Beautiful, Dirty, Rich

On our second day in Milan, we thought of taking it nice and easy. We started in the morning with Castello Sforzesco. We had walked past it the previous day and saw that they had some Michelangelo exhibition going on so I thought it would be nice to visit. It turned out to be a collection of his drawings of the various buildings he designed and was really quite boring actually :p Luckily the castle was so huge they had many different museums inside so we visited some of the others like the Furniture Museum etc.

On our way to the Furniture Museum, we walked past their Egyptian Museum and there was a group of schoolchildren inside on an excursion. The museum staff were dressed up as Egyptians and were explaining to the kids about Egyptian history (I guess) and it looked so interesting CS said he wanted to go be part of them, haha… The kids were all listening attentively and they even asked questions! I don’t think the museum staff in Singapore does this at all and I think it’s a really good way for kids to learn. The Furniture Museum was mildly interesting and there were some pieces that looked quite weird.

After Castello Sforzesco, we headed to the Triennale Design Museum as our guide had mentioned the day before that the NYT had rated it as one of the best shows ever. It was really just a collection of things which were supposed to showcase Italian design I think. We got quite bored after a while though we did see all the exhibits. Xiu, did you go there when you were in Milan? Maybe we are both not creative enough to appreciate it, haha… There was a group of students there (I think they were students) and one of the girls was going on and on about the stuff on display, I’m not sure if she knew what she was talking about or just trying to show off. As the Triennale Design Museum was held in an exhibition area that had other stuff going on at the same time, we also saw an exhibit which was quite weird, it had this guy posing with various objects and he was going about design and how it should be like, something about not just slapping a label on something. Cant remember the name now, but it was weird. There was also an exhibit on Milan hosting the next World Expo at the same venue so we went to take a look. The highlight was that there was an actual baker baking bread there and we could eat the bread that he made! Hehe…. There was some strange bread which they labeled as being from Southeast Asia, which we have never seen before. Weird!

We ended the day at Corsco Como, we had a bit of difficulty finding it and walked into some really dingy areas but we got there in the end. The street looked very shiny and new and seems like where the beautiful and rich went to hang out. We went to 10 Corsco Como as recommend and it was made for beautiful people I guess. I had fun browsing through the books at the bookshop but there was an artist being interviewed there so I couldn’t wander around the whole area. It was the same case at the shop, they had some photoshoot going on so I couldn’t explore it fully. The clothes were alright but I really loved the shoes they had, sigh no shoe shopping so far other than the boots purchased in Florence.

Drove off to Bellagio the next day to see Lake Como. Bellagio is supposed to be the best place to see Lake Como, thus the reason for us staying there. As it was still winter, a lot of things were closed so we couldn’t visit any villas, instead we took the ferry and visited the other towns around Lake Como. We really enjoyed Varenna and had a nice time walking around the town. There was also a photoshoot going on there and I felt so sorry for the model cos it was so so cold!!! No signs of George Clooney though, he must have been busy preparing for the Oscars :p Some pictures from around Lake Como.

Varena

My Cappuccino

Beautiful Lake Como

Beautiful Lake Como again...

Next, masquerade!

Supermodel, work!

We arrived in Milan during Fashion Week so I was a wee bit excited about the possibility of seeing some models or even Anna Wintour, haha…. before that, CS writes about the soccer match he attended the night we arrived.

I had originally wanted to catch Inter Milan Vs Juventus in Turin but tickets were sold out. I suppose Inter Milan vs Bayern Munich is potentially a better matchup. Although my following of soccer and Inter Milan has reduced significantly in recent years and shifted towards tennis, walking up to the San Siro Stadium for a big match still stirred up emotions of excitement and anticipation.

After a tough time squeezing through the gates, climbing the towers up to the highest and cheapest seats in the stadium with the thousands of fans, as I approached the entrance to the centre, I hear the champions league anthem (you know the "The champions.., The champions..." one) and getting more excited. Stepping through the corridor into the stadium was overwhelming. I knew the stadium was big (80,000 capacity) but it was BIG. See a short clip I recorded.

Not much to comment about the match which ended 1-0 to Bayern unfortunately, but I still enjoyed the experience.

Ok, back to me writing, haha... The next day, we had a walking tour which brought us around Milan and also to see The Last Supper. Since it started in the afternoon, we went to the Duomo (yet another one!) and also the shopping mall which became the prototype across the world, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II for a looksee first.

The Duomo in Milan was quite different from the ones we have seen in Florence and Turin as the architecture was Gothic. They had finished cleaning it up so it was all bright and shiny for us to admire. We also climbed up the Duomo and while the view was nothing to shout about (I think the views from climbing the bell tower in Florence and Leaning Tower were much better) it was interesting to be up close and personal with the 140 pinnacles. Each one of them had a different figurine on top and I imagine it must have been crazy to both sculpt and clean all of them. We didn’t go down into the crypt so nothing to talk about there.

Duomo in Milan

As for Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, we didn’t really go into any of the shops but I did rather liked the building itself. The glass covered ceiling looked really pretty. They also set up a catwalk in the middle of the mall for Fashion Week but this is for the the less well-known designers. Loreal had a makeup room there so you can see the models getting their makeup done. We managed to see bits of the show when we walked past during our walking tour. Here are some pics

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Fashion week in Milan

The Last Supper itself was quite amazing. This was one ticket you really need to pre-book cos there is no way you can waltz in and just get one. We got ours through the walking tour, Last Supper Tickets, which included the walking tour so though we booked everything more or less last minute, we managed to get in. The ticket really allows you to see that one fresco, and they have very strict controls. Only about 30 people are allowed in at any one time, atmosphere controlled environment and absolutely no photographs are allowed, they were very strict about that. There is actually another fresco at the other side of the room but as our tour guide said, that guy was unfortunate enough to be opposite Da Vinci so no one looks at his stuff. I did spent some time staring at that other fresco but it really cannot compare to Last Supper.

We ended the day with ‘Happy Hour’! Our guide told us about this practice in Milan where they have ‘Happy Hour’ from 6-9pm where if you buy a drink at a café, you basically get a buffet of finger foods, and this is how you basically have your dinner for a cheap price. Hehe we were quite happy to partake in this practice as it meant cheap dinner. The food is mainly finger foods, different types of pizzas, olives, tomatoes etc. Cheap food but filling and that’s what’s most important.

On our way back, we thought we could catch some celebrity attending the Prada show or something but no such luck. There was a tent where the fashion shows are being held and the paparazzi was there setting up but we didn’t stay to see any supermodel or Anna Wintour, maybe tomorrow...