Anyone who understands the Italian metro has perhaps not used it. After trying about four different kinds of machines, we finally found the one that spit out metro tickets (with the help of some American girls and watching some disgruntled Italian youth kick and swear at the ticket machine).
As the metro doors opened, for mere milliseconds, we thought we saw a green hazy cloud pour out of the funk-filled tube. We stepped inside, or rather ran before the doors shut on us. At Lorento (our metro stop) with green fog probably following us, we got out and tried to find the Bermuda Triangle that was Via Porpora (the street with our hostel on it). After refusing an offered Italian escort and the ever present temptation (?) offered by six McDonalds on the way, we finally found the infamous “Hotel Sabatini.” Despite our forward thinking in booking ahead the man at the counter failed to understand our confirmation number nor our spanglish as we pleaded for “a bed for the night”.
Our room came fully equipped with two middle aged, drunken German women who spoke minimal English; just enough to confess that they’d had “too much wine.” The next morning we went, bikeless (disappointing, as the website promised them) to explore Milan.
Being Sunday in such a big city, logically, everything was closed. By this time, we were famished. Eventually, sorting through the 50 open McDonalds, we stumbled across a bakery where we purchased and devoured some delicious stuffed pizza with some chocolate filled gooey oozing croissants- the highlight of Milan! We decided the food far surpassed the scenery, although there were some cool trams/trolleys scooting around.
We then walked down into the old town where preceding the impressive cathedral was a giant, covered cross shaped building lined with fashionable Milan stores and frescos lining the ceilings.
Where the two bars of the cross intersected, there were four stores, Luis Vuittan, Prada, Gucci, and, you guessed it, Micky D’s. (the usually bright yellow McDonalds sign was toned down a bit to an antique gold to not clash with its classy surroundings.) Weaving through the Asian tourists to get to see the cathedral, statue of Goya, etc... we made our way back to the ‘hotel’ to grab our bags and get ready for the next city.
This Cathedral was AMAZING because I really like scultures, especially real-life stuff because you have to be amazingly talented to sculpt something. Anyways, in this picture, especially on the bottom right, you can see a statue of a person. There were literally hundreds of statues on the facade of this building- and each statue was different! They were saints, martyrs, church fathers etc.. all different- one guy had his intestines hanging out. You can see maybe 50 of the statues in this picture, and they are all quite a bit bigger than me, just to give you some perspective on how HUGE this cathedral was. I think out of the whole trip, even including Rome, this was my favorite.
At the railway station in Milan, we decided upon Verona as the next location for our adventure. Six euros, a baguette and some salami slices later, Verona was upon us. We stayed at a converted-into-a-hostal monastary there and it was beautiful. We even made a new friend who decided "hey, I'll just hang out with YOU guys all day!" The pictures speak for themselves:
Stay Tuned for Venice!
2 comments:
i like scultures too. are those like stone vultures?
good post.
k
I can hardly contain my excitement for Italy Part 3! I hope I don't pee my pants in anticipation.
Post a Comment