MILANOOO

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Day 1:

After a long journey just getting into Milan and to our hotel, a few of my friends decided to take a quick nap. I took this opportunity to explore the surrounding area and saw some pretty amazing architecture and scenery. Found my way to the main road where a friend and I sat down for some gelato (italian ice cream). I must admit its not my favorite. I'm gonna miss American ice cream. After that, I headed toward the end of the main road where it terminates at the Stazione Centrale, or Central Station, which is a huge train station. This place is incredible. I studied train station architecture in school and its neat to see one up close. See photos. The rest of the day was spent traversing the area surrounding our hotel. Nothing too exciting. We'll wait for tomorrow to see the major attractions.

Day 2:

I've never woken up so many damn times a night in my life. The hotel is situated on a road with a trolley/streetcar system so its very loud and very annoying. Must run 24 hrs because I swear I woke up every damn time it came by which was every hour on the hour. My friends even took shots of NyQuil to try to sleep. A few beers tonight should do me well.

Today we trekked a few kilometers to the first attraction called the Duomo. We approached through a vista where the Duomo is visible at the end. MAN. Words and pictures cannot describe how incredible this cathedral is. It's HUGE. And the amount of detail on each sculpture, carving, and relief is impressive and it makes you wonder how they managed to do all of this. We paid a few euro to climb the stairs to the top and had a good time hanging out up there. The view is spectacular, minus the smog. After about 500 years of construction the final product is absolutely gorgeous. I couldn't ask for more for my first cathedral experience. If there were one of these in Seattle I'd probably go to church every week just to sit and stare.... maybe not, but that means a lot coming from me. Next stop was La Galleria Vittorio Emanuele which is an awesome space between four buildings with a steel and glass canopy. Its really more elegant then I make it sound. There restaurants and stores within La Galleria would be great to hang out in but are hecka expensive. Its pretty cool to learn and see pictures of this place in my textbooks and then being able to go into it. We moved on to a few more spots, notably the place where the painting of the Last Supper is at. We went in but there wasn't an English speaking guide available until later in the afternoon so we moved on to the Castello Sforzesco. This place is a castle. Like, for real, a castle. Full on fortified stone walls and towers and even a moat. That's pretty much it for day 2.

I haven't had good food yet. I don't know if its because I don't know how to order or if I need to get used to the taste but I need to find it quick. I know the food changes as I travel throughout the country to different regions so hopefully its gets better when I get to Florence tomorrow. The first thing I ate here was a tuna pizza loaded with cheese. Tuna pizza? Seriously? I didn't even know it was tuna. Is that weird to anyone but me? And then today I had pasta with meat sauce. But there wasn't any meat in my dish. Dude, come on. In the end, I had to go with the last resort: McDonald's. I know, lame right? There's one everywhere I look. Its like Starbucks in Seattle. One on every corner, across the street from each other, and basically next door to each other too. It was just in my face! I couldn't get away!

So we're basically done here in Milan. We're taking the train south to Florence tomorrow morning and spending 4 days there. I'm pretty excited for this leg of the trip!

Miss you guys already. Someone give mom a kiss for me.

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Photos

Central Station
The massive train station a few blocks from my hotel. In front is a large square that's nice to hang out and people watch.

Inside
I think this is the best part of the train station. The incredible steel and glass canopy stretches for blocks!

Damn Trolleys
View of the streetcars from my hotel. No need for alarm clock I suppose.

The Duomo!
I couldn't fit the entire facade in the picture, which does it no justice. The cathedral has hundreds of spires, sculptures, carvings, and reliefs.

The 6
Here's a group picture of all six of us. I must admit, we're a pretty random group of kids but we have a good time!

The Fortress
Somehow I managed to penetrate the fortified fortress. There's a gorgeous green square where one may chillax. Unfortunately, the gardeners were mowing the lawn so I had to escape before my eyes swelled shut.

Inside
I painted myself green and climbed on top of a pedestal. Nice backside eh?

Comments

[CHI 5]

good eatin'
I'm all ready to hear about how u miss my good cooking already. made sweet and sour pineapple beef short ribs tonight. ate it alone. no fun. glad u did the blog. keep it up. love u bro!

[Hanh Crose (Chi 3)]

NICE WORK!
Hey Lil' Bro, glad to know that you're still alive. And no TV news about you yet. Whew! I'm VERY proud of you. Nice work on the blog! I'm really looking forward to reading and seeing more, especially, your bug (TBD) for good food and meeting new people. Love you! Chi 3

[Mom]

Questions for you....
Are the food expensive? How many people are assigned in your room? How much rent/expense a month? (Hanh kissed me on your behalf.) At work today, I was thinking of you and got teary-eyed. I miss you a lot. Be safe and have fun. Watch out for the moving vehicles. Don't eat McDonald everyday. Chat later. Love you, Mom

[MQN]

Mom: The food is somewhat expensive. We just have to find the restaurants that serve cheap food. We also went to the grocery store the other day so we can make our own paninis (sandwiches). And no, not too much McDonalds, of course. Right now I don't know who I will be living with in Rome. It can be all 8 guys or we can be separated into different apartments. Don't worry too much Mom, I'll be home soon enough! Miss you very much! Chi 5: Seriously dude, I do miss the cooking. The food here got a little better because its a different region. But still, good food comes at a price here. I got a whiff of something that reminded me of thit kho yesterday. Craving it still bro... so sad. Love you guys very much. Kiss mom, mad-mad, jaylin, and skymaster for me.

[Van]

A HA!
So that's what it takes to get you to go to church, huh? Hahaha jk I'm so jealous of you minh and extremely excited! I know we've been out of touch lately, so maybe this will be a good way for us to keep updated. Anyway, I hope you find some good food soon! :)