Only in Italy

Well, I have been in Milano now for almost a month! Amazing. Our apartment is about the size of my living room in Lucca, but we'll just say it's "cozy." The location is not the BEST, however, it IS walking distance to one of our favorite clubs - creatively called "The Club."


Anyway, this week was/is FASHION WEEK. Amazing! I love fashion week and being in Milan during fashion week is very fun. Models walk the streets with the rest of us, take the metro and tower over us. It's great. Well, this year, C'N'C Costume National, had their fashion show in Piazza Duomo. They hosted an entire nighted called Milano Loves Fashion, including some performers (The Kills and some others) complete with performances and then finally the fashion show and a DJ after. So, Christina and I met up after work and headed down to Duomo to eat and scope out the scene. There weren't many people, so we casually got dinner, went into a few shops and then headed to get some good spots. There were only about three people in front of us, so we camped out and waited for the show to begin. Well, it began, and the performances were going on and suddenly Christina taps me on the shoulder and I turn around and there is a giant space between us - because there was a woman in a wheelchair pushing people out of the way. Now, at this point, it is crowded - VERY crowded, we could barely move anywhere and this woman is coming through. She stops RIGHT between Christina and I and is trying to get her way to the very front. Mind you, people are NOT happy about this. She was with her son/friend/I have no idea who, but this tall man and she is in her 60s probably, wearing a pleather coat and scarf. TELLING, not asking, people to move out of her way. And so the drama begins: she reaches our area, and there are two people left in front of her - a little asian tourist and this older woman, we'll call her signora. So the asian tourist kinda shuffles to the side as much as he can seeing that he's sandwiches in this huge crowd. So there is only signora left. Mind you, the show is HAPPENING and they are yelling at people to move!!! There is a little elevated grate and then a baracade at the very front of the crowd (before the runway). Her son/friend/tall man lifts her up so the front of her wheelchair is on the grate and then she's like YELLING at this signora to move. Signora does NOT want to move and she is PISSED. So she ignores her. The woman in the wheelchair is MAD and starts RAMMING into signora with her wheelchair!!!! It was unreal. Finally her son/friend/tall man yells at her, "ma sei matta?!?!" (are you crazy?!?!) and makes her stop. At this point, there is ONE person in front of her, this tiny signora, and she had a clear view of the runway. But, she is not satisfied and says, ok, we need to go back then! And her son/friend/tall man is like, are you kidding? We made our way here through this huge crowd, and you want to go back?!?!?! She yells, "la ammazzo!!" Meaning, "I'll kill her" (about signora). So, thank god, the son/friend/tall man is like ok, so they GO BACK through this entire crowd of people, just trying to watch this show!!! It was quite the scene and just insane. (Sidenote: during this whole scene Christina is loving it - saying ONLY IN ITALY, THIS IS AMAZING!, THIS IS CRAZY!) The show itself was really interesting. I think more fashion shows should be done with a public audience. They of course had seating for the actual guests (like the mayor of Milan, some tall blonde woman wearing a giant blank scrunchie who was famous because she was getting interviewed/lots of pics taken) but the other side of the runway was for the public. It was great!

the grand finale

Milano and Public

I ventured up north this past weekend to the small, quaint city of Milan…you may have heard of it before. Milano will always hold a special place in my heart after my unforgettable six month stay in the bustling, urban city. I was lucky to leave work early to catch a train up to Milan. Since I was here, inflation has gotten the best of Trenitalia and my ticket went up from 33 € to 44€ one-way for the Eurostar. What a rip-off. I sucked it up and got excited for a great weekend!

Milano Centale was changed by Mussolini to demonstrate the power and strength of Italy. And while it definitely is a beautiful and huge building, I don’t know how much power you can show when your train almost never arrives on time. Anyway, I pulled in Centale and was greeted by a newly remodelled stazione. When I lived in Milano, the station was under construction the entire time and really just looked old and dirty. Now, you are welcomed by clean walls, new electronic message boards and confusing criss-crossing pathways down to the biglietteria and metro. It is a beautiful improvement.

