9/03 6:30pm Milan, Italia
I arrived at the train station in Milan in one piece and my hostel could literally be seen from the doorway of the train station, so I didn't have to go far at all. The room I'm staying in is a four person room, but when I got there, it only had one other person staying in it, another girl, who I didn't meet until later that night. After arriving, I decided to go to the center of Milan and look around. I bought a 48 hour metro ticket and after taking the Paris metro everywhere, the Milan metro is a breeze. It took me right to the foot of the Duomo, and after taking some pictures and ignoring all the people trying to con me into buying bracelets or seeds for the pidgeons, I went inside the Duomo for a few minutes and look around and then walked around the Galleria for awhile. It's funny, but around 5pm, tourist and italians are all gathering in this area and eating gelato. And since I've nevevr had gelato, I knew I just had to have some. It was delish (pistacchio)!
After my gelato, I returned to meet my hostel-mate. I never caught her name, but I learned two things about her fast: she travels a lot and she like to brag about it even more. This girl would just not shut up about where all she has been. And it wasn't like she would just be telling me a stroy if I asked about something, but she would just be like "this one time in...." and start going. Then after she would ask me if I had been there, and I would be like "no" and she would judge me for it! Well, this girl was just getting on my nerves, so finally after she told me a story about buying too many silk scarfs in Thailand, I asked her where she had gone to college and she told me she didn't have money for college right now, and I swear it took all my strength to not ask her if it was because she had bought too many scarfs in Thailand, but instead I just told her I hadn't traveled much because I was finishing my degree. After that, I left to go do some laundry and find something to eat. She was asleep when I got back and left early in the morning, but that was FINE WITH ME.
Laundry was easy and I decided to eat at the Chinese run Italian Ristorante next to the hostel. The hostel is fun by a very nice Vietmenese family, and when I asked the daughter if it was good, she said not the pasta, but the pizza was ok. It seems we have a little rivalry of asian families on this street, but I'm fine with giving both my business, so I decided to eat there. I got some pizza and it was good and at a decent price, so I'll probably go back tonight since it was so close. I mean, nothing is open until 9pm anyways, so it is the best place to go if I don't want to walk in the dark back to the hostel. That or train station food, which includes McDonalds, Burger King, and Chinese food.
This morning I woke up a little later than usual, but I was getting on the Metro around 11am, so not too bad. I headed to San Siro, which is the largest Futbol (soccer) stadium in Italy. It is home to two teams, Inter Milan and AC Milan and as the tour guide explained, when those teams play, it's World War 3 in Milan. The museum and tour were really interesting and we got to see the field, the press room and the locker rooms. I also met a really nice british couple who after I told them I was traveling alone, kept asking for my camera to take my picture with everything.
After the tour, I started walking back to the Metro, which was about a 20 minute walk, but I saw a bus and saw that it stopped right next to where I was going, and since it was hot, I decided to ride the bus instead, and I was glad I did. As I was riding, I found the Santa Maria delle Grazie cathedral, which I later returned to on another bus to tour. But I was set at this point to climb to the roof of the Duomo. The total climb was 250 steps, so not that much, but with it being hot here and it being in a stone stairway, I was pretty sweaty afterwards. BUT I wore deordorant, which is more than all the italians can say (those metro rides are pretty horrible). The top of the Duomo was really nice and you could see the entire city. I sat up there for awhile and returned down to the ground. After walking into H&M and not finding anything for me or for Mom (lol), I walked thorugh the Galleria again, which is the outdoor mall in central Milan. They have the most expensive stores and ristorantes and next to them are tourist shops, so it's pretty neat. I got my lunch, which was pretty late for lunch (330pm) and pretty much not lunch, since it was limon and crema gelato. So far today I have had a clif bar and gelato and about a gallon of water... maybe not the best, but sometimes you are just to busy to find something else! While eating my gelato, I started watching a street artist. He was painting tiles right there in the middle of the Galleria and they were the most beautiful scene of italian cities and countrysides. I watch him for probably 20 minutes before I finally told myself that if I was enjoying his work so much, I had to buy one. So, I got a 6x6ish tile of toscana (Tuscany). He packed it up so nicely for me, so I won't be posting a picture of it until I return in December :(, but I don't want to risk anything happening to it. I'm so glad I bought it though, because it wasn't like something you get from a tourist stand, but I actually watched him make it. Justl like my mini Eiffel Tower, it was a must-have.
After that adventure, I returned to the Santa Maria delle Grazie cathedral and toured it for about 30 minutes. At this time, I had been out for around 6 hours and was getting tired, so I returned to the hostel. I have stopped myself from spending 12 hours out each day because as great as it is to see everything, it just isn't possible and I also don't want to get too exhausted or dehydrated because I still have 3.5 months left! There will be plenty to do in the future, and it seems like everytime I decided to return to the hostel, something happens that makes me glad I did. In Paris, it was making a new friend, and today, I made another new friend: the receptionist at the hostel AND a HUGE STORM rolled in about 30 minutes after I arrived. Not a little rain but lightning and thunder and a downpour. I had my laptop and cameras in my backpack with me, so THANK GOODNESS I CAME BACK. I've been sitting in the common area for awhile, and I ended up talking to the receptionist, who is about my age. She came out to close the windows when it started raining and she was wearing TOMS. I kept telling her what a big deal Toms are in the US and she was like, OMG, I had no idea. Everytime my mom goes to the US, she buys me a pair, so now I have 5 and I love them. She loved hearing about how they actually benefit something great and I think she will be wearing them a little more from now on (I've gotta rep Holly in Italia, ya!).
Tomorrow, I'm on to Venice. The weather forecast: RAIN. But guess who bought their rain jacket... this girl! I'll just make sure to lock up my laptop in the lockers in Venice (they don't have them in Milan, which I didn't mind at all taking it with me since I just feel safer carrying it if there is no locker).
