Milano

Sorry for getting this post out so late, I've really been enjoying my time and haven't felt like finishing any of my in progress posts.

A couple of weekends agoI had the opportunity to travel to one of the fashion capitals of the world: Milan.  While the intent of going there wasn't to shop, I made sure to stop by Louis Vitton, Prada and the other meca fashion conglomerates in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping mall.  Milan isn't just known for its fashion status, it also has one of the most unique cuisines in Italy due to the local grown ingredients.  Another attribute of Milan's food scene is the heaviness of their pastas and other dishes.  In researching Millan, I found an interesting comparison.  Many know that Paris and Rome are considered sister cities because of the large river that runs through each one.  One of Milan's sister cities is Venice.  Like Venice, Milan has a canal (granted, very small) system that runs through the, what I like to call "Happy Hour District" in the south-central Milan.

Traveling to Milan was by train.  If you know nothing about the train systems of Italy, you should know that if your destination is not the final destination of the train, to read the departure board carefully.  Since our train was headed to Milano, Turino being the trains final destination, I scrambled back and forth on the platform for a good ten minutes thinking my train had been cancelled.  In fact, all I had to do was look at the train number listed on my train ticket.  After the brief panic attack, I sat down on my first ever train ride.  Unlike airports, the train systems of Europe do not require security checks, baggage limits, etc.  You simply hop on and show your ticket to the conductor as he passes through your cabin.  Simple.

Many people that I have talked to about my eight month trip know I am using the book 1001 Buildings You Must See Before You Die as a rudimentary guide to seeing the world.  Along with the Galleria, I also wanted to see two other buildings in Milan: the Duomo of Milan and the Pirelli Tower.  The Galleria of Vittorio Emanuele II is one of the world's oldest shopping malls.  Approaching it from any side but one of its four major axes gives it the appearance of a large stone building with no clear function.  Upon reaching the entrance, a large glass  barrel vault pulls you into the space.  The three story building holds luxury fashion and household items on the lower floors and residential flats on the upper.  At the intersection of the barrel vaults is a large glass dome with iron support details that is simply beautiful.  Together, the stone walls and modern glass ceiling create an indoor-outdoor relationship that allows shopping to occur in all weather conditions.

                

Adjacent to the Galleria is the Duomo of Milan.  The Duomo is a gothic style cathedral that is famous for having the most stone statues built into its walls, columns and roof.  The cathedral faces a piazza and welcomes people as they leave the metro or the Galleria.  Atop of the Duomo is a golden statue that contrasts the stone statues that cover the rest of the cathedral.  The interior of the cathedral was simply breathtaking.  While not as decorated as St. Peter's, the gothic style creates a verticalness that is unmatched by any space I have seen.  I only got to see the interior at night, but during the day the interior is naturally lit through stain glass windows.

Pirelli Tower was once the tallest building in the world.  It was the first building to abandon the block form and use a more modern tapered design.  As a commercial building, I was unable to go inside, but even from the outside the building was compelling to look at.

For food in Milan, I tried a new dish: spade tartaro (swordfish tartar).  I've never had tartar before and I was... surprised to realize that it was cold.  Nevertheless, it was delicious with a glass of red wine.

While checking off buildings in the book is fulfilling, it's going beyond the locations listed in the book to meet locals, eat exotic foods, and enjoy life that have and will continue to make my adventure one of a kind.  One such stop was to Santa Maria Della Grazie to see the world's famous Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci.  Until recently I had always thought it was in Paris with the Monalise, alla The Da Vinci Code movie.  While I only had 15 minutes to see it, I made sure to sit down and enjoy the 129' masterpiece before secretly capturing a couple pictures.  Ssssshhhhhh don't tell the Italian authorities please!

My overall thought of Milan was not as good as I had hoped.  While I did enjoy the city, after seeing the Duomo, Galleria, and Last Supper there wasn't much to do besides eat, drink, or shop.  Milan is much more modern city than Rome and as a result it is missing a lot of the historical character that makes Rome so beautiful.