The beauty of Milan, however, is not in the train station or the incredible Duomo, but I find it really in the food and nightlife (ovvio). The great thing about Milano is that pretty much every bar or club begins its evenings with aperitivo. What a wonderful word that is…you purchase and pay for your tasty drink and are given the key to a buffet (usually warm unless the place isn’t that great) of warm delish food. We ventured all the way downstairs from Tucker’s apartment, literally the place was next door and had some big fruity drinks (literally had huge cornucopias of fruit on top of drinks) and in this case, what can only be described as, Indian meets Italian food. Cioè, cous cous, curry, rice, salad and of course, some pasta for good measure. It was an ok aperitivo, definitely not the best in Milano. The night only got better as we ventured to a discoteca called Gattopardo (apparently the name of a film and that’s all anyone could say about the meaning of the name). The club was gorgeous and used to be an old church (ironic much?); the DJ spun on the alter and the upstairs balcony was another bar…our table was on the ground floor right under the balcony in the picture…you can see the curtain, right next to the bottom bar. It was a great night full of our favourite songs and dancing til 4am…

Another amazing point of Milano is the after discoteca panino cart. The streets near clubs (and not for that matter) are lined with carts full of yummy cold cuts, salsiccia, cotoletta and many many delish treats…always the best way to end your night!

The rest of the weekend was spent catching up with friends, wandering around the streets of Milano and enjoying on of my favourite cities! I headed home Sunday, exhausted from no sleep and dreading work bright and early on Monday. My train ride home was only 26€ since I opted for the (as David says) grindo train that takes almost 5 hours. The thing about Italian trains is that you never know who you will have near you. This time I was lucky enough to experience a crazy, smelly, and presumably homeless non-Italian man next to me for the second half of my trip. I went to the restroom and upon returning to my seat, was met by a man who ignored me the first fifty times I said excuse me that’s my seat. He then got up and I went and sat down and he sat right next to me. I immediately put on my iPod, full blast so I’d have an excuse to ignore him and just stared right out the window. Sure enough, he tried to ask me something over and over and I ignored him, so he turned to the girl across from me and asked about a stop I think and she didn’t know so he asked the girl across the middle (both of them had iPods on as well mind you) and she said yes, it’s coming up…then he didn’t stop “signorina, signorina, signorina” for about 5 minutes and asked the same questions. Finally I asked him to please move and I sat further back…then the train collector man came and while he was checking the ticket for the girl across the pathway, the man snuck behind his back and slipped into the restroom. Man you gotta love public trains….

Speaking of public transportation, I’ve been lucky enough to be taking the bus from Capannori to Lucca train station every morning for work. Since my father won’t even think about me having a motorino or even a bike for some reason, I’ve gotten used to doing my part to save the environment, one bus ride at a time…Anyway, Friday I needed to go into work early so I could leave early for Milan. So, instead of the 8:09 bus, I took the one at 7:12 (who knows about the schedules, ps). Never again will I take that bus. The bus was “full” of bratty pre-teens going to school. Now, I say “full” because they do not move away from the doors. Meaning, I was on of the last to get on the bus and had to SQUEEZE on whilst getting the bus door shut on both myself and my suitcase several times…yet NO ONE moved away from the door. All three doors on the bus were crowded with these kids and yet, the ENTIRE middle of the bus was as empty as a plate of tordelli at any family dinner. And it’s not like the teens were getting off on the next stop, they rode the bus all the way past my stop crowding the doors and the bus driver, while the entire middle of the bus was like the middle of the Mojave desert. I had the bus doors open and close on me about 5 times. The only good thing from that bus ride was that I didn’t have to use my 1.5€ ticket because I couldn’t get to the stamp machine and so I got a free (although miserable) ride….

The kitchen is being put in or partially installed or something today…

We’ll discuss that later!

A dopo….