Welcome to Milano!
Today began with a delicious breakfast including a brioche (aka croissant) and ripe kiwi alongside a caffe americano. I was interested to see that the croissants were filled with either cream or apricot marmalade instead of sitting plain and empty like the typical ones from home. They also offered sweet breads and small rolls. I can already tell that food = carbs in a traditional Italian diet, which is totally fine with me!
After eating, we had our “how to survive in Italy” class, where we learned a bunch of the basics of the Italian language. Not only did we learn how to introduce ourselves both formally and informally, order food and drinks, and pronounce written words (a topic that particularly interested me so I might more effectively use google translate), but we also learned Italian body language, which is used very often in conversation and can replace entire phrases rather than simply complementing the spoken word. I was confused slightly by the fact that brioche is pronounced the French way despite not being the actual French name for the croissant, but besides that the rules of the language are easy to follow so I was immediately itching for an opportunity to try out my new skills.
We went out for lunch, ready to go with our Italian hellos and ordering skills. As soon as we stepped outside, I noticed white fuzzy seeds floating through the air like snow, an interesting and magical sight to behold. The weather was also gorgeous and sunny, a welcome treat after yesterday that served only to boost our excitement as we set off on our first truly Italian outing. After wandering for a few minutes, we entered a small restaurant and asked for a table, the host asked us if we spoke Italian! After we told him that we didn’t really, he was kind enough to check we understood the menu. When I didn’t know what saggio was, he even brought me a leaf of sage so I could order my ravioli knowing all the contents. We did our best to order in Italian and the waitress lit up when we thanked her and said goodbye in Italian as well!
When we got back to the hotel we began a walking tour of the city. With such a tumultuous history of being occupied and fought over, I expected a mix of old and new buildings, but I didn’t expect it to be so pleasing to the eyes. They did an incredible job of incorporating plants and trees into the modern glass architecture, something I had noticed in passing on the bus yesterday. As you can see in the pictures below, within one shot, you can see a new building covered in trees in the middle of a traditional, red-roofed, yellow-walled neighborhood all with the alps visible just a little farther on the horizon. Besides being visibly green, these new buildings, particularly the piazza with the fountains and plant-looking lamps, are eco-friendly. They incorporate plenty of solar panels that power lights at night. I hope to see it lit up one of these free evenings. On our way out the other side of the piazza we passed a sculpture named The Voices of Milan where you can speak with strangers in other parts of the shopping center underground. Below there is a picture of Nolan, our resident Italian, speaking into one of the many tubes. As we slowly made our way to the city center, we passed through a traditional Italian market and many curved narrow streets. In the market we learned that good gelato is not displayed in colorful mountains like most places due to oxidation. Good gelaterias cover their ice creams to protect the integrity of the flavors, sacrificing marketing to preserve the quality of their product. We were lucky enough to taste some of this prime quality gelato on the invitation of Frank and Dr. Bursic (thanks!). I got to eat a heavenly combination of hazelnut and pistachio ice cream – in the pictures below. If you look to the the next picture, you’ll see a beautiful glass ceiling. This ceiling housed an exquisite shopping space belonging to the city of Milan. After a quick stop to catch good luck with a special ritual near the center of the shopping center, we walked out of the glass street into the piazza principale where the Duomo of Milan stands, white and glorious with many spires and decorative stone figures. Apparently duomo is simply a word used in reference to the main church of any city in Italy. The actual name of Milan’s duomo is called Mariae Nascenti, a fact that most local people don’t know. This is the reason that a golden statue of the Virgin Mary stands at the top of the church and is required by law to be at the tallest point in the city of Milan, a fact made far more interesting when you consider that copies of the statue have been made and consecrated solely to be placed at the top of all the tallest skyscrapers to get around this law. I also found it intriguing that there are features in the two main figures at the entrance of the church that heavily resemble our own Statue of Liberty, though these were built many years before its creation and must have been seen by Eiffel before he created his iconic statue. With this last gem of trivia, our tour concluded and we were left to our own devices.
Some friends and I took this opportunity to walk back along the tour route in a smaller group with many stops to explore little interests we hadn’t had time to investigate with the others. For dinner, we enjoyed an affordable, buffet-style variation of fusion food that combined traditional Italian foods like pizza and pasta with some more Mediterranean style rices.
After walking back to the hotel, tired and satisfied with the day, I am more excited than ever to see what tomorrow holds. We’ll be touring a university and visiting a museum exhibit dedicated to my childhood hero, Leonardo da Vinci. I can hardly wait!
Buonanotte!
Lia