Milan: The city of high fashion, never-ending nightlife, and McDonald's

On Saturday morning, Annie, Mara, and I woke up early to catch a 7:15 bus to Milan. I was really excited to see a different region of Italy, up until that point I had only seen Tuscany. Milan is situated in Lombardy, an extremely wealthy region of northern Italy known for its industrialization and modernism. It took about 4 1/2 hours to get there by bus - only 15 minutes longer than by train and 50 euro cheaper. I spent most of the bus ride zoning out to my I-pod. When we arrived, we had to deal with the task of locating our hotel. The bus had dropped us off at a metro station so we checked the map there and were able to locate the correct street and metro stop - it's amazing how resourceful one can be without a cell phone or good internet. From the Metro station, we had a 10 minute to the Mariott, where we were staying. (Side note: As a poor college student, I am obviously not forking over the 200 euro per night that the Mariott costs. Rather, Mara's dad covered one night for us, and Annie's mom covered the other night - it was definitely a special treat - the breakfast was delicious and they brought free strawberries to our room - but it also was a luxury that I'll likely only have once while travelling this summer.) We freshened up, and I changed into a much cuter outfit than the comfortable sweats I threw on for the bus ride. When you're in Milan, you have to look good :-)

Our first stop was Porta Venezia, one of the city's shopping districts. All of us were absolutely starving, so we grabbed some piadine, Italian flatbread sandwiches. Then, we hit the stores. There was a great mix of options: smaller botiques with really original pieces, larger stores similar to Express or the Limited, second-hand designer stores, and speciality shops. For the most part, I stuck to browsing, but I did make a few purchases. In a store called Motivi, I bought an Italian made blue trench coat, and in a store called Miss Marilyn, I bought a blue ruffled blouse (see pics!). Annie and Mara got some great dresses/tops/jeans - overall it was a blast just checking out stores that we don't have back home.

That night, we got dressed up and went to bar/restaurant just south of the city. I ate some fettucine ai quattro formaggi (4 cheese), which surprisingly was the first time that I've bought pasta at a restaurant this whole trip. Annie and I have made it at the apartment, so that's probably not as bad as it sounds. The food was great and the area was fun - afterward, we attempted to find the Navigli neighboorhood that has canals and supposedly good nightlife, but we didn't have much success. Around 12:30, we decided that it would be best to head home and catch some sleep.

On Sunday, we got dressed in church attire for mass at the Duomo. (Another Side Note - Many different cities have a main church called "the Duomo" - this is just a nickname, they all are named after saints formally. Siena's got one that I've already mentioned, and so does Florence) When we arrived for mass, I was told I couldn't go in because my knees were showing. SERIOUSLY. I was dressed in manner that most would consider fairly conservative - a dress that had sleaves and no cleavage. But apparently, knees are the kicker. What's worse is that they were letting people in wearing jeans - jeans?! in a church?! but and extra 5 inches of leg flesh isn't permitted?? I was upset, but Mara was told the same thing, so at least I didn't hold up the group.

The Galleria, the world's first indoor mall and the center of fashion in Milan, is literally next door to the Duomo, and we were determined to find some kind of legging to put on for the next mass. We wandered through the Galleria and I snapped some pictures of all of the high-end designer stores. In the center of the Galleria there is a circle area that has four shops surrounding it. The four stores were Louis Vuitton, Prada, a famous Italian interior design company, and a McDonald's. I wish whole-heartedly that I was joking, but there it was. Honestly, during the whole trip, I saw more McDonald's restaurants in Milan than any other city I've been in - at least 15 over the course of a weekend. Directly next to the Galleria is an outdoor shopping area called the Golden Quadrilateral. It has even more high-end stores, but it also has a good mix of places that I can afford. We found a store that sold leggings, I bought a pair and a few other items :-) After changing, we trucked it back to the Duomo - only to find out that Mass was nearly halfway over. We ducked into to catch what we could. The next thing on the list was taking an elevator to the top of the Duomo. The views were gorgeous and the sculptures on the church's exterior were breath-taking. The last thing to see in the center of town was the Teatro alla Scala, Italy's most important opera house. My favorite part of the Teatro was the museum which included letters from Mozart to his mother and costumes from old showings of Aida and Carmen.

Sunday evening, we went back to the Mariott to relax and get ready for our night on the town - Annie's old teacher, Simone, who lives in Italy each summer had made plans to meet us at a discoteca (dance club) called Karma. The club was AMAZING and so huge! There were four different dance floor areas and each played a different kind of music, my favorites were the R&B floor that played current American music and the main dance floor that played a mix of everything. Apparently, Sunday nights are a big night for the homosexual crowd to go out to this particular club - the group was definitely a good mix! I made friends with an Italian gay guy named Fabrizio and we danced to Lady Gaga. He also told the DJ that it was my birthday, even though I explained that my birthday is acutally on Wednesday; they made an announcement, saying "a girl from Ohio is having her special day! Happy Birthday, Brittany!" - it was SO much fun. Simone was also great to talk to and told us all about how to turn down persitent Italian boys. (He said to make a gagging sign, and they'll get the point.)

Overall, Milan was a blast - a great mix of nightlife, shopping, and sight-seeing!

Boo - the internet isn't allowing me to post pictures, so they'll have to wait!

Miss you all!

Brittany

PS - Andrew made it here in one piece :-)