Milano!

This past weekend I was in Milan with my Inside Italian Design class. I really wasn't sure what to expect since the class itself bores me to tears. But I ended up having a really great time. We left Termini station at 8am on friday and got to Milan a little after 11am. I slept until the last half hour or so, mostly because the teacher decided to sit next to me. Story of my life. The seats were comfortable and you're grouped in fours and have a table in the middle. You can also reserve a whole cabin in a car if you have enough people. Think Harry Potter and the scary Grim Reaper things floating outside the train.

Anyway, so once we got there we had to drag out stuff to our first visit - the studio of the late Achille Castiglioni who was a renowned industrial designer. His daughter, Giovanna, gave us the tour to his studio and told us funny little jokes about him and her childhood. We also got to meet his wife, I think her name is Irma. I don't know if she speaks english but she seemed really nice and smiled and laughed while saying what I have no idea. We we're aloud to take pictures but it was just a 3 or 4 room studio with very high ceilings and he was a very well organized person who had everything catalogued and documented. It was really impressive. Currently they're trying to digitalize everything so people can pull documents and sketches from an online database to learn about his technique, etc. So right off the bat I was really excited about seeing more of Milan and meeting these people I would normally never meet if I went on my own.

That took about an hour. Then we check into our hotel - Hotel Palazzo delle Stelline. The lobby was pretty ugly but the place was really nice and the beds were a little softer then the ones in our flat in Rome and they had the HEAT on in the morning! It was so nice to wake up and not mind rolling out of bed because it wasn't freezing. haha. Anyway here are some pix of my roommate Ashley and I's room - 216 (duecento sedici in italiano)











We got some lunch down the street at a bar called Bar Magenta. I got a panini and realized I got it with Anchovies... It is true to what people say, they are strongly flavored and salty! Luckily that was the only slight disaster in the food department. The food we ate while in Milan was absolutely amazing!

After lunch we went to Michele de Lucchi's Studio. We were taken around by one of the architects that works there. There are 25 architects that work there, split up into 3 groups who all work on various projects, 5 interior designers, and 5 graphic designers. The interior decor of the studio is unfinished wood, which as I understood it, is the sort of idea behind the concept of Michele de Lucci's style. We took a mini tour of the facilities. They have a really small woodshop downstairs where they make miniature proposed building designs. The ground floor is the reception area and a little metting room. The second floor is the architect floor, and the 3rd floor is the graphic and interior designers plus the purchaser. And incase anyone is wondering who has also worked in the manufacturing field, the purchaser also yells and takes multiple calls at once just like the good 'ol USA. So the next time you have a bad day at work, just think that someone who has the same job as you in Milan is already 6 hours deep into that same bad day. Here is some pictures from Michele de Lucch's Studio:





Building model they were working on down in the woodshop



They have an elevator! But we used the stairs.



Reception area



Third floor work area.



Looking down onto the second floor. Both floors looked pretty similar.



The architect tour guy on the left, and my professor on the right. He was kind of hard to understand and seemed to just talk to the professor and never waited for all of us to get into a room, if we could ever fit into an area. It was an interesting place to see but our group was a little too big and my professor has a VERY ANNOYING habit of cutting people off when they talk and talking over them and not being polite and letting them finish. To say she's controlling is an understatement.

After Michele de Lucci's studio we went to Dilmos in Brera which is a very high end furniture store to look at the current trends in furniture design. We had an assignment to do while we were there to find out designers of a piece and ask for the price and what the material is and all that. So for anyone curious to know about the hot new trends in furniture and interior design, keep reading:



I thought this was quite interesting...



I actually loved this as possibly salon furniture. I liked the mirror effect.



Alasdhair Willis (Stella McCartney's hubby) apparently designed this light fixture.





There was also a chair made out of stuffed animals. And it was very expensive I remember. Why, I don't know.

After lounging around on 60,000 euro chairs and couches we had free time to do whatever we wanted. We decided to walk around and see what kind of shopping there was (It was all waaaaay too expensive). The streets are very pretty though. It was a nice area.











Window shopping was about all we could afford.

We went back to the hotel and took a power nap before heading out to dinner. We decided to take our Professor's recommendation and headed to Ristorante Bebel. It was one of the best meals I've had so far. Very god, and very authentic. There were Italian families everywhere and no sight of tourists anywhere. I had the spaghetti carbonara and it was very very good. There was 6 of us and for dessert we decided to buy two things and split them. I can't remember what they were but one was like a chocolate mouse cake and the other was a fantastic, almost creme brulee tasting dessert which reminded me of Paris a little.

The next morning we had breakfast courtesy of of the hotel and it was a buffet style and perfectly filling. I had cereal, banana, croissant, and a chocolate chip cupcake thing. I took an apple with me incase I needed a snack later.

