Well... Milan... AMAZING CITY! Everything there was good looking. The shops were all clothes of course, but I kind of figured that. I'll recount the whole trip I guess.
We got up at about 4:30 Saturday morning and drug ourselves to the car to get to the airport (Valerio and I). Neither of us was talking at this point cause we were so tired, because Italian are not used to getting up really early, at least not this early. When we got to the airport we already had the tickets printed out online and checked in, so we just headed through security with no problem. When we got through this we got croissants and drinks, then boarded the plane. The ride wasn't that bad, it was kind of uncomfortable since it was a only a regional flight, but I'm not complaining. The plane landing in a town named Berguga, so we had to take a bus to make it to Milan. When we arrived there we took a cab to the hotel. Driving through the city was really nice looking at all the shops and what-not. We dropped our stuff off at the hotel and I got my camera then we were off.
The first thing we went and saw was a church named Duomo. It was the most intricate thing I've ever seen. Valerio gave me the background on it and explained its Gothic roots and how paintings and sculptures were used to teach when the population couldn't read, so that's why it was so well done. There are pictures on this blog of the church and you can see for yourself. When we walked inside I couldn't believe how frickin big the place was! I could hold a football game in here if it wasn't for the pillars. There were many tombs and gravesight around the inside of the church, and even some of them you saw the actual body which many were hundreds of years old. We then went into the underground part of the place which wasn't very large, but had some old artifacts. Before leaving I bought myself a coin that had pictures of the church engraved on both sides. Then we went into a kind of mall which was also huge. It is called the Galleria. It was open-air, but it had a ceiling, its weird to explain, look at the video. We walked a ways until we hit a theater that I had never heard of before, but apparently it is very very famous. It is called 'La Scala'. Many different peoples and groups have played here such as Pavoratti, Rossini, Verdi, and others. We took a tour of this building and after being inside, I do remember it from movies and pictures and such. A good word to describe the venue is regal. We then went to the shops. Now let me explain something...my eyes were falling out of my head at the prices. We went to a store called Boggi. It is a store for suits and casual menwear. If I spent all the money I have brought to Italy, I couldn't of bought a jacket at this place. For work Valerio bought a really nice suit though. It's neat when the people at the counter say 'Is that all Mr. Vancheri, and how about you Mr. Russell' (even though I didn't tell them my name, but I bet they have their ways). We went out to lunch while we were waiting for that to be taylored. We went to a small Bistro, but across the street was a McDonalds. I didn't get anything (though if they would of had iced mocha coffee I would have gone crazy), but I was curious at what Italian McDonalds have. They have basically the same stuff, but they have other stuff like shrimp and mozzarella balls stuffed with vege's. All McDonalds I have seen have a section for cappicino and expresso. They are actually good too. Then we went to a spanish castle in the middle of the city. We took a tour and saw many fresco's done by Da'Vinci, and there was a huge section for musical instruments that I looked at. Then we went back to the hotel and slept for an hour or two (in accordance with a type of siesta). We went to dinner that night and I had the best steak of my life! It was the meat around a piece of spine from the cow that was really really tender. The side was safron rice (it's much more common here). I have a picture to the left if you can find it. We met with a friend of his and got gelato, then we back to the hotel for the night.
