Milano

I am officially in Italia! This morning, I woke up several hours before the Spanish sun and took a Ryanair flight to Milan. Luckily, I slept for most of the flight so it wasn’t too bad. Then I took a shuttle to the train station in Milan and got a bit lost there because the signs were confusing but eventually checked my luggage and got a map of the city.

I headed to the Duomo, which is right in the center. It was really impressive; both the inside and outside were incredibly detailed. The inside was filled with very intricate stained glass windows and massive arches. The piazza around the Duomo is a great place for people watching…and pigeon watching. I’m convinced that there is a 1 to 1 ratio of humans to pigeons there. It reminded me a lot of St. Mark’s Square in Venice, minus the water so not a good. I wandered the expensive gallery near the square but was too timid to go into the fancy stores carrying my backpack and wearing a t-shirt. I walked around the surrounding shopping streets, mostly looking for a place to eat. I ended up in a cute café and got focaccia pizza. It was pretty good but not amazing because you had to heat it up yourself in a microwave. I’ll splurge on a pre-heated pizza soon. Of course, lunch would not be complete with gelato, so I got a cone of pistachio and hazelnut. I was surprised by how many people were eating gelato, including the Italian businessmen in suits. I can’t say I blame them.

I people watched in the square for a while but got a little bored and went in search of a park. I found a giant castle full of museums that I didn’t go in with a massive park behind it. The park was filled with people sprawled out on the gorgeous grass so I joined them. For a long time. I think I might have even fallen asleep at one point because it was very relaxing soaking up the sun and watching people play very amateur volleyball.

I headed back towards the square a bit later and explored this really cool art exhibition that is in big white dome tents. They were all very modern or post-modern, including spray on fabrics and a 3D sound room. My favorite thing by far was these sculptures of people printed on a 3D printer. My brother had told me about this invention before but I had no idea how cool it is.

I people watched for a while longer because I had nothing else I really wanted to do. I watched some scams go down and saw women screaming as the pigeons flocked all over them. I was a bit lonely today because the entire extent of my personal interactions was talking about lack of toilet paper with a girl in the bathroom of McDonalds. She asked where I was from and I told her “New York” and she said, “New York, America? I’m from New Jersey.” Is there another New York that I don’t know about? I’m hoping once I settle in at my hostel and feel like I have a home base, I’ll meet people and feel less alone. I’m also more excited for Florence so hopefully it will keep me entertained for longer than Milan did.

I’m on the train to Florence now. I’ll get to the hostel quite late so I doubt I’ll do much more than go to sleep. Tuscany, here I come!