Mairin in Milan - Part 2.
This is well overdue, but as they say better late than never! My travels and thesis got to me, and then my laziness since I’m so overwhelmed with what I have left to write about.
Ah, back to Milan!
On our second day in our overheated hotel, my mom and I woke up and went up to the complimentary breakfast. I love hotels. And I love their complimentary breakfasts. Mairin met us as well (whether it was the first day or not, I can’t recall) for some free and amazing grub. There was typical food - eggs, fruit and the like, but there were also pastries, cappuccinos (which Mairin loved), and you could also make…wait for it! MIMOSAS! Amazing.
After our awesome breakfast, we were off to our appointment to see the painting of the Last Supper. Yes, you have to make an appointment and pay a fee, but I believe Mairin got us our appointment and some special discount (or it for free), which she was thrilled to do.
So we set off in the rain to the painting, which is housed in the Convent of Santa Maria della Grazie. You were ushered in through locked security doors to the painting and urged to be quiet. I don’t know what I was expecting, but the setting of it is rather small, and unimpressive, although the painting in itself was impressive. So you are given time to sit and look at the painting, and pray, or whatever you may do, though you may not take pictures. After some amount of time you are ushered out and into the gift shop.
Santa Maria della Grazie
From there, we set off to check out the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II which sits next to the Duomo. It houses shops and dining places, and is a popular meeting place. Here, Mairin took us to a mosaic of a bull in the floor where people were spinning in the center. Uhhhh? I thought to myself. Mairin explained that if you spun around with your heel in the center three times, it was meant to bring you good luck, so we did it. Later, I read that what you are placing your heel on to spin on for good luck is the bull’s genitals and this practice has caused a hole developed on the place of the bull’s genitals. Nice, eh?
The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II arcade
Mom spins for good luck (3x!)!
From there, Mairin whisked us away to get lunch, in the form of some fried food. I don’t remember what it’s called but it was like a small calzone, but different and better. After that, we went to get gelato! Oh, gelato. It’s so much more amazing in Italy. The place we went to also let you decide if you wanted melted dark, white or milk chocolate added to the bottom of your cone, and it was so amazing and filling. Yum.
Mom with the amazing gelato!
After that, we were off to meet some of Mairin’s University friends from home at Sforza Castle or Castello Sforzesco. Since we arrived early, we decided to get some coffee or what not, and I was craving a hot chocolate in the weather that we had. However, when I got my hot chocolate, I received this:
“Hot chocolate”
To which Mairin then told me, Oh yea, I forgot to tell you, it’s literally hot chocolate. Thanks, Mairin. I couldn’t finish it, it was too filling and thick, how do people drink that on a regular basis? All the while we were there the waiter flirted with my mom. Oh, Italian men, you cheeky fellows. Mairin’s friend arrived with a friend she had met on her program. We found out that she happened to know and go to school with our cousin, Mary. Smalllllll world (I say this all the time!).
Mairin, and her friend, and our cousin’s friend.
Finally, we headed into the castle. The castle is basically a large museum and houses some impressive pieces including Michelangelo’s last sculpture and a ceiling painting by da Vinci I want to say. It was impressive for the afternoon.
Castello Sforzesco.
the O’Connor/McDermott girls reunited in front of Castello Sforzesco.
that ceiling painting I mentioned.
We took a break afterwards from the soaking rain to dry off and found dinner in a place where we were surprised by the service charge. In Italy, you often find the tip is automatically included, no matter your party size, which is slightly offputting, especially when your waiter is not great at all.
Our third day in Milan began with breakfast and more rain. This rain was worse than Scotland! Mairin informed me that they had actually been going through a drought before we came and now we were getting all the rain. Due to this, our plans for a day trip to Lake Como were cancelled because of it (my mom and sister went though, after I left), so we wandered around and decided to go into a contemporary art museum to kill some time. It had some cool stuff and we took pictures, but I’m not altogether the biggest fan of contemporary art.
Contemporary art.
Mom and Mairin in the contemporary art museum. Some awesome views there though!
Mom and I (being attractive).
From there, we wandered down the side roads and found this tiny place that was a bit out of the way for lunch where we had delicious paninis where we watched Mairin pick off her meat. I got one with prosciutto to which my mom called me gross. Thanks, Mom.
Mom & delicious paninis.
After the yummy meal, we were off to the Italian canals, where we were privy to some beautiful courtyards and tiny shops as well. And yet another church. I respect churches, but after a while, they start to look the same to me (in their respective countries).
The canal in Milan.
Mairin & the pretty Italian courtyards.
Mom and the canal.
We did some window shopping in the continued rainfall and found dinner in an Italian Chinese place, where yes, Chinese people were speaking Italian. Here we had some amazing pizza and just walked up and down the main street. When my sister and I went into a shop, my mom was set upon by an Italian beggar, to which she replied she did not speak Italian, and to which he replied in English, GIVE ME MONEY.
Nice, right?
Pizzaaaa!
Milan’s main street lit up by rain.
My last morning, in our overheated hotel (to which they finally admitted they could not shut the heat off, so I took cold showers right before bed just so I could sleep), we woke to overcast skies, but not exactly rain and took off for our last museum, the Gallerie di Piazza Scala. We tried to get a student discount for myself, but they wouldn’t accept it as I wasn’t a student of Italy. Try everywhere though, some countries don’t care, and some don’t check your ID. It never hurts. Anyway, it was a large museum holding many old, and religious paintings. It was pretty and large. It apparently has a strong representation of nineteenth century Lombard painters.
The Gallerie di Piazza Scala.
Mairin being herself.
Some older bits.
After that, we walked around and checked out some older parts of town before my flight and did some shopping. I left from the main terminal and took a bus to the airport. By this time, I was tired of the Milanese people. I had been walked into a million times and gotten frustrated over their lack of ability to queue in any organized fashion and could not wait to return to Edinburgh. I know, New Yorkers can be bad, and there are rude people in every culture, but this was probably the worst I experienced out of all my travels, and even my Italian friends say the people are because they are in the fashion capital.
Anyway, I recommend you check out Milan, after all you’re not living there and the city has some beautiful sites! Keep in mind, it’s more expensive than other cities, and a bit faster paced, and ruder. Also, be aware of your bags. However, that’s just my opinion, my sister lived there, and she loved it on the other hand, so go check it out for yourself! Plus, Italian food is SO DELICIOUS! (I also believe in seeing as much of the world as possible, anyway!)
Ciao, Milano!