire affair must be. I have decided it is a new life goal for me to attend an opera at La Scala. And for whatever reason, I actually have hope it will happen.

After touring the opera house we went through the La Scala Museum. They had antique instruments (my favorite was this white, striated glass flute); jewelry and props from old operas; portraits of famous composers, maestros and performers; even playing cards, spyglasses, fans and snuff boxes people left behind in their boxes after performances. They even had a lock of Verdi’s hair, which was actually kind of creepy. Despite the hair, I loved every minute of it.

After La Scala we headed over to San Siro stadium, the entrance to which we could not find. As we were trying to find the entrance, Michelle walked on ahead of me (since she could walk a lot faster) to see what she could find. As I was hobbling along a ways behind her, this nice businessman (not at all creepy) got out of his car and offered me a ride to wherever I was going. It took me a while to figure out what he was saying, as he spoke no English, but when I did finally get it I just gushed a big smile and thanked him for asking. It was sooooo nice of him to see this struggling, hobbling girl and offer her a ride, especially since it looked like he had somewhere important to be. I hope he got major points in heaven for that one.

After that fun escapade we headed to Castello Sforzesco. That place was way bigger than I thought it would be and quite pretty. There is ivy all over it, but the leaves weren’t out yet – I can’t imagine how beautiful it must look when it’s all grown over.

Some quick pics of Castello Sforzesco:





As we were walking in, we got hammered by a bunch of guys selling “good luck” bracelets. One kept following me and would not go away, so to get rid of him I said, “gratis” (free), and let him put one on quick and then walked away. So annoying. One got Michelle too and kept calling after me, “Sister! Sister!” but I just kept on walking. We finally got away from them, which was amazing because they really were some determined bastards, and looked around the castle quick. We sat down for a little break, but I was absolutely starving by this point, so we went back out to a little restaurant and shared a margherita pizza. Yummy!

A lovely shot of me eating my delicious pizza:


After our delicious pizza we went back around the castle to Parco Sempione, which was a lovely park. There were lots of people lounging around, walking their dogs or their kids, just lazying. As we were looking for a spot to claim as our own, we saw a group of people dancing on some stone bleachers. We walked over to where they were and found they were filming a music video or movie or something. They had a bunch of people in business wear danching, with different people coming out in front to do freestyle solos. The best was this Indian guy in a black jacket – dude got busy! The song was in Italian: “A is for ____, B is for ____, C is for ____, D is for ____, E is for ____.” Super, super, super catchy! We sat and watched them for a good two hours. They danced on the stairs, by the lake, on the bridge – it was fantastic. And the dances were so uber-cheesy, it was classic.

The dancers at Parco Sempione. The second picture has the wicked awesome Indian guy bustin' a move on that front stone:



After that excitement we metroed over to the fashion district. Gucci, Prada, Valentino, Alfaretti – store after store of top name designers and super chic clothes. There was even a 13,700E dress at Ralph Lauren. Holy crazy. My favorite, however, was this gorgeous turquoise gown at Valentino. That dress, a wide diamond bracelet and a metallic clutch – I’d be ready for the Oscars. It was really fun window shopping, but we didn’t dare go inside one of the store as we probably couldn’t afford so much as a tissue at any of them.

My Valentino dress:


After our little coveting session we went to find food. Turns out the restaurants in Milan don’t even open until 7:00 or 7:30. So instead of getting dinner, we got gelato! We went to this renowned place, RivaReno Gelato. I got one scoop chocolate, one scoop mascarpone with nutella drizzled into the bottom of a waffle bowl. In the instant I took that first bite of chocolate, my life changed forever. The texture, so smooth and velvety. The taste, so rich and pure. I can die happy now. Seriously.

My second bite of the perfection that is gelato. (My first bite was too special to share.):


We chilled around the gelato place for a while (surfing the free internet and attempting to type on their cool-looking but completely impractical keyboards) and then headed out to dinner. We found a place close by and were the only Americans there the whole time we were eating – a very good sign. I had bruschetta and spaghetti pomodoro (my meal of choice in Italy). It was amazing. The flavor was just so dang good. Michelle ordered a calzone and I just about died when they brought it out – it was like twice the size of her head! I couldn’t stop laughing, it was so awesome. The impressive thing is that she totally ate most of it.

Michelle's ginormous calzone. (I had to rip this pic off Facebook, so I don't know how great the quality will be):


While we ate, we were sitting next to these two guys. They spoke Italian and I totally felt like they were talking about us the whole time. I’m sure they weren’t, but when I can’t understand what someone else is saying, I usually assume they’re talking about me. Toward the end of our meal, someone got up and went to the bathroom, which was right behind us. All of a sudden they turned on the hand dryer, which was super loud! It gave Michelle and me a start, and then we just started laughing. I pretended I was being blown away, and the guys next to us started laughing so hard – I guess they thought that was pretty funny. We all laughed about it for a while and, just as we were getting over it, someone else went in and turned the blower on. Too funny. The guys left shortly after, but it was nice to leave on good terms – I felt much less self-conscious knowing I had made them laugh.

After dinner we headed back to the hostel to rest up for our next big day. I can’t say I was excited to sleep on that rock hard bed, but I was excited to see “The Last Supper”, ride my first train and go to Venice all in the next day. It’s going to be a fun one!