13: Excursion: Milan

Oh hey, Milan, did you know that you're the most amazing place in the world?

Superlatives aside, Milan was like no other city I've ever been to. Where most of the historically rich cities and towns I've been to have a very upfront attitude and appearance about their history as if to say, "here is who we are and what we did, and it's right in front of you," Milan is a more cosmopolitan metropolis that seems aware of its past but instead of making history it's catch-phrase Milan says, "we have old buildings here, you can go look at them if you'd like." First, Milan has a subway system! If there's one thing that I love about any given city it's the public subway transportation system. Florence has none; frowns all around. But Milan has an easy to navigate metro that we (Laura, Bess, Lydia, and I) utilized; I think my 2-day metro pass was starting to wear by the last day. Milan's history is one of industry and production, so it's no surprise that most of the city we went to had a sense of industrialization. Unlike Florence or Siena that "feel" Italian (in that Francis Mayes way), Milan feels connected to the rest of the world, that is, the city feels like it's turned outwards toward.

Milan Duomo is my favorite so far (see the picture above!). We exited the metro stop called "Duomo" only to find that once you surface the Duomo smacks you in the face with its splendor and glory. I gasped, and grabbed Bess' arm. It was immense and colossal, with gothic motifs and the sprawling white marble made this Duomo feel unworldly and unreal. The interior does not exactly match the exterior's amazement, but it was marvelous nonetheless.

To exit the Duomo's piazza, you must go through the grand Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. On our first day we walked through in awe of it all. The second day they were setting up for Fashion Week. Marvelous. Incredible. Other sites we saw:

Teatro alla Scala - This opera theater is really the first opera house that has given me shivers. The accompanying museum houses the old costumes and playbills from past shows as well as other opera-related art that, honestly, was lost on me.
Castello Sforzesco - A monumental castle with all the bells and whistles of other castles.
Pinacoteca di Brera - This art gallery has a lot of Jesus art. In fact, they have a whole room full of various paintings of the Virgin and Baby J. My highlight was the two Umberto Boccioni paintings on display. This Futurism artists was insane, but a color genius.
Museo Poldi Pezzoli - This was my museum highlight of the trip. There was an ongoing Botticelli exhibit of a few pieces, including his The Lamentation, which literally made me tear-up. And the rest of the museum boasts a super eclectic collection of paintings, jewelry, religious items, clocks, etc.

Flash-forward to the best bits of my Milan experience. We ate dinner at Acquasala, a southern Italian cuisine ristorante. I ate horse. Yes, I ate horse. It was delicious. Throughout the meal we kept a mental list of the different animals we were eating, morbid yes, but really funny. Cow, octopus, squid, shrimp, pork, codfish, and horse. Hah! We then went to a bar called Il Elefante, which Lydia's guidebook said had a mix of chairs and fruity drinks, and it was gay-friendly. Turns out "gay-friendly" means the clientele is predominantly, if not exclusively, gay. But that's not all the gay fun we had because the club, Plastic, we were headed to is also gay-ish. The crowd outside was large and spilling carelessly into the street. Smokers drunkenly sashayed out of the club to a specific area to congregate. Their rectangular club-stamps unfaded and their unlimited pass to fun that our guidebook said was not to miss.
Pushing through the crowd we made it to the front, within earshot of the bouncer who lacked muscles, but compensated with sass. When he looked my direction I locked eye contact with him, signaled "four" with my fingers, pointing to Laura, Lydia, and a squished Bess. He nodded and gave me a quick smile. I was unsure if this was a polite, please wait smile, or an invitation to showcase my amazing flirting skills (note: I have none). When he looked my direction again, I winked at him, smiling coyly and what do you know? He pointed to us and we soon found ourselves getting through the crowd fast-tracked. When I passed him I said a polite, grazie, to which he replied, prego, China paired with the quintessential and in this case, necessary double-cheek-kiss. As if that weren't outrageous and memorable enough, there were a host of pseudo-drag dancers with amazing dance moves.

So yeah, Milan, you were great. Thanks