We woke up and packed everything we had and made our way to the Milan train station. The train to the city of Monza was free for ticket holders of the Grand Prix, but it was so stuffed. There was a British couple right next to me and Valerio who were talking their heads off. I made sure to only speak Italian to Valerio so they wouldn't hold back their conversation, cause it was kind of funny. Then the man asked a rhetorical question and Valerio answered it in English. They talked then the man turned to me and asked really slow...' whats...your...name? Do you understand English?' and he gave a thumb's up. At this point I couldn't hold it in and I spoke and said that I understand English fine and that I was the American of the two of us. We all laughed and then we talked about the Grand-Prix and different European events. Then the man said that it was a pretty big day in America, and it took me a second because I completely forgot about 9/11. Then I said yes and changed the subject, cause I was having a good time and I didn't want to get caught in a 9/11 conversation, I just wanted to watch cars go fast. We got of the train and had to walk about 2 miles to our seats and we sat down and watched. We were about 2 hours early, but when the race started, it was great. These cars are going over 270 miles an hour on an actual circuit, not just a giant oval in the middle of nowhere. There were a few crashed, but nothing serious. Something to know is that Italians have national pride in Ferrari. Every single Italian was wearing red (including myself) and yelling their heads off for the Ferrari team. In the end Red-Bull came in 1st and 2nd, and Ferrari in 3rd, but that didn't stop thousands of Italians (that rhymed) from storming the track to pay homage to Gods of Ferrari. After the race we walked a good 4 or 5 miles to a bus which took us back to the train-station in Monza central. We were in such a hurry that we bought tickets and boarded the wrong train headed in the complete opposite direction. We rode to a town named Lecco and I got to see the Alps cause if we had gone any further we would have been in Austria. We quickly hopped on a train going back to where we came and weren't even charged cause the conductor said we've had enough pain by going the wrong way. When we made it back to the airport we had to wait a few hours till we could check in. When I went through security the buzzer went off. I realized I had coins in my pockets and showed them, but I still got a full-body patdown. (I thought later it would of been funny to say it was my heart of gold, but I didn't want to test my limits). Valerio was laughing to the side and made some jokes like asking me if the guard took me to a nice restraunt first or if I gave him my number. I couldn't help but laugh too, then he asked if they found my bombs. I laughed my head off and told him that if he said that in an American airport, especially on 10th ann. of 9/11, he would of been in Guantanimo before he could say 'I'm joking'. Still we laughed because European airports haven't lost the fun of air travel like American airports have. One thing I noticed was that all women who worked in the airport and on the flight were good-looking. I harkened back to the glory-days of Pan-Am when it was a unspoken law for looks to be part of a woman's resume for stewardship. We got back to Catania around 2 and to the house around 2:30 an I fell right asleep.
I woke up and am now writing this blog. The pictures will be to the left. Ciao!
We got up at about 4:30 Saturday morning and drug ourselves to the car to get to the airport (Valerio and I). Neither of us was talking at this point cause we were so tired, because Italian are not used to getting up really early, at least not this early. When we got to the airport we already had the tickets printed out online and checked in, so we just headed through security with no problem. When we got through this we got croissants and drinks, then boarded the plane. The ride wasn't that bad, it was kind of uncomfortable since it was a only a regional flight, but I'm not complaining. The plane landing in a town named Berguga, so we had to take a bus to make it to Milan. When we arrived there we took a cab to the hotel. Driving through the city was really nice looking at all the shops and what-not. We dropped our stuff off at the hotel and I got my camera then we were off.
The first thing we went and saw was a church named Duomo. It was the most intricate thing I've ever seen. Valerio gave me the background on it and explained its Gothic roots and how paintings and sculptures were used to teach when the population couldn't read, so that's why it was so well done. There are pictures on this blog of the church and you can see for yourself. When we walked inside I couldn't believe how frickin big the place was! I could hold a football game in here if it wasn't for the pillars. There were many tombs and gravesight around the inside of the church, and even some of them you saw the actual body which many were hundreds of years old. We then went into the underground part of the place which wasn't very large, but had some old artifacts. Before leaving I bought myself a coin that had pictures of the church engraved on both sides. Then we went into a kind of mall which was also huge. It is called the Galleria. It was open-air, but it had a ceiling, its weird to explain, look at the video. We walked a ways until we hit a theater that I had never heard of before, but apparently it is very very famous. It is called 'La Scala'. Many different peoples and groups have played here such as Pavoratti, Rossini, Verdi, and others. We took a tour of this building and after being inside, I do remember it from movies and pictures and such. A good word to describe the venue is regal. We then went to the shops. Now let me explain something...my eyes were falling out of my head at the prices. We went to a store called Boggi. It is a store for suits and casual menwear. If I spent all the money I have brought to Italy, I couldn't of bought a jacket at this place. For work Valerio bought a really nice suit though. It's neat when the people at the counter say 'Is that all Mr. Vancheri, and how about you Mr. Russell' (even though I didn't tell them my name, but I bet they have their ways). We went out to lunch while we were waiting for that to be taylored. We went to a small Bistro, but across the street was a McDonalds. I didn't get anything (though if they would of had iced mocha coffee I would have gone crazy), but I was curious at what Italian McDonalds have. They have basically the same stuff, but they have other stuff like shrimp and mozzarella balls stuffed with vege's. All McDonalds I have seen have a section for cappicino and expresso. They are actually good too. Then we went to a spanish castle in the middle of the city. We took a tour and saw many fresco's done by Da'Vinci, and there was a huge section for musical instruments that I looked at. Then we went back to the hotel and slept for an hour or two (in accordance with a type of siesta). We went to dinner that night and I had the best steak of my life! It was the meat around a piece of spine from the cow that was really really tender. The side was safron rice (it's much more common here). I have a picture to the left if you can find it. We met with a friend of his and got gelato, then we back to the hotel for the night.
