| | Rochelle, Rochelle: From Milan to Romania....
Most embarrassing moment ever? Throwing up inside the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana. In front of some famous art. Even more embarrassing than throwing up right in front of the museum twenty minutes before. And in a garbage can at a train station about forty five minutes after. And in a bathroom of a moving train thirty minutes after that (which was pretty tricky, by the way). Heat stroke ain't pretty. Coca cola does not equal water!
Until my body decided to freak out completely, Milan was way fun. First, we were almost killed by gypsies on the train, as I've already reported. Which, while slightly unpleasant at the time, was a pretty authentic experience that you just can't get anywhere else. And was totally free.
First planned tourist experience was the Castello Sforzesco. It's an old fort with really nice architecture. If I'd taken art history less than 6 years ago, I might be able to whip out some fancy architecture jargon, but all you're gonna get is "doors" "towers" and "castle looking pointy things." My art history teacher would be so ashamed. While we were there, the fort was being invaded by cats and birds. That's funny because I'm freakishly afraid of birds and my supervisor (who was with me) is freakishly afraid of cats. We didn't stay in the fort for too long. I did get nice pictures though.
Next was the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. On our way there we stopped and watched a volleyball game going on in the middle of the street. If I were playing, I would have died of heat stroke, water or no water. The sun does not like me. My dad pointed out the place where he was mugged. We all oooh-ed and aaah-ed as he reenacted it. The locals mocked us like the idiots we were. We ate breakfast at a restaurant in the Galleria. Though there were two McDonalds there, we opted for someplace else. After figuring out the cost, it came to a total of $20 per plate. For breakfast. I had a bowl of fruit and a glass of orange juice. I shudder to think what a McGriddle would have cost. We all know by now that I'm not even going to get to digest the most expensive fruit I've ever eaten.
We went to the Duomo next. This is one of the most amazing places I have ever been. It was Sunday, so they were holding service. It was really hot inside and this was when I started to get sick. We went down to the catacombs, but those were kind of lame. One of the cathedrals I went to in England was the Salisbury catherdral and it was really moving too, not because of the architecture, but because of one of their windows. And because of the tour guide's enthusiasm about it. England's cathedrals were amazing, but the Duomo was just so enormous. I think Salisbury might actually be bigger, but the Duomo is darker. Salisbury had flags up and down the main aisle, but the Duomo had very large panels of Renaissance-era paintings portraying religious scenes. They almost made a wall that enclosed the main aisle where the pews are (sorry Mr. Long...I know there's a term for this...it's been 6 years!) and instead of making it seem smaller, made it seem even larger somehow. Because a service was going on, I'd hear Latin scripture (I assumed it was Latin anyway), then the choir would suddenly sing along with the organ. I know this is a horrible description, but things like this are hard to describe. Simply put, it was breathtaking. If I wasn't starting to get so sick, I could've stayed there all day.
As I said, I was getting sick, so the rest of the day I was in a haze. We went to eat a late lunch but I didn't dare eat. I slept with my head on the table. Then we went to the museum. Which we didn't stay at long. Nothing too exciting on the train ride back, though the other passengers found my throwing up in the toilet quite amusing. If they were that hard up for entertainment, they should have been following me around all day. I got to Romania okay and was fine after I slept through the night. I'll report more on Romania later. It's not quite so hot here, and it's definitely not as humid. I'd love to go to Italy again, but I'd go back in the winter. I like my dry dry desert climate.
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| | Posted 6/26/2006 9:37 PM - 25 Views - 6 eProps - 3 comments
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