Italian Dinner Party

Sorry no architecture in this post.  This one is all about the experience.  In my previous post, I mentioned that I was invited to a dinner party at an Italian friends place.  While we did not have a full Italian dinner, which is a ten course meal containing drinks, entrees, coffee, and dessert we did have portions of the full meal.  The venue for the dinner party was at an Italian Flat in Ponte Milvio, which is a northern district in central Rome.  The district is famous for the battle that took place on the Ponte (meaning bridge) Milvio, which is one of the oldest standing bridges in Rome.  Another important area near Ponte Milvio is the olympic stadium, which lies to west.  Since this was a more organized party compared to the previous, everyone attending brought an item to share with the other guests.  Attending the event were three Italians, one of which is of Croatian descent, two American girls and myself.  Together, we crammed into the flat and started the festivities.

Like my previous meals at this flat, the dinner started off with an apertivo.  I brought a Pinot Grigio for this.  Typically the apertivo is only a drink but can include small amounts of food.  I see the apertivo as an opportunity for guests to relax and get to know one another, getting the typical "who are you" questions out of the way.

Following the appertivo, the host decided to skip the antipasto and skip to the primo course.  The primo is the first course of the dinner.  It usually contains some sort of meat and is often the most important course of the meal.  For our primo, the host served pollo finto (see right), which translates to fake chicken.  While the meat in the dish was actually chicken, the dish gets its name because of the large amount of vegetables that is mixed with the small pieces of chicken.  This dish had pumpkin, which I found out is a common ingredient in Italy and friarielli, a vegetable that is not available in the states.

I would describe the next course as a combination of the secondo, antipasto and insalata courses.  Secondo typically features a meat that is heavier than the primo.  In this instance, the meat was tuna and olive oil.  Along with the secondo was a thin tortilla with olive oil and herbs, which represented the antipasto.  Finally, the insalata (or salad) of friarielli, which to me tastes like asparagus, that could be combined with either the tuna or tortillas.  With both the primo and secondo a heavy body red wine was served.  The wine went well with everything but the tuna, which together were a little too strong for my taste.

The final course of the dinner was the dolce or dessert.  Our dessert were, what I would describe as chunks of chocolate chip cookies.  To use as a dip for the cookies there was a chestnut dip, which tasted and looked similar to Nutella but is slightly more viscous than its hazelnut counterpart.  To compliment the cookies and dip, an Italian Lumbrusco was severed, which is a slightly sweet dessert wine.  One of the guests chose the Lambrusco because the cookies can be dipped in the wine, which tasted fantastic!

Dinner parties aren't all about eating.  Its also an opportunity to make friends, share stories and... read tarot cards.  I was quite surprised when the host pulled out a deck of tarot cards to read fortunes.  Only a quick reading was given but the opportunity for a full fledge reading was offered if I brought my host another bottle of Pinot Grigio.  Overall the evening was both fun and informative and I would definitely do it again.

The best currency in Italy is... English

In my time in Rome, I have had he opportunity to meet many local residents through sites such as Couchsurfing and Twitter.  Just by posting that I was in Rome and was interested in grabbing coffee, lunch or dinner with some locals has opened up a wide array of options as far as touring the city, learning the language, seeing parts of Rome most visitors would never visit, and getting free food!

Within a day of posting on social media sites that I was arriving in Rome, I had numerous responses from people wanting to meet up.  Many of them wanted to grab a drink or just talk about each others experiences.  Two responses though have led to what I see as long-lasting friendships.  

My first meet up  was with an Italian Engineer named... C.  Because of privacy, names won't be listed.  Sorry creepy people.  C studied engineering in Rome and was gracious enough to tour me around the Coliseum and take me out to one of his favorite restaurants.  While he toured me around, he wanted me to correct his English grammar.  We eventually met up with some Russian couchsurfers who were visiting the city.  Together, we all walked to Castle Sant' Angelo to tour it.

                                

Afterwards we spent time talking about each others lives, education, home countries, and goals.  It was a big step forward for me personally, being able to open to three strangers, but I learned so much about Russia and Italy from it.

The second person that's impacted me that I've met through social media is R.  R has been incredibly kind.  For about 45 minutes of assistance with her English (which was already superb compared to the average Italian) she cooked (and taught me the recipe) a traditional Italian lunch and dinner.  Throughout the process we also had an apéritif called Belini, which is a traditional Italian drink, either alcoholic or nonalcoholic, which is consumed before a meal.  After dinner, R was gracious enough to make homemade crepes.  With the crepes we had a cocoa and cheese spread that was mixed with Baley's.  Altogether it was an amazing experience that lasted unit the early morning.  Going into the experience I was quite nervous.  Here's me a 21 year old American going grocery shopping and hanging out with an adult Italian.  Needless to say as the night passed on, I began to relax, which is when the fun really started to happen!

Thanks to R and her numerous connections through social media, she introduced me to another Italian who was hosting an American at his apartment.  We spent the whole night talking about each others lives and experiences.  The conversation went deep enough to talk about socio-economics, lucid dreaming and so much more.  I went into my second couchsurfing meet up a nervous mess but left with a new and fantastic experience under my belt.

As I wrote this post, R texted me asking if I wanted to do dinner with her and some others tomorrow. I can't wait!

What Exactly Fits in an 85L Bag?

I was really hoping to have this blog started before I left for Rome.  Due to horrendous weather, flight cancellations and jet lag, I am finally starting my travel blog...


Anyone who knows me, knows that I try to think things through to the tinniest detail (including the multiple multiple edits of this post).  Over the course of the next eightish months, I expect this to change.  Every person I've talked to has said that traveling will change my life, they haven't really explained what that means but I imagine it will be far greater than anything I can imagine.  While I am not using this trip to redefine who I am, I know that this time away from my family, friends and my routine will fundamentally change who I am, how I behave and how I see the world.

To start my travel, I have decided to try and pack all of my belongings into more or less a single bag.  Packing necessities to live and supplies for school has not been easy, especially for a fashion enthusiast.  This post is meant to A) Provide documentation of everything that can fit into a travel bag, information that was hard to come by when researching travel bags  B) Ensure I have everything I need for my trip and C) Help me realize how little I need to carry in order to travel across two continents, each with vastly different climates.

While I know I am taking more belongings than the average backpacker, the first step is usually the toughest, leaving me plenty of room for improvement.  The following documentation of my travel belongings was inspired by Colin Wright, my cousin, over at Exile Lifestyle.

  

 

   

    

01 - 13 pairs of socks

02 - 14 pairs of unerwear

03 - 7 pairs of pants

04 - Hair and nail grooming kit

05 - two pairs of shorts

06 - Crew hair product

07 - Rain jacket

08 - Water colors

09 - Plaid shirt

10 - Denim shirt

11 - Striped shirt

12 - Polka dot shirt

13 - V-neck sweater

14 - White shirt

15 - Fleece sweater

16 - Mock-neck sweater

17 - Reversible belt

18 - Toiletries

19 - 15" Macbook Pro

20 - External hard drive

21 - Additional drawing supplies

22 - Sunglasses

23 - Sketchbook, travel notebook, and Italian-English dictionary

24 - Swiss army knife

25 - Travel Adaptor

26 - Emergency sewing kit

27 - Umbrella

28 - Gorilapod tripod

29 - Nikon D5100 and assorted camera gear

30 - Fossil watch

After uploading all of these images, I am quite surprised at how little I brought.  While I did not include objects like chargers, or what I was wearing, I think this first blog post helps me realize how little I really need to go about my day to day life.  With all the excess "stuff" that is in the world, it feels good to have so little.