We woke up and packed everything we had and made our way to the Milan train station. The train to the city of Monza was free for ticket holders of the Grand Prix, but it was so stuffed. There was a British couple right next to me and Valerio who were talking their heads off. I made sure to only speak Italian to Valerio so they wouldn't hold back their conversation, cause it was kind of funny. Then the man asked a rhetorical question and Valerio answered it in English. They talked then the man turned to me and asked really slow...' whats...your...name? Do you understand English?' and he gave a thumb's up. At this point I couldn't hold it in and I spoke and said that I understand English fine and that I was the American of the two of us. We all laughed and then we talked about the Grand-Prix and different European events. Then the man said that it was a pretty big day in America, and it took me a second because I completely forgot about 9/11. Then I said yes and changed the subject, cause I was having a good time and I didn't want to get caught in a 9/11 conversation, I just wanted to watch cars go fast. We got of the train and had to walk about 2 miles to our seats and we sat down and watched. We were about 2 hours early, but when the race started, it was great. These cars are going over 270 miles an hour on an actual circuit, not just a giant oval in the middle of nowhere. There were a few crashed, but nothing serious. Something to know is that Italians have national pride in Ferrari. Every single Italian was wearing red (including myself) and yelling their heads off for the Ferrari team. In the end Red-Bull came in 1st and 2nd, and Ferrari in 3rd, but that didn't stop thousands of Italians (that rhymed) from storming the track to pay homage to Gods of Ferrari. After the race we walked a good 4 or 5 miles to a bus which took us back to the train-station in Monza central. We were in such a hurry that we bought tickets and boarded the wrong train headed in the complete opposite direction. We rode to a town named Lecco and I got to see the Alps cause if we had gone any further we would have been in Austria. We quickly hopped on a train going back to where we came and weren't even charged cause the conductor said we've had enough pain by going the wrong way. When we made it back to the airport we had to wait a few hours till we could check in. When I went through security the buzzer went off. I realized I had coins in my pockets and showed them, but I still got a full-body patdown. (I thought later it would of been funny to say it was my heart of gold, but I didn't want to test my limits). Valerio was laughing to the side and made some jokes like asking me if the guard took me to a nice restraunt first or if I gave him my number. I couldn't help but laugh too, then he asked if they found my bombs. I laughed my head off and told him that if he said that in an American airport, especially on 10th ann. of 9/11, he would of been in Guantanimo before he could say 'I'm joking'. Still we laughed because European airports haven't lost the fun of air travel like American airports have. One thing I noticed was that all women who worked in the airport and on the flight were good-looking. I harkened back to the glory-days of Pan-Am when it was a unspoken law for looks to be part of a woman's resume for stewardship. We got back to Catania around 2 and to the house around 2:30 an I fell right asleep.I woke up and am now writing this blog. The pictures will be to the left. Ciao!
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