Milano

I went on a class trip to Milan this past weekend, which conveniently coincided with Milan Fashion Week. I wasn't expecting much from Milan...I had heard it was just an industrial city with nothing really special, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was really nice and I like how there was a really cool mix of old art (e.g. the Duomo, "Last Supper") with new art (trendy fashion and modern art everywhere). The food was also excellent and the gelato topped any gelato I've had in Italy BY FAR. Actually, the best gelato place happened to actually be a place that just opened up in NYC and LA called Grom (http://www.grom.it/). Besides the fact that I'm pretty sure our tour guide was a vampire who wore reflective sunglasses so we couldn't see into her soul, and the amount of pigeons at the Duomo made me want to vom (I know, I know...I have a bird...pigeons aren't birds. They're rats of the sky), a good time was had by all.

Basically the only interesting historical things were saw were the Duomo (to the left) and da Vinci's "The Last Supper" which, by the way, you need to make an appointment in advance to see...I definitely would've screwed that one up had I done the planning for this trip instead of my school. But it was amazing. However, it is deteriorating SO quickly...that tends to happen to frescoes. Especially ones that were bombed during WWII.

More cool stuff we saw/did....

To the left is Michelangelo's last sculpture, which he died working on and was thus left incomplete. It's called "Rondanini Pieta" and is supposed to be of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus's dead body. Seeing Michel

angelo's incomplete work was really special....it was as if he was still working on it. I've realized that I have an affinity for sculptures. Something about the way they are preserved is incredible. They don't deteriorate like paintings do, so it's just interesting to know that you're viewing something the exact way the artist saw it.

To the left are beautiful MARZIPAN! Not fruit. I wanted to send some home. These would make the perfect gift.

The picture taken below captures the greatest moment in time of this trip. This sushi restaurant was on the top floor of what was quite possibly the most amazing department store of all time (called La Rinascente). This top floor consisted of several boutiquey food places...including: a mozzarella bar, wine and cheese bar, juice bar, specialty sandwich shop, a place where you could basically make your own gelato, a really high-end restaurant, oyster bar, you get the point...HEAVEN. Anyway, the sushi was served on a conveyor belt and you just got to take whatever you wanted off of the belt and eat it. This is the way all meals should be served. And the sushi was sooo good, too.

To the right is a really cool car we saw at the Triennale, the modern art museum in Milan. There was also a collection of vintage Ferraris, Aston Martins, and boats that were used in James Bond movies. Going to a modern art museum was definitely a nice change from all of the old paintings that I've become all-but-desensitized too. I was really ready for a change of scenery. There were also a lot of cool pieces of furniture and an exhibit about Greta Garbo's relationship with the designer, Salvatore Ferragamo...the shoes in that exhibit were ridiculous. I'd post more pictures, but evidently the people at the museum were convinced that I was going to try to make my own copies of Ferraris and Ferragamo shoes that have been in mass production for years and years, so I was yelled at after taking the picture above...my one souvenir from this place. The guard made me give him my camera and wouldn't give it back to me until I left.

***honorable mention: Milan = city with the cutest dogs (besides Siena). LOOK AT THAT FACE!!!!!!! In the words of Rachel Zoe: "I die."