Just as I am hunkering down with a
Diet Coke and some patatine (chips)
to write this blog post, I encourage you all to do the same while reading
it.
Early Thursday the entire group
boarded good ol’ Start Bus to take a journey to Rome for a day. Because I’m not in the history class and have
been to Rome many times, I got the opportunity to spend the day doing whatever
I wanted. I took it and set out in Rome
itching to hit up my favorite spots (read: Giolotti and the boutiques on via
Borschetto). Starting around Termini, I
walked to the Republic. Then the
Wedding Cake. Then to the Pantheon. And then to Piazza del Popolo. For those not well-versed in the geographical layout of Rome, that's a long walk.
Even the Snapchat filter can't hide how red my face was
Because it was summer and it was
Rome and it was packed, it was HOT. Over
90 degrees. From reading my blogs or
knowing me, you can figure that my body doesn’t respond well to this heat. Right when I hit Piazza del Popolo, I felt my
body giving in and consciousness slipping.
I flagged down an angel in the form of a taxi and spent the next couple
hours before dinner moving between cold showers and laying down on my hotel
bed. Thankfully I was able to rally
before dinner at La Carbonara, where
we had a great meal. I got pasta con solo burro (only butter), temporah
vegetables, and tiramisu. No tomatoes
were consumed and my heart was so happy!
Everyone was understandably beat after a full day in Rome, so I went to
bed early in order to rise for my 6 AM train to Milan with Jane.
Milan. How do I even begin. Walking up the stairs from the subway and
immediately seeing the Duomo for the first time was surreal. It’s towering, huge, and gothic, but has more
detail and intricacies than anything I had ever seen before. Right then and there I had a good feeling
about Milan. We made the short walk
(which seemed longer thanks to my 30 pound backpack) to the Hotel Galileo, our
home for the next two days.
The first
thing we did was check out the extraordinary shopping district located right in
the shadows of the Duomo. It was at La Rinascente, the 11 story department
store, where I learned a couple things about myself:
1.
That I have impeccable (and expensive) taste.
2.
That if you even attempt to see if you can fit
into the clothing of a very large child, you will be judged.
3.
That I was inspired to get a good job so I can
maybe buy something other than a cappuccino from that store one day.
We payed homage to the high end
clothes and then left in search of things that cost less than our semesterly
college tuition. Milan delivered in that
aspect as well, as there were many adorable and affordable options both in the
Duomo area and around the Navigli, a
hip area surrounding canals.
Friday night was exciting because
I discovered that there were two American musicals playing in Milan –
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Dirty Dancing. Why are these two shows the stuff Milan is
choosing to import from the States? I do
not know. We got tickets to Priscilla,
which really excited me. I had seen the
show in St. Louis and I was excited to see the differences in theatre culture
between the two cities. The first, and
most major of the differences, was a big one.
The show did not start until 22:00.
That’s 10 PM. TEN. P.
M. TENPM. Look, I love trying to fit into Italian
culture. I can see my meals starting to
begin later and last longer. But there
are some things I cannot morally get behind and a theatrical performance
starting at 10 PM is one of them – especially when I had gotten up at 4 AM to
get ready for our train. Thankfully
Priscilla is an outrageous show and I couldn’t fall asleep during the second
act no matter how much my body wanted to.
There were other, less noticeable differences too. The theater was beautiful but small, about
the size of SLU’s theatre. The audience
was about the same size as a typical SLU theatre performance too, which made me
wonder how they were paying to keep this show running from April-October. The performances were great an on par with
anything I’ve ever seen in the states.
It was fun to hear the text in Italian and I tried very hard not to look
at the subtitles projected on the top of the stage. Speaking of Italian Theater – FIVE MORE DAYS
TIL LION KING IN THE PIAZZA OF ASCOLI!
SMALL.
No Wicked, no Phantom, nope...Priscilla..
Day 2 was just as busy as day
1. We woke up and headed straight over
to Expo, located 30 minutes outside of the city. Expo was incredible. As we walked in it reminded me of a
Lollapalooza of food and sustainability but as we explored further that
metaphor was blown out of the water when I saw how much money and effort each
country must have put in. For those not
aware, Expo is an international exposition that is located in Milan this
year. It is running from the begging of
May until the end of October, and the theme is feeding the world and food
stability. It isn’t something I
necessarily ever thought of before but the Expo did a great job at teaching and
making learning interactive. Most every
country in the world has their own pavilion, which is basically a huge, archtitectuarlly
beautiful structure in which they show what their country is doing in regards
to food, why food is important to them, so on and so forth.
Favorite Expo Pavillions:
1.
BRAZIL! – Brazil was the runaway winner
here. They had a giant net course that
you could walk on going over a garden.
It represented the need of biodiversity and technology to feed the planet.
2.
ITALY! – Italy’s pavilion was the biggest,
obviously, and had cool exhibits such as a food arcade, an entire bar dedicated
to San Pelligrino, and a giant Eataly restaurant in which there was a Nutella
Bar.
3.
Switzerland had a very cool pavilion in which
there was a grocery store type tower filled with salt, water, and apples. You can take as much as you like but they
said they will not replenish the supply of these foods for the entire duration
of Expo. That begged the question of how
much you can take, because you want to leave some behind for future Expo
attendees. Very thought provoking
4.
Czech Republic’s pavilion had a tiny pool which
was so greatly appreciated at the end of the day, when Jane and I were able to
soak our poor little feet and talk about how much we loved the Czech Republic
for being so clutch.
I also really liked the Tree of
Life show and the Belgium pavillon for giving out free cookies. We went to the United States pavilion, and it
was pretty cool. It was called “American
Food 2.0” and it described the importance of agriculture to America.
After a good 8 hours at the Expo,
we ventured back into the city to get a later dinner and wander around Piazza
del Duomo. The next morning we got up
bright and early to make the most of our last morning in Milan. We made it up to the top of the Duomo, which
had incredible views of both the intricate spirals and the city below. After a final walkabout, it was time for the
trek home. The trek home….the train ride
to Rome, and a bus ride from Rome to Ascoli.
It wasn’t until I went to my internship today that Stefano pointed out I
was an idiot and we could have take a train from Milan to Ancona and Ancona to
Ascoli… okay he is obviously way too nice to call me an idiot to my face, but
dang it Mary Rose…
Bye Milan!!!
And that was the Milan trip!!
Right when we got home we stopped a Murph’s, obviously. Everything was as we left it in Ascoli,
except for Bar Lori being closed this entire week which is breaking my heart
and making me consider protesting breakfast all week. All in all, I loved Milan. Everything about that city is so
aesthetically pleasing from the church to the piazzas to the art to the style
and the people. OH, an risotto Milanese
is TOP.
If you think this blog was a doozy
to read, imagine writing and living it.
Ciao!
