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Published: June 24th 2008
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The Bus
Somwhere in there are all 11 KSUers... I just had a totally whirlwind, packed, crazy week, guys. I don’t even know where to begin with all of it, but I’ll do my best to get the point across without getting too verbose.
The other members of ‘America’ (other KSUers currently studying in various other European cities) all arrived on Sunday evening the 10th, and spent the night on various dorm room floors, which unfortunately have NO carpet padding, and we all woke up at about 4:30am to take our last regular showers and walk down to Hofbräuhaus to catch the charter bus. The 14 hour bus ride there I could probably have done without, but it really only took that long because of all the stops we made on the way to appease the smokers and small-bladders. The drive took us south through a little itty bitty corner of Austria, *by* Lichtenstein (so small, it’s no wonder I didn’t notice it until the return drive), and through the Swiss Alps. Our professors thought a longer pause was in order in
Lugano, where we got out of the bus to see some… house in the middle of the lake, maybe? It had been dismantled, however, so it turned into
an extended leg-stretch. We finally arrived in
Cadenabbia around 8, ate and slept. Morning one took us just up the hill behind the hotel to Villa La Collina, “Villa of the Hill” literally, and an admirable hill it was - it was like walking up a cliffside. Ok, not really, but it’s a deserving name. From the English translation we got, I understood that a former German chancellor lived the last years of his life there… not bad. Anyhow, now it’s a conference center with a mean bocce ball court. We then proceeded up the coastline on foot a bit to the
Villa Carlotta. I’m not really sure why we spent so much time scoping out the famous villas on Lake Como for so long, but I thought it was a bit much, cuz I wanted to see furniture, after all. A boat ride across the long way on the lake brought us to the
city of Como, where we met back up with the tour bus and drove the remaining hour into Milan, finally to see some showrooms in the
Zona Tortona. I was floored, really floored. My pictures still don’t even scratch the surface in conveying the enormity of this exhibition. See,
Lugano
Some nifty sculptures in the park down by the lake. the showrooms-part of the deal are the companies’ actual store locations, which are all over the city, and they dress ‘em up for the week with the year’s new lines of products. That part’s called
Fuori Salone. Then the second part is called
Salone Internazionale del Mobile. Say that one if you dare. It’s the same companies that are locally located, plus many, many companies from EV*ER*Y*WHERE else in the world, and they all put together exhibits for the exhibit hall. Which isn’t really an exhibit hall, it’s a complex of about 25 exhibit halls, and it was pure craziness when we went there on the opening day, and the second day of our trip (Wednesday). But I returned with more promo brochures than I thought one person could need, and almost every one of them came in a little shopping-style bag, and those are pretty cool, too. I also got a peek at the main square of Milan, comprised of the
Duomo, the
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, and radiating off of it, some of the finest, and most expensive, shopping in the world on Via Dante and
Via Torino. Day three brought more showrooms and the
Porta Ticinese section of town. All the shops and restaurants in that
Lake Lugano
Another cheesy tourist picture by yours truly - but you can't deny that you like them, too! section of the city had a lot of character, and it was a beautiful day. But the highlight of that day, and possibly of the whole trip was the Cenacolo Vinciano, known more commonly as
the Last Supper, painted by Leonardo DaVinci. ‘Member how I was all worked up about the Ishtar gate? Same reaction here. The only competitor for highlight was the purchase of Italian leather boots. Which is superficial, yes, of course, but what girl wouldn’t debate over which was the better experience? I mean, both episodes were breathtaking, and both the DaVinci and the boots sum up a lot of what Italy is about - design.
Enough philosophy.
Como is where I spent the entire fourth day, because the 1½ hours each way to Milan on a bus that only ran at 8:30 am and 11 pm was too much. And in Como, I was shameless, I went shopping (the boots resulted). But I had a good time bumming around mindlessly with Esther, mostly, and she and I had a nauseating ride back around the lake to the hotel. Italian bus drivers are merciless and kamikaze, be warned. Well, all Italian drivers are, really. The drive back on Saturday
Hotel Brittania
The place we stayed in Cadenabbia. was pretty uneventful - we made the 700km trip in 11 hours, and for a big ol’ bus, that’s pretty damn good. Sunday, all the out-of-towners returned to their dorms and apartments in their other cities, and since everything has been pretty normal - just a nice stack of missed schoolwork waiting for me!
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