Mosquitos and heat, not what you picture for italy
Don't get me wrong, its great in Italy. Its just very, very, very warm. Although I am starting to get used to it.
This section was dedicated to Milan and the cinqueterres. I came here because of some extended relatives of mine, NiNi and Shabia. They live in Italy, and I stayed with them for 5 days and 4 nights.
Milan is not really nice as one would traditionally think. Its very hot and there are lots of mosquitos, even right in the city, and in the Apartment where I stayed and will stay again this trip. However, and this will interest my dad, it has an excellent Duomo, with some of the largest collumns that I have ever seen, and da Vinci's last supper.
It features a combination of renasainnce style and Gothic, punctuated by lifelike and ubiquitos white statues that loook incredible from the outside. The inside is an enormous structure which accentuates the stained glass and statues from the outside. Although I was waiting to hear back on the pics from dad, I got a few pictures which will be up sooomeday I suppose. This is one of the largest churches in Europe, was free to go in, and I liked it. I spent nearly 2 days walking around milan, and also saw the pinoteca gallery, which features raphael's cartoon for the School of Athens which took the cake, a leonardo, and some others. I also saw a second michelangelo at the Castella, which was unfinished and reminded me of Rodin.
In florence [future post] I really realized the genious of Buonarotti. His work is so much more polished and lifelike than other scultptures, and there are many comparisons to make. I am blown away by 3 artists: Michelangelo, Carravagio, and Raphael. This was really cool to see. The last Supper is housed in an unnassuming looking church, and without reservations, I couldn't get in. I will be back in milan at least twice more for flights, so I will try and tuck it in then. Italy wasn't a united state untill relatively modern times, so each city, the florentines, the venitians, and the milanese were there own city states with their own culture.
Of course, it is also home to designer clothes and has 4 armani stores and more. What can you say about this, well, its not AS expensive as I thought, though certainly pricey. I have become somewhat immune to these prices, and used the stores to escape the heat of nearly 38 C which aint too chilly. Once you go in one, its no big deal, you just do it again, although its a bit nerve racking to see the guy in a black suit open the door for you in your sweaty shirt in front of 2 grand suits, but heck, its a site to see, so I saw it. And the ice cream. Gelato is the best, and every day I have bought a huge cup of the stuff. Its like a thicker, richer, yet soft ice cream which is flavored with just about anything but especially melon and I love the stuff. Nothing quite like it at home.
Shabia invited me to go to the cinquterres for a couple of nights so I obliged for the opportunity, since I had time to spare before my rednevous in Florence. However, there was ANOTHER train problem, so I took ANOTHER regional train dripping in sweat for longer for free, but there you go. The cool part was I met a nurse on the train there [montoporrosso] who informed me about a one year fast track post grad program for nursing. Its high demand and salary for practicioners, and males are needed. This was really cool to hear. Friendly couple from northridge CA who are professors and backpacking [literally in campsites] across france but took a side trip to italy. Once again, I was blown away by the alps despite my extensive trips throughout natural wonders in the USA.
In montoporosso, we went to the beach and a boat ride. I was with 5 italian speakers for almost 5 days and almost lost it towards the end because I couldn't talk with anybody or understand much. Italy was getting expensive and its hard when you spend a long time with tough communication like that. The beach was nice and I loved the boat ride where I saw another chateau and castle, but due to water and heat didn't bring the camera. No worries, they are sending me pics this time! There was a beach party one night and we visited nice areas the whole time. I slept in a beach bungalow and tried my best to communicate. Contrary to popular belief, the spanish was not particularly helpful. The area though is gorgeous and quaint and I would like to return. My frustration with Italian was getting to be a lot though. I was very grateful for these people's hospitality and got some nice pictures and memories. Hopefully I will see them again on my return to Milan
Notes on this portion of the trip
-An italian waitress told me to not come to italy if I couldn't understand the language. I thought, how rude? Without tourism, you wouldn't have this job! Its the tourists dillemma
-Shabias italian friend developed a major crush on me and I didn't know what to do about it since I couldn't communicate with her. They kept asking me about girls and the more I ignored her or tried to change the subject, the more she wanted to be around me. Must be that fox family charm
-Italy is hot, and as soon as I took a shower, I got hot again
-They kept insisting on paying for me, which was nice but I didn't know how to properly thank them since their standard of living islower and probably won't come to stay with me at my house in the states.
-I was pumped to see brandon and greg the next day
-Italy is more expensive, with pricier entrances to museums and stuff than france or spain. They are not into student discounts
-meeting people on trains is fun if I didn't previously mention it
-Cinquteres are great, and I had a fantastic time.
-Italy is hot and uncomfortably so
-I am buying some Dolce and gabbana underwear, since I can only afford that
This section was dedicated to Milan and the cinqueterres. I came here because of some extended relatives of mine, NiNi and Shabia. They live in Italy, and I stayed with them for 5 days and 4 nights.
Milan is not really nice as one would traditionally think. Its very hot and there are lots of mosquitos, even right in the city, and in the Apartment where I stayed and will stay again this trip. However, and this will interest my dad, it has an excellent Duomo, with some of the largest collumns that I have ever seen, and da Vinci's last supper.
It features a combination of renasainnce style and Gothic, punctuated by lifelike and ubiquitos white statues that loook incredible from the outside. The inside is an enormous structure which accentuates the stained glass and statues from the outside. Although I was waiting to hear back on the pics from dad, I got a few pictures which will be up sooomeday I suppose. This is one of the largest churches in Europe, was free to go in, and I liked it. I spent nearly 2 days walking around milan, and also saw the pinoteca gallery, which features raphael's cartoon for the School of Athens which took the cake, a leonardo, and some others. I also saw a second michelangelo at the Castella, which was unfinished and reminded me of Rodin.
In florence [future post] I really realized the genious of Buonarotti. His work is so much more polished and lifelike than other scultptures, and there are many comparisons to make. I am blown away by 3 artists: Michelangelo, Carravagio, and Raphael. This was really cool to see. The last Supper is housed in an unnassuming looking church, and without reservations, I couldn't get in. I will be back in milan at least twice more for flights, so I will try and tuck it in then. Italy wasn't a united state untill relatively modern times, so each city, the florentines, the venitians, and the milanese were there own city states with their own culture.
Of course, it is also home to designer clothes and has 4 armani stores and more. What can you say about this, well, its not AS expensive as I thought, though certainly pricey. I have become somewhat immune to these prices, and used the stores to escape the heat of nearly 38 C which aint too chilly. Once you go in one, its no big deal, you just do it again, although its a bit nerve racking to see the guy in a black suit open the door for you in your sweaty shirt in front of 2 grand suits, but heck, its a site to see, so I saw it. And the ice cream. Gelato is the best, and every day I have bought a huge cup of the stuff. Its like a thicker, richer, yet soft ice cream which is flavored with just about anything but especially melon and I love the stuff. Nothing quite like it at home.
Shabia invited me to go to the cinquterres for a couple of nights so I obliged for the opportunity, since I had time to spare before my rednevous in Florence. However, there was ANOTHER train problem, so I took ANOTHER regional train dripping in sweat for longer for free, but there you go. The cool part was I met a nurse on the train there [montoporrosso] who informed me about a one year fast track post grad program for nursing. Its high demand and salary for practicioners, and males are needed. This was really cool to hear. Friendly couple from northridge CA who are professors and backpacking [literally in campsites] across france but took a side trip to italy. Once again, I was blown away by the alps despite my extensive trips throughout natural wonders in the USA.
In montoporosso, we went to the beach and a boat ride. I was with 5 italian speakers for almost 5 days and almost lost it towards the end because I couldn't talk with anybody or understand much. Italy was getting expensive and its hard when you spend a long time with tough communication like that. The beach was nice and I loved the boat ride where I saw another chateau and castle, but due to water and heat didn't bring the camera. No worries, they are sending me pics this time! There was a beach party one night and we visited nice areas the whole time. I slept in a beach bungalow and tried my best to communicate. Contrary to popular belief, the spanish was not particularly helpful. The area though is gorgeous and quaint and I would like to return. My frustration with Italian was getting to be a lot though. I was very grateful for these people's hospitality and got some nice pictures and memories. Hopefully I will see them again on my return to Milan
Notes on this portion of the trip
-An italian waitress told me to not come to italy if I couldn't understand the language. I thought, how rude? Without tourism, you wouldn't have this job! Its the tourists dillemma
-Shabias italian friend developed a major crush on me and I didn't know what to do about it since I couldn't communicate with her. They kept asking me about girls and the more I ignored her or tried to change the subject, the more she wanted to be around me. Must be that fox family charm
-Italy is hot, and as soon as I took a shower, I got hot again
-They kept insisting on paying for me, which was nice but I didn't know how to properly thank them since their standard of living islower and probably won't come to stay with me at my house in the states.
-I was pumped to see brandon and greg the next day
-Italy is more expensive, with pricier entrances to museums and stuff than france or spain. They are not into student discounts
-meeting people on trains is fun if I didn't previously mention it
-Cinquteres are great, and I had a fantastic time.
-Italy is hot and uncomfortably so
-I am buying some Dolce and gabbana underwear, since I can only afford that
posted by Gary Fox @ 9:36 AM
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