MILANO

Back to school… today was our first day of class in Milan. The train takes about an hour to get from the Como Nord Borghi station to Milano Centrale- it also means that we can take an hour long nap before class starts. We had not met our professor before today and had no idea what he looked like. We were all looking for an Italian looking man and he was looking for a group of 16 Americans- I think he had an easier time finding us, then we did finding him. As a group we went to the Trienalle (a large design oriented museum) to see an exhibit on Italian design and its relationship to history. The exhibit was well designed and involved many movies that were projected on the walls and were to be viewed from seats that were integrated into the objects on display. From the museum we started our walking tour of Milan and finally got the opportunity to see a few important buildings of Modernism as well as a few contemporary buildings. What a refreshing sight- skyscrapers, industrial areas and steel construction! No, I am not being sarcastic. After being in Rome and Florence for three weeks, it is nice to have a break from drawing Corinthian capitals and walking through ruins. We were dismissed from our tour around lunch time and decided to do some exploring. A group of us found a restaurant with tables out in the street and it looked like a good place to have lunch. Some how we found the worst restaurant in Milan! This was the first restaurant that has reminded me of a used car lot for food- maybe our waiters were used Fiat salesmen on the side. Before we sat down we were asked if we had looked at the buffet inside, but we were not interested. We sat outside and were ready to order, but the salesman (or as they are normally called, waiter) asked us if we would follow him inside to see the buffet. I didn’t think he was going to stop asking, so in order to end the questioning I followed him inside to take a look. The buffet is actually just pre-made pastas and dishes that are cheaper than the menu items. I was not interested even though our salesman told me he would give us a “nice price”. No thank you. We finally were able to order something from the menu, which was over priced and cold- probably because it came from the buffet anyways. This story is foreshadowing for another dinner disaster that happens again a few weeks later in Milan. Now that I am catching up on my blog and reliving some of my memories, I am curious why I didn’t see the obvious signs of disasters ahead. Maybe that is why they say hindsight is 20/20. I better work on my foresight…

After lunch we went into the Duomo- our first experience with Gothic Architecture thus far on our trip. The cathedral was incredible in scale and detail! We also cruised through the Galleria, the famous outdoor shopping area which is enclosed with a large glass roof. Cool!

Outside the Galleria


Galleria