"that's what milan looks like..." - cydney

VERONA.

*so in milan everyone is skinny (not french skinny - they are in a league all their own). so our group is standing outside of a gelato shop (home to the best in milano) woofing down the frozen treat and we found the skinniest girl, and cydney ran after her and managed to get a creeper stalker-azzi shot of her from behind. we now have the picture to show what milan looks like.

verona was merely a sleeping place on our drive to milan. we arrived at dinner time monday night and checked in to our THREE STAR HOTEL - which is a major upgrade, we usually rough it in 1 stars- and immediately returned to the street to find a place to eat dinner. after eating at auto grills all day (they are these awful little convenience stores/rest stops/ serve meals/ have random things to buy) because it was the monday after easter and true to italian heritage everything was closed. thankfully the suspected sleepy town of vernoa was bustling and apparently did not follow this southern-italian custom.

we passed a sushi bar on the bus in, and thankfully it was right around the corner. so i ordered miso soup, philadelphia roll, split some random special california roll and it was AMAZING! i could have eaten like 9 million sushi rolls. we returned to the hotel and to get a good night's sleep. busy tuesday ahead.

tuesday we woke and walked through the sunny streets of verona. verona reminded me of venice (great architecture and most of the 'streets' through the town do not allow cars). we checked out the coloseum and then headed to the most famous landmark of verona - the capulet's 'house.'

view from the top of the colosseum.

the love notes posted outside juliet's house...

statue of juliet and the infamous balcony.

then it was back on blue (that is name of the blue bus we use to tour around italy), and on the roads to como. thankfully como wasn't too far away so we could go to a real deli to eat (no more autogrill crap). we arrived and had about 2 hours to walk around and see the sights. the main attraction (in my opinion) is the fact that george clooney has a house on the lake. sadly we did not have the chance to see it. but we saw some other great views.

park in como.

THE lake como.
we were looking for george .

look at that duck in the boat.

ACE gelato.
Orange, carrot, lemon. based on a popular european juice flavor.

after a stroll through the market square and the attempt to go up the mountain (we ran out of time) we piled back on the bus to head to a silk museum. como is famed for it's silk production, asians (who are also famous for their craftsmanship) travel to this area to learn about the techniques.

in the museum.
i was quickly informed that pictures are forbidden. whoops.

the guide was very informative, something that i learned was that their is more than one 'type' of silkworm. and learning about the different weaving and printing processes - sadly i don't have any pictures to demonstrate and i have a hunch that going into technical detail might not be that entertaining so i will continue...

we make it to milan and immediately go on a 'metro-demo.' the metro in milan is much more intense than the two lines that run under rome, so cinzia wanted us to be able to navigate by ourselves. part of the demo was to go to the 'milan cathedral.' this architectural feat is the 4th largest church in the WORLD. it was so large i couldn't fit it all in one picture.

duomo di milano

the first in door mall...ever.
or so it claimed.

an attraction in the mall is the bull mosaic in the center. rumor has is that if you twirl three times on your heel on top of the bulls 'balls,' you will have good luck. first - that is the most ludicrous legend (most likely EVER) and second - it sounds much easier than it really is. when i tried my body would try to keep spinning when my heel decided to stop - let's just say i had some 'graceful' landing positions.

kelly getting ready to 'twirl'

after we all had a good laugh watching everyone 'twirl' we headed back to the hotel (three stars again. woop woop!) to get freshened up for drinks and a light dinner. the place that we ate was a popular setting for designers and models called - frankos.

i ordered a vodka water with lemon,
and they gave me a glass of vodka and a lemonade.

cydney's bloody mary wasn't 'spicy' enough, and she asked for pepper...
and they brought her this HUGE pepper mill.

after a few rounds of drinks - so happy to have anything other than wine - it was late and went back to the hotel. on the way back we had a few mshaps. the first being we were loud walking down the street, and this arabian man (he looked like aladdin) opened his window/door and yelled at us in italian, i think he was asking us to be quiet. we giggily yelled back 'ciao' and stuff like that and then he flashed us. he pulled his robe back, thankfully i was towards the front and didn't see that. finally we were safe back at the hotel and i turned on CNN - one of the few english channels we got - and fell asleep.

wednesday we woke up and met massimo martignon aka 'max' the man who knows everything about milan and design. he informed us of the late and great piero portaluppi, an important architect in the milan area in the 1920's and 1930's.

max talking about the design of the studio.

some of the architecture of the studio.

after learning about portaluppi's innovative modern design (he designed a rotating desk that was round. bad ass. he was a 'true designer' as peek would say - he dabbled in industrial design as well) max guided us to the villa necchi campiglio. this marvelous museum was originally a home, and combines the tradition of art deco and new innovative modern pieces. overall the design was very simple and i really liked the mix of old and new.

villa necchi campiglio

the manicured lawn that was preparing for a photo shoot.
so pretty.

this was the BEST color green...ever.
sadly my camera was unable to capture its vivid-ness.

foyer.

bad ass ceiling detail.

gun lamp. want it.

dining room.
all the chairs around the table were different and the same.

bathroom, check out that glossy tile.
you can see me taking the picture.

after the tour i was starved! the day before on the bus trip cinzia passed around a menu and we 'ordered' what we wanted. the venue a sushi bar- but the sushi in the pictures looked beyond sketch, so i ordered the tuna plate. when we arrived the place was legit. we had this private room and got to sit on the floor (on cushions of course). they served little bowls of 'snacks,' they included orange slices, maronated salmon and these balls of mashed potatoes that included chunks of cooked mixed vegetables. the main course i signed up for was the seared tuna and rice.

let's just say the picture speaks for itself (ignore the poor lighting)
the sauce was great, the tuna was perfectly prepared,
and the rice had just the right taste/texture.

when we finished we went to a modern art museum and then max was going to take us to this photography exhibit - but the weather was so delfightful that we talked him out of taking us to see more art and instead had the chance to get gelato and walk around a little neighborhood in milan.

gelato flavor - azteco.
dark chocolate and pepper. yes, pepper. don't hate until you have tried some.
definitely an original flavor.

the last day in milan (thursday) we toured around with max to different "design" places. we met him at the piazza di duomo - and he was late (typical italian), so we had the chance to go inside. it was HUGE.

inside the duomo.

me posing as a scale figure.

when we met up with max he took us to a store that was close by. it had EVERYTHING you would ever need: designer clothes, make up, a cafe (you have to take time to eat too), and most importantly the bottom floor was home furnishings and accessories. let's just say the interior design girls had a field day.

pantone color mugs! i want one of each color...

this chair was made out of a material to make it look like it was a paper bag.

THE store to go to in milan. i would move in if i could.

next on our agenda was take the metro to an art museum. the Triennale Design Museum. this museum was primarily focused on contemporary art and modern up and coming artists. most of the pieces were really neat and all revloved around italy. for example the first main display featured a ferragamo shoe, that was MASSIVE and a statue of the david that was out of proportion. after we were through admiring the beautiful things max took us behind the museum to show us the park.

the building is the museum.

such picturesque scenery.

we hung out in milan for a few more hours - in persuit of my dsquared sunglasses (with no luck - but i found them online!) and that afternoon we headed to the airport to fly out to barcelona for norton's birthday weekend.