We went to a billon showrooms on this day so I might miss some or put them out of order. FYI. So there was a showroom that was really cool called Cassina, apparently the biggest and most renowned in the furniture world. So again I sat on thousands on euros worth of furniture and considered its design. Actually I mostly just sat around and did less of the thinking part.



These are vases and seem to be quite popular at the moment. They're made out of silicone so they're unbreakable. Only 500 euros. I'm sure you could scrounge that up from the change between your couch cushions.



If you think this is some kind of furniture....



You'd be right. I think they call it the grass chair/couch.... Not exactly comfortable.



The entrance to Artemide was really fun to walk through. It was a lighting store. Also expensive, of course.



I LOVED this little set up in the front of the Venini glass store! I love chandeliers and victorian styled furniture and I just love this photo! haha.



These were also in Venini and I loved the idea.

For lunch we went to a place that I can't remember the name to but it was a huge buffet style and you could pick whatever you wanted and put it on a lunch tray just like you were at high school all over again. I got risotto and for dessert chocolate salami! The risotto was really good but it was too much! I couldn't eat it all. The chocloate salami wasn't actually salami, just a chocolate cookie with white pieces in it that made it look like salami. It was really really good too. It was another great place that our professor recommended.

We went to a ton of places, like I said, but I couldn't take as many pictures as I wanted because my battery was super low and although I brought the charger I forgot to bring the adapter/converter. So unfortunately my camera dies later on this day at...



The Duomo! Which is the Milan Cathedral. It was absolutely breathtaking to see and my camera literally dies while I'm standing on top of it. But luckily I can fill in with pictures that my roommate Ashley took with her camera.



On the lower level of the roof, looking at the Piazza below.





Walkway on the side roof.



This is the stairway up to the top of the roof.



It was HUGE! Thank god we had such nice weather. It was clear skies and fairly warm.



And this is the last picture my camera took before it crapped out. Apparently they say you can see the alps if it's clear skies. Which it was but all we could see was smog.



My roommate took this with her camera. I thought it was such a pretty shot.

So after we started heading down there was a man who was walking around asking if everyone got to go to the top yet because it closes at sunset. So we just made it in time. The inside of the church was amazing. No photos were a loud even though everyone was taking them. But it was so dark in there they weren't turning out so good so if you're curious just google Milano Cathedral or duomo and it should show up. Just make sure it's Milan.

I was happy to see that there was a place to light candles in this cathedral. So I bought one for Greg and put it under Mary and the Christ Child.







There was a service going on as we walked around inside the church. It was really one of the prettiest churches I've ever seen. I was really happy I was able to go there.

After visiting the church, Ashley and I tried to catch up with the friends we were with on top of the roof but could't find them after searching all 8 or 9 floors of the huge shopping center, La Rinascente. It was the first shopping center in Milan and maybe even Italy i think. We were on the prada, gucci, valentino side. Later we found the cheaper stuff after we ran into four girls from our class and kind of invited ourselves into their pack. haha. It was a lot of fun and later we all went out together for dinner. We actually ended up at a Chinese food place and I normally never eat Chinese food but it was interesting for me to see all the dishes that people got. I, of course, stuck to the wong tong soup. After dinner got some drinks at Bar Magenta. I got a really great after dinner drink called Grass Hopper. It had a creamy minty flavor. Heineken PR's came around with green dyed roses for all the women in the bar and we toasted at midnight for Valentines Day. Which never really felt like Valentines Day but I'll take a free rose any day.

The next day we check out of our hotel around 10:30am and went to a museum that had a couple of exhibits.... it was really boring and not worth me blogging about. The one exhibit was entirely in Italian so I don't even know what I paid for to see. Ridiculous. Afterward we had free time for lunch so a couple people ate at a Carnival that was going on and I went with another girl to Bar Magenta and ended up catching up a bunch of people there. I had Lasagna that was absolutely wonderful and very filling. After that we headed to the train and I got home a little after 7:30pm. I honestly thought I'd be more exhausted but I guess having on-site lectures 3 times a week and always feeling like I'm on the go made it less draining I guess.

Oh, and if you're wonder, yes there are lots and lots of expensive cars all over the place. I've never heard a Ferrari start up in person and it was interesting to hear it and see it but by no means was I terribly interested in all the boasting that was clearly being ton by such people. Not everyone is dressed to the nines though. But they're certainly is a level of luxury hanging out on the streets in and around Piazza Babila and all along there and the duomo. I'd definitely go back one day to check out more places. We didn't have a lot of free time but I'm glad I got to see the duomo and look around at the stores.

Next week is Naples! Only a 2 day trip though. And we've been warned at how serious the poverty is and how bad pick-pocketing is compared to the rest of Italy. She told us not to bring anything that we would be upset losing. Including earrings!!! The craftiest pick-pocketers apparently lurk where we are going. Great.

Until then....