O mio MILANO caro!

Final stop: Milan, Italy!

First off, we flew into Milano Bergamo airport around 9:30 Friday evening, so we couldn't do much the first night except find the hostel and get some food. Not so bad considering the fact that Italian food is amazing and we were incredibly tired from flying all afternoon.


After Monica and I settled in and put our things down at the hostel, one of the ladies there was nice enough to take us to a restaurant around the corner that she goes to a lot for pizza. Here's a picture of us at the restaurant!




It was definitely a nice place- think white table cloths and a lobster tank at the front. Aaand the pizzas were huge and cost about 4-6 euros depending on the pizza! We were really happy about that.





I've been to Italy before with my mom, and I remembered from the last time that the food portions were pretty big, so I suggested we split a plate. It was definitely a good decision to do that because the calzone we ordered was huge!






Here's a size comparison: to the left is Monica's pointer finger. And it was about 2.5 Monica's-pointer-finger-lengths wide.

Oh, and it was delicious too! Ham, mozzarella cheese, tomatoes... it's making me hungry again.





Ok, now about our "hostel" (if you can call it that)! Picture this: you walk into the main office, say you have a reservation, take care of the paperwork, and then they send you with someone to take you to your room.
You follow them down the stairs.
Then outside.
Then into the next building.
Then up about 7 flights of stairs.
Then into some older lady's apartment who just happens to have some free twin beds in her place.
And then you find out that this is your room.

Wait... what?

Yep, this was probably the strangest hostel we've stayed in so far. When I think of a hostel, I usually think of a smaller version of a hotel, almost like how 4-H camp was when I was younger. Bunk beds, community areas, toast for breakfast. Modest, but good for a few nights stay. But in Milan we ended up at Grandma Italia's house! I think this will be a story for my kids (ha ha).

Here's Monica passed out on her twin bed. I'm glad we got the good beds- the one on the other wall had this weird dip in the middle that looked like a morning back ache waiting to happen!

This is just an educated guess, but I think our 'house mother' was catholic. :)

And if the pictures of the Virgin Mary and the Pope didn't give her away, it was probably the intense smell of incense in the apartment.

But we can handle anything! Just another adventure to remember when Monica and I meet again after study abroad is over.

Here's the apartment complex where we stayed.

And here's one of the several flights of stairs and the broken elevator in the middle!

Hmm no windows either...

I'll admit the place was a little sketchy, but at least it had character! Whether we were coming or going, there was this one apartment nearby that always had music playing:






The next morning, we decided to spend the day walking around the major areas of Milan going window shopping and exploring.

One of the first things we saw was this beautiful park by an area called Porta Venezia. The building, we think, is a museum of natural history.

I saw this sign advertising for the Milan Opera and had to take a picture!

I guess we got lucky with a gorgeous day too (but I think we deserved it after the rainy days in Ireland).

Here we are in front of the museum!

Then we found a little outdoor café inside the park and got some cappuccinos!

How Italian do I look with my cappuccino? :D

Look at those blue skies! We were so so happy about that.

Now on to the window shopping. Here's one of the busy streets: Corso Venezia.

Here we are enjoying the stroll!

Porta Venezia!

Walking towards another central area called Duomo.

This amazing structure is the Milan Cathedral, and it's in Duomo!

Here's the front of it.

It's in the middle of this huge piazza (square) where there were a ton of people just walking around doing their shopping.

Here's another view from the side and towards the piazza.

And here we are in the middle of the piazza!

The day we were there must have been a day when everyone else decided to come outside too! Here's another view of the area.

Here's a panoramic view of the piazza. I think Monica was lost.

On one side there was this immense shopping hall called the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. It had the best of the best shopping in Milan- Prada, Louis Vuitton, etc.

Here's what it looks like inside.

While we were there we discovered a mini piano concert in the center of the galleria. I filmed a little segment of the music:



And here's some more of the galleria itself:

Here's one of the windows for the Prada store!

And here's one of the back entrances to the galleria.

After we checked out the galleria, we decided to find a seat in a central location in the piazza so we could do some people watching and check out the fashion!




In case you're not familiar or haven't realized by now, Milan is one of the fashion capitals of the world, and I got some pictures to prove it!

No matter what your age is, anyone can pull off a high fashion look in Milan!

Here are some signatures of the Italian man: tight pants, popped collar, and dark hair with lots of gel!

Look at the guy on the far left- I think he was ready for his photo shoot.

Louis Vuitton man-purse!

By the way, we noticed that the people here seem to be really into labels, especially when it comes to accesories. So the Louis Vuitton man-purse guy blended in well with all the other designer bags and shoes and belts and shades and so on.

Cool shades.

Purple shirt!

I figured we could be featured in this fashion look out too!

Stylish dad.

Hot stilettos!

This is what Italian teenage rebels look like. :P

More designer shoes!

We saw a lot of this style of pants too- where it's baggier between the legs.

After the fashion stake-out it was time to try some gelato!


We found a popular gelato shop in that same piazza (I told you it was huge- you can see the cathedral behind us).




Monica tried the coffee and chocolate flavors and I tried a cream and flower flavor (I forgot the type of flower).

Mmm delicious and refreshing! :D

That was pretty much it for that day. After we had the gelato, we grabbed some dinner and walked around a little more before heading back to Grandma Italia's apartment to get some sleep.




The next day, we went to go see a soccer stadium and a castle!

The stadium is called San Siro, and apparently it's where David Beckham plays.

The bad thing was that we had trouble finding anywhere close enough to see the field. We knew we probably couldn't go inside anyway, but this is as close to it as we got.

But here's what it's supposed to look like inside! (I can always pretend I've seen it up close.)

And it was raining again. I wasn't happy but Monica took it very well!

I think we looked a little crazy wandering around the edge of the stadium with our broken umbrellas. A few cars actually slowed down so the people inside could ask us if we needed help finding something. Ha ha..

Here's Monica giving a solid effort to get a good shot of the stadium.

This was the result! Yea go team!

A little better!

Then we took the metro to the castle. I must say, their metro system was pretty efficient.

Here we are waiting for the next train.

Then we made it to the castle: Castello Sforzesco!

We didn't go inside because there was an entrance charge, but the outside was beautiful enough!

And here's a little blurb I found online after our trip about the history of the castle:

• Sforzesco Castle. Historical background
  Along with the Cathedral - Milan's most famous and much beloved monument - the big Castle is linked to the vicissitudes and dramatic events that the city has been experiencing over the past centuries. For many years, in fact, it has represented a symbol of the power in the hands of the Dukes, as well as of the foreign dominators. Only at the beginning of the 20th century the Castle assumed its distinctive role, becoming a place of culture, which hosted numerous Lombard art collections. The Castle was named after Francesco Sforza, who transformed it into a ducal residence in 1450. But its origins date back to the second half of the 14th century, at the time of Galeazzo II Visconti.

Click here to go to that website!



And here are some pictures I took:

Front of the castello.

Happy to see a castle and no rain for the moment!

Corner tower.

Courtyard.

Statue pieces on display.

Through the gate to another courtyard.

Side courtyard.

Another corner tower.

Me and the castello in sepia!

After the castello, Monica and I had some pasta for lunch, headed back to Grandma Italia's for a quick nap (we were exhausted), and then took the bus back to Bergamo airport.

Here we are on the bus!

We had a blast exploring all these new cities over the week break, but I have to admit that we were happy to get back to Paris. We were both exhausted from walking around all day for 7 days straight, and the best thing about going back was that it wasn't raining in Paris!

But then again, it was back to school... oh well.

Ciao XOXO