Thursday, November 29, 2007

milan milan sempre con te

sweet sweet milan!!

the fashion capital of the world!

i was very excited to see this city, and it certainly didn't disappoint! ever since my Grade 2 primary-school teacher taught us how to throw spaghetti against a wall to check that it's cooked properly, i've been desperate to see italy

and like with every other destination i've flown to this past month, in italy i was constantly picking my jaw up off the floor/ground/cobblestones

the old buildings, the people, the fashion and the food! my god, the FOOD!!!!!


my adventures in milan:
catch the underground metro (yes, i am quite fond of the old underground metro, aren't i?!) to Il Duomo di Milano, the world's second largest Gothic cathedral and located in the very heart of Milan . be once again attacked by a swarm of pigeons (i don't know why buskers think it's a good idea to call the pigeons to come and rest on my shoulders -- as though i'm going to pay for that "privilege"?! -- but still, smile for the camera, mitchell) . walk through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, and pay a visit to the mosaic-tiled image of a bull paved into the floor, place your heel on the bull's testicles and spin three times to bring good luck (hey, i don't make the rules, i ain't gonna argue with age-old superstition) . eat italian meatballs, in italy! (and lasagne, and penne amatriciana, and caprese salad, and canneloni and oh god mitchell did you ever stop eating?!) . purchase the obligatory fridge magnet for the collection . walk into prada, gucci, vuitton et al and pretend that you'll buy something just as soon as you find that perfect item (how come i used to be able to afford this stuff and now i'm constantly "just having a browse, thanks"?) . sit and watch the leggy off-duty models swan about the city, in their fashionably careless outfits and their modelling portfolios tucked under their arms . visit the gucci cafe, order a cappuccino and have it arrive with the "G" logo printed in chocolate powder on top of the foam . take a stroll down Corso Sempione, and then through the beautiful Parco Sempione . see a crowd of people staging a protest, screaming and waving flags, so grab the nearest flag and start screaming along also (i never did discover what we were yelling about, but i feel very passionately about it and it's clearly worth fighting for) . desperately try to convince a stranger to have him let you ride his Vespa, because this is italy, and if ever there were an appropriate country to ride a vespa in, it's italy (i never did discover why no-one would let me ride their bike -- whatever happened to hospitality?!) . visit Castello Sforzesco, a 14th-Century castle which now holds an art museum and is the home of Michelangelo's last sculpture (this castle has a MOAT! my god, that's the stuff my childhood dreams were made of, a castle with a MOAT -- [which would obviously contain ferocious crocodiles and electric eels]) . after consuming my own body weight in traditional food, make room for one more scoop of gelato . feel like vomiting due to excess consumption, but don't mind because you feel like vomiting whilst IN ITALY!!!!


here are the photos:



stay tuned, next week: NAGOYA, JAPAN!!!


let the good times roll!!