We landed safely and retrieved our luggage. And then we stepped outside. Holy cow. Copenhagen has had a few nice, sunny days but I was absolutely floored by how beautiful it was outside. It was a sunny, warm, breezy day. I seriously wanted to just bask in the sun instead of getting on the bus. But I did get on the bus and soon we were on our way to our hotel. I gazed at the peaceful Italian fields, buildings, and trees as we drove towards Milan. By the time we checked into our hotel we were all tired and hungry and we had time for a little catnap before finally headed to our first Italian restaurant. We were all happy to see the bread on the tables when we arrived. Our wonderful meal consisted of first course: thinly sliced (possibly smoked?) meat and olives and second course: lasagna and third course: espresso. The food was delicious and very Italian. I don’t normally drink coffee of any kind so I declined the espresso but I did try a small bit of my friend Katie’s. As we left the store I noticed my heart beating very fast. Hello espresso, I guess you really do know how to wake me right up. That was pretty interesting.
From the restaurant we met the guide for our walking tour, a cute little Italian woman who knew more than I ever thought I’d learn about Milano in just one afternoon. We walked all over—the castle, some fountains, the pedestrian street and the covered, but open on all ends, shopping “mall”, and the breathtaking cathedral, Duomo. I figured an Italian cathedral would be impressive, but I had no idea just how impressive. I think my jaw literally dropped as soon as I set eyes on it. We learned that it took 450 years to finish. Wow. Napoleon was the one to finally finish it because he wanted to be king of it. There are something like 180 spires, all with statues on the tops, and there around over 1,300 statues total in the cathedral. I just could not believe how intricately designed every single detail was. It was amazing. Tourists can walk to the top, or take the lift. We went to do that last night after exploring the inside a little and experiencing part of the Sunday night mass, but we were just a half hour too late. We will definitely be finding another day to check that out. I cannot wait.
Back to the beginning real quick: our first main stop was the castle. There is an actual Michaelangelo statue there that we got to see. Very cool. We also had about ten minutes to explore before meeting back up with the group. I took some pictures of a cool statute and then I laid down in the grass. I simply cannot describe in English words how amazing that felt. The grass was actually green and the sun’s rays were warm and comfortable on my skin. I laid there in utter bliss until a few minutes of free time remained. Then I played some hacky-sack. Hacky-sack is my all-time favorite leisure game but I rarely find anyone to play with. I had to play by myself this time to but I did it and it was wonderful.
On our walk to the fountain I learned an important lesson: even if a person carrying pretty little bracelets looks very nice and seems to offer to put one on your wrist for free, you should probably just walk away. What did I actually do? I said hello and then put my wrist out when he motioned putting the bracelet on someone. I was so happy, thinking I was going to get a great little Italian souvenir for free on my first day in Italy. I even gave him a happy high-five after he got done tying the bracelet. He also came over and put bracelets on my friends. Then he started asking for euro. Oops. I didn’t even have any euro with me. I had not exchanged any of my kroner for euro yet. I tried to say I don’t have any, I don’t have any but he was very insistent saying “Just 5 euro, just 5.” He even got his wallet out to explain what we needed to give him, as if we did not understand him saying 5 over and over. Finally my friend Katie got out her wallet and gave him the money so we could walk away. So I got this tiny thread bracelet for the equivalent of 7$. But I think it was the lesson I learned that was more valuable because even since then I have been confronted with people selling all sorts of trinkets around the city. I hate saying no but I simply can’t go home with flowers, bracelets, purses and silly balloons.
So once the tour ended at the Duomo (cathedral) we were all on our own for dinner and the rest of the evening. My friends Katie and Lauren and I stuck together and explored Milan. Withing 10 minutes we had found an adorable little café and we had our first Gelato.
Soooooo delicious. One scoop chocolate and one scoop strawberry cheesecake. If I had to choose between gelato and Danish wienerbrod (pastries) I think I would just burst into tears because it would be such a hard decision.
We then walked down a few shopping streets and were amused with the vast number of fancy stores that we would never buy anything at. Eventually we found a cute little café and we enjoyed some pizza. It was quite hygge. I wonder if the Italians have a word equivalent to the Danish hygge. If they did I think it would have to include bread, pizza, pasta and gelato.
We made it back to the hotel around 9:30 after dinner and I laid on my bed and pretending like I was going to do homework. Except then I did no homework and I fell asleep right around 10. It was amazing.
And that was day one J
I am actually done with Day 2 as well right now but all the walking in the new city absolutely exhausted me today, so for now I will rest my tired eyes and I will try and update on today tomorrow. Did that make sense :S ?
Hope you all are well—and especially hoping that Terp went well over the weekend! I thought about you all so much. Can’t wait to see the video!!
Take care, everyone! Hej hej.
No comments:
Post a Comment