Day 18-23

Ciao tutti!

I apologize for taking so long to post about my travels as well as not sharing photos sooner. The last week or so I've done a bit, so between adventures and classes, I sort of let the blog fall to the way-side. Over the past week or so I went to a market, Sforza Castle, saw a play in English and much more. I'll mostly just summarize so this post won't be too long, but I'll try to capture the important stuff.

Last Saturday, June 20, I ended up having a free day all to myself. I was going to go to a cookout/pool/boat thing with my roommates but there wasn't enough room so I couldn't go. Instead I decided to go on an adventure. I had to clue what to do, so I looked up some shops and markets in the city. One of the markets I found included a farmers market and I made that my first stop. I was near Navigli (the canal district) and so I explored that afterwards. The canals were absolutely gorgeous and music was playing, everything from Another Brick in The Wall to Tenerif Sea. 

In addition to lovely views of the canal, there were these odd art fixtures: giant snails. This picture doesn't give you a great idea of the scale though. They were maybe 7 feet tall and massive. There were about a half dozen at the end of the canalin blue, purple, yellow, orange, etc.

After walking around Navigli for about an hour, it got rather hot. To cool of I went into a cute little gelato shop. My roommates and CA had all said that the best gelato was in Navigli, so I had to try. I had the best Mango gelato there, and it was such a cute shop that I had to photograph that and not the gelato itself.

I also tried a few thrift, consignment or vintage shops. Vintage shops were no luck on a college budget, and unfortunately I had no luck with the other stores either. Still, it was a fun way to spend an afternoon.

For my lunch of champions, I had fries from Chipstar, an Amsterdam fries fast food shop (literally that's all they have). They gave you so much for 2EUR and they were delicious! 

On a healthier food food note, I bought zucchini and figs from the market. The figs were so fresh and sweet, and all of it was less than 4EUR. I'll definitely have to go again.

For most of the week, I just had class and work. During the break in my Tuesday morning class, I got an espresso from the vending machine. Italian vending machines give you cups of espresso, hot chocolate, etc. The other vending machine had water and mixed nuts. There was nothing unhealthy there at all. It doesn't even seem like a vending machine, but it was so great. Cheap too!

On Tuesday afternoon, Karen and I went to Sforza Castle, which you can see here in the background. The Sforza family was a rich and powerful family in the 15th century and they were the tooks of Milan until they were overthrown. They were patrons of the arts and hired Leonardo Da Vinci for 10 years. During that time he worked as a military architect, desgner part of the Duomo di Milano and painted the Last Supper. As some trivia, Da Vinci wasn't payed for the Last Supper because he tried a new fresco technique that didn't work. Who