Milano GBU
Exceeded Expectations
- you know, I actually don't like gelato that much and I have only had it a couple of times so far this trip. Yesterday I had dark chocolate gelato with peach, cinnamon and basil gelato, which may sound kind of strange. It wasn't quite the death by chocolate of the cream puff in Ferrara, but it was probably the best gelato flavor pairing I have ever had. I think I might have come close to glimpsing a Platonic ideal.
Good
- I give Milan a full day, maybe two, on the late-period persona's field trip of Europe. One day for the Castle (arms and armor, musical instruments, select decorative arts, and general coolness) and the Museo Poldi Pezzoli (arms and armor, glass, jewels, lace, embroidery, and some other not too period but still cool stuff like clocks and sundials); and another day, optional, for the art galleries Ambrosiana and Brera. In the select collection of decorative arts on display at the Castle was a room frescoed with scenes from the story of Griselda showing Griselda in states of dress everywhere from her shift (first clear picture I have found anywhere of a lady's shift from this period) to having the sleeves tied on her overgown by her ladies, so I felt this was a good addition to my costuming research. At the Poldi Pezzoli, there is apparently a collection of textiles that you can view by prior written arrangement, but I don't have any information on how difficult or informative this might be for a future trip.
Bad
- hotel room was clean, if basic, and does everything a hotel is supposed to do, but I still have not found a hotel I would come back to in Milan - this one seems a bit far from the action, and despite being on a tram line does not seem to be anywhere near a tram stop. Maybe there is no such thing as a conveniently-situated, affordable hotel room in central Milan.
Ugly
- more bug bites. Apparently the only part of me that the mosquito found while I was sleeping is my left hand, but I am either more delicious or more susceptible to European than Canadian bugs because I count five bites on my hand alone, and this morning I was so swelled up that I couldn't even bend my pinky all the way.
- also, I woke up at 1:00 in the morning after getting a maximum of 3 hours sleep, and suffered insomnia for the rest of the night :(
Interesting
- so far, have been mistaken in conversation for American (not too surprising), Spanish (interestingly, I was mistaken for Italian in Spain) and Japanese (?). I count it a vote of sartorial confidence though that panhandlers and people accosting me to try to hand me literature in the streets*, who I have heard speaking English to others, have all tried speaking to me in Italian. Have managed to pick up a pretty adequate level of functional Italian, though not quite as much as shopkeepers and flirtatious museum guards try to credit me with - hope I can switch into French next week without confusing myself too much.
*of which there are a surprisingly high number, ranging everywhere from the expected idealistic young people to smartly dressed guys in suits to Nonnas - I have not stopped long enough to try and figure out if they are all after the same thing, or what they might be after, though I did see a "Dianetics" storefront on my travels
- you know, I actually don't like gelato that much and I have only had it a couple of times so far this trip. Yesterday I had dark chocolate gelato with peach, cinnamon and basil gelato, which may sound kind of strange. It wasn't quite the death by chocolate of the cream puff in Ferrara, but it was probably the best gelato flavor pairing I have ever had. I think I might have come close to glimpsing a Platonic ideal.
Good
- I give Milan a full day, maybe two, on the late-period persona's field trip of Europe. One day for the Castle (arms and armor, musical instruments, select decorative arts, and general coolness) and the Museo Poldi Pezzoli (arms and armor, glass, jewels, lace, embroidery, and some other not too period but still cool stuff like clocks and sundials); and another day, optional, for the art galleries Ambrosiana and Brera. In the select collection of decorative arts on display at the Castle was a room frescoed with scenes from the story of Griselda showing Griselda in states of dress everywhere from her shift (first clear picture I have found anywhere of a lady's shift from this period) to having the sleeves tied on her overgown by her ladies, so I felt this was a good addition to my costuming research. At the Poldi Pezzoli, there is apparently a collection of textiles that you can view by prior written arrangement, but I don't have any information on how difficult or informative this might be for a future trip.
Bad
- hotel room was clean, if basic, and does everything a hotel is supposed to do, but I still have not found a hotel I would come back to in Milan - this one seems a bit far from the action, and despite being on a tram line does not seem to be anywhere near a tram stop. Maybe there is no such thing as a conveniently-situated, affordable hotel room in central Milan.
Ugly
- more bug bites. Apparently the only part of me that the mosquito found while I was sleeping is my left hand, but I am either more delicious or more susceptible to European than Canadian bugs because I count five bites on my hand alone, and this morning I was so swelled up that I couldn't even bend my pinky all the way.
- also, I woke up at 1:00 in the morning after getting a maximum of 3 hours sleep, and suffered insomnia for the rest of the night :(
Interesting
- so far, have been mistaken in conversation for American (not too surprising), Spanish (interestingly, I was mistaken for Italian in Spain) and Japanese (?). I count it a vote of sartorial confidence though that panhandlers and people accosting me to try to hand me literature in the streets*, who I have heard speaking English to others, have all tried speaking to me in Italian. Have managed to pick up a pretty adequate level of functional Italian, though not quite as much as shopkeepers and flirtatious museum guards try to credit me with - hope I can switch into French next week without confusing myself too much.
*of which there are a surprisingly high number, ranging everywhere from the expected idealistic young people to smartly dressed guys in suits to Nonnas - I have not stopped long enough to try and figure out if they are all after the same thing, or what they might be after, though I did see a "Dianetics" storefront on my travels