Andrea i København

As you can see below, my latest attempt at publishing my Italy/Austria post was, yet again, a bust. I’m really fed up…The only thing I can think of is, it’s too long. So I’m going to try to update each part individually, so they’re shorter. By this time, my entry has accumulated several “update:” parts to it, but I’m just fed up and want to get everything on here, so I’m just going to talk about the trip. Please note that all of this has been written for over 2 weeks now…Ok, here is the first part of my update, hopefully…

Our vacation was fantastic – really, really great. There was only one night that went wrong, and I think if thatwas the worst thing to happen to us we did pretty good. But more about that later. I’ll start from the beginning, and narrate largely through pictures.

We landed in Milan at 10:30pm on Monday night (Oct. 12) and went straight to our hostel. It was midnight by the time we found it so we went straight to bed. The next morning we woke up early and went to explore Milan. We were leaving for Rome that evening, but fortunately one day is pretty sufficient for Milan. Our friend in Copenhagen, Guiseppe, is from Milan, and he wrote us a complete day’s schedule of what to do – it was a really great guide, complete with where to eat. He even had us go into this really high-end grocery store, just to “walk around and appreciate all the delightful smells”. So anyway we took the metro into the city, got out at Piazza del Duomo and began there. 

Milan's landmark, Duomo. This is the world's largest Gothic cathedral. It's pretty stunning.

Also in Piazza del Duomo is this huge shopping arcade, called Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. It houses some of the finest stores in the world (Gucci, Prada, etc.), and Milan is known as one of the world's fashion/shopping capitals. So later in the day we walked through it and its stores, just for a little bit of torture.

After that we checked out the high-end foods store (which I mentioned above), and its delicious-looking and smelling food almost caused us to recklessly buy out the whole store. Luckily we were able to not spend any money, or cause a scene, and we continued on to see the University of Milan, which was lovely. Then, according to Guissepe’s plan for us, we walked back toward Piazza del Duomo to get our lunch. And along the way we found this church…I think one of the very best things about traveling is when you find something really cool without even meaning to – when you just happen upon something unexpected, not mentioned in the guidebook, decide what the hell, let’s go in, and find something really interesting inside. As we walked back from the University we saw these 2 churches side-by-side. They were fairly modest, but pretty enough for me to stop and take a picture of them, as one had a tall bell tower. We stood there wondering if we should go in, so we asked a man passing by, who suggested we go into the church on the left. Although it was nice to look at, it was just a simple, unassuming (by Europe’s standards) dome. But we shrugged, and went inside. Like all churches I have seen in Europe, its interior was beautiful. But as we left the church, we saw a small sign pointing down a hallway that said “Ossaria”. What’s that? We had no idea, but followed the sign. What we found was this:

This is one wall of the Ossario - if you can't see, those are human skulls. Other bones also adorned the walls decoratively, and on one wall there was a display of Mary and Jesus after his death.

So yes, a bit shocking, a lot creepy, and strangely beautiful. On the way out of the church I was sure to find its name, which was San Bernardino alle Ossa. Later, I looked up what an ossuary is (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ossuary) and also San Bernardino alle Ossa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Bernardino_alle_Ossa). Turns out, we had happened upon one of the best-known ossuaries in the world. It was a really cool and unique thing to see, and we found it without even trying. Ok, so now to continue: 

We got paninis for lunch, at Guiseppe's recommended place (I got the spinach and ricotta cheese one, and it was TO DIE FOR!) then ate them here, in front of Teatro alla Scala. According to my guidebook this is the most famous opera house in the world. But honestly I was more concerned with my heavenly panini.

On our way to our next destination we came across this small outdoor market and walked through it. There were a bunch of vendors selling their candies, cheeses, meats, breads, etc. A lot of them had samples out, and I ate them shamelessly. With the exception of this one kind of cheese that made me gag, everything was delicious.

Our next stop was Castello Sforzesco, built in the 15th century and the former residence of the Sforza family which ruled Milan. Now it houses several museums. We didn't go into them, but we walked through the castle, which was very impressive.

So after our gelato we headed back to Piazza del Duomo and looked around the shops (in the arcade I showed above). Then we found ourselves standing in front of the Duomo again, just admiring it. It was getting late, and we only had a few minutes before we had to head back to the hostel and then to the airport. We were standing there when, suddenly, a man literally came out of nowhere, grabbed Bri’s arm, turned her hand palm-up, and poured corn kernels into it. I was really confused for a second, thinking “why is he giving her dried corn…?” Until the first pigeon landed…As Bri shrieked and pigeons flocked around her, I was paralyzed by laughter. The guy just kept pouring more and more corn into her hand, and the pigeons were everywhere, and she just kept screaming about diseases – it was hilarious. And then, I felt my own hand being lifted and turned, and before I knew it, pigeons were landing on me! The two men stood back while pigeons landed on us and ate from our hands. Bri continued to shriek, although with a little less fervor, while I continued to laugh uncontrollably. Somewhere in the chaos of it all, Bri was able to hand one of the guys her camera, and he took pictures of us with our pigeons. Of course, when it was all over, they demanded payment and we refused. We didn’t ask them to do that, we didn’t even give them permission! They were pretty angry, and followed us to the metro stairs about 50 feet away. But it was pretty funny!

Next, Guiseppe's guide led us to "the best gelateria in Milan," Chocolat. And this is me with my first real Italian gelato (chocolate and hazelnut combo). I think the glazed over look of my eyes speaks for itself. And thus, gelato became a dietary staple for the remainder of our trip.

In the chaos of pidgeons

When the birds calmed down a little the guys had us turn so we could get this awesome shot with the Duomo in the back. It's one of my favorite pictures.

So that wraps up Milan. We flew that evening to Rome and…

To be continued in my next post about Rome.

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