DAY 3 - 3/29/17 - Wednesday
Wednesday was spent walking almost as much as the days beforehand - a measly 9.6 miles. Much of this was done during a tour of the city that Anthony - a new friend from my hostel - took me on. He had been living and studying in Milan for about a month but was in the process of moving, thus why he was staying at the hostel.
I honestly don't remember what I did that morning, so it probably wasn't very exciting. It is reasonable to assume that whatever it was involved dessert of some kind.
Also passing by a pretty courtyard, according to this photographic evidence.
Anthony is also a photographer, and he took some nice photos of me enjoying the city. Besides those, I don't have a ton of photos from this day. Anthony and I wandered from the south of the city towards the north, passing the canals and getting delicious gelato on the way. We saw cherry blossom trees and beautiful green terraces, and stopped into a music shop to try a guitar, because he is thinking of buying one and I had been going through guitar withdrawals since I left Portland. This ended up being one of the most entertaining parts of the day - the owner showed us a guitar and as he is an exceptional guitar player himself, he played several songs for us. It was like a private concert right in the middle of the store. At the end he played "Scarborough Fair" and we all sang. Anthony didn't buy the guitar then, but said he was going to come back and get it later.
Enjoying a view of the canal,
Thinking about the gelato in my future!
A shot of the majestic Duomo.
After leaving the guitar shop, Anthony and I took the metro back to our hostel. We were planning on making dinner together with another new friend from the hostel, Benjamin, from France. We each had some ingredients to contribute and made a yummy dinner of rice, steak, and vegetables.
Throughout the dinner process other people from the hostel joined our table, and we ended up doing an impromptu karaoke session, with Slava from Ukraine beat boxing. After that Slava suggested playing a "game", where everyone would talk to each other at the same time in their native language. This proved to be highly entertaining, especially to Slava. It didn't last too long though as none of us could understand each other. Food and music truly are the universal languages.
DAY 4 - 3/30/17 - Thursday
Really not a lot to report from Thursday. I went to the park and ate strawberries.
Possibly napped. Possibly got gelato.
Seriously, this is all I did.
DAY 5 - 3/31/17 - Friday
I suppose Thursday could have been the calm before the storm of Friday. And I use "storm" in the best possible way, because it was epic.
Back in Lithuania, I had met four Italian guys at my hostel in Vilnius who happened to be from Milan. Andrea, Jack, Maurizio, and Luigi spent that weekend having fun 110% of the time, and doing "Italian Karaoke", which involves drinking and singing along to songs off of youtube. We arranged to meet up once I got Milan.
Andrea had given me some suggestions for things to see in Milan, including the Cimitero Monumentale and the Chiesa di San Maurizio. I went to see both that afternoon before meeting up with the guys, and they were amazing! Top quality recommendations.
The entrance to the cemetary
Heading in, possibly not coming back out.
The cemetery was old and magnificent, and contained several crypts of Italian catholic families. There were trees and fresh flowers everywhere, and the rows of crypts looked a little like a well-kept neighborhood. If it wasn't for all of the dead people and lack of actual furniture I would consider living there.
Also the ghosts.
Nicer than most of the hostels I've stayed at.
Lovely, tree lined neighborhood row of tombs.
There was a watering can station and spigot for people to water flowers.
The inside portion - majestic and ominous.
After visiting the cemetery, I met up with Benjamin and we got lunch at a fancy restaurant nearby. I got some kind of gnocchi and it was delightful, We also got a free lunchtime show - a hilarious fat cat rolling around right outside the window.
A natural performer.
After lunch we went and sat in nearby Parco Sempione for awhile, and then went to the Chiesa di San Maurizio. This church is pretty unknown and not so touristy, and it was incredible. Every single surface was covered in beautiful frescoes. It was fun simply walking around looking at everything, and we spent a good amount of time doing just that.
Main room of the church.
Ceiling fresco with gold detail.
Second room.
Fresco of Noah's arc.
Fresco of a snake lady wrapped around a fruit tree. Quality.
What else - a panorama!
Afterwards, Benjamin and I parted ways, and I debated going back to my hostel before deciding to go to the park and read. First I got an ice cream bar, because I'm on vacation damn it!
And I can do what I want. And ice cream is delicious.
Currently reading: 1984 by George Orwell.
I read 1984 for awhile in the park. Unlike most of America who apparently read it in high school, I had never read it before. I have since finished the book and it was excellent but very creepy and terrifying. Let's hope it doesn't come true.
Anyway, back to reality. After a couple of blissful hours reading I finally met up with Andrea and Jack. It was a great reunion! We went to a bar for a quick aperitivo, then to another bar for a couple of drinks. Andrea told me they had a surprise for later on that involved Italian Karaoke.
Can hardly wait!
We went to meet up with the other guys and I found out what the surprise was - a giant boombox with an aux cord connection. We all walked to a piazza where there were hundreds of other young people drinking and hanging out. Nearby there was a crowded "bar" (more of just a counter) that sold ridiculously cheap and strong drinks. If you tried shit like this in Oregon I would imagine it would result in some type of drunken riot. They also said that even though it appeared to me that the square was packed full of people, it was actually a relatively "quiet" night. Apparently in the summer it gets so crowded you can hardly move through.
We spent the rest of the evening playing songs through the boombox and belting them out together in true Italian Karaoke fashion. It was a blast. Around 4am street sweeper trucks came around, forcing everyone to leave the square. The true die-hard karaoke fans left over decided to head to the Duomo to continue the party.
Andrea led the charge with the boombox on his shoulder, and together about 20 of us marched and sang our way to the famous Duomo di Milano. We sat and sang - or yelled - on the steps for another couple of hours. A few people who were out and about even came over and put in requests for specific songs.
At some point along the way, we found an Italian 101 language course book. Naturally we picked it up and the guys quizzed me from it and read excerpts throughout the night. This must be what people mean by drinking responsibly.
It's definitely responsible if you have educational materials somewhere within reach.
I ended up back at my hostel around 7am, and promptly got some much needed sleep. Haha, guess again! I had planned to skype my family at 7:30, so I did that, after being awake for 24 hours straight. It went as expected. I may have been a little drunk still.
DAY 6 - 4/01/17 - Saturday
As you could maybe guess, I did not get a lot done on Saturday. The skype sesh was probably my main accomplishment. After that I went to bed for awhile - finally!
I also headed into town for another calzone, so that was a win too I guess.
And I took this - the only photo of the afternoon.
Later on that evening, I met back up with everyone from the night before, and a few more friends, for pizza at a Napolitano restaurant. While there we met Silvio Burlusconi - an ex prime minister of Italy!
Ok, it was actually Luigi in a mask, but same thing.
Selfies with Silvio.
Dinner was great, and afterwards we went in search of tequila shots, because it had been over 12 hours since I had had a drink. We were all pretty tired though, and Andrea's shoulder was aching from carrying the boom box the night before. I actually went to bed at a reasonable hour that night, and had a decent amount of sleep. Imagine that!
DAY 7 - 4/02/17 - Sunday
My last day in Milan! I can't believe how fast it went by. I really love this city and I would live here in a heartbeat.
I had a train ticket to Florence that afternoon, so I had a few hours in the morning to do one last activity in Milan. The activity I chose was going to the Crazy Cat Cafe, a cafe where there were actual live cats roaming around.
Here's the outside. Inside are cats.
The cafe had double doors and a buzzer system so that the cats couldn't escape. Although I doubt many would even try, as most of them were asleep the entire time I was there.
Grey cat asleep.
Orange and white cat asleep.
Calico cat asleep.
Different grey cat asleep.
Didn't even wake up for his close-up.
The food was actually pretty good, and the coffee was served in a little mug shaped like a cat's head. I got a tasty dessert flight because if you couldn't tell by now I LOVE DESSERT.
Cats, everywhere.
This ones awake!!
Later on, upon arriving in Florence, I skyped with my parents and got to see another cat - Creamsicle, head of the Orange Cat Club of Portland and the best cat in the world.
One of us was more excited than the other.
And with that, I said goodbye to Milan for the time being. What a great week. I was excited to get to Florence, where I would have my own private room for the first time in three weeks. I nearly missed my train, as usual, but only because the Milan Centrale train station is so damn confusing.
All's well that ends well though; I arrived at Firenze Santa Maria Novella station and spent the rest of the day relaxing in my private room, and getting ready for my two-week Italian course starting the next day.
My room even has a balcony! Living the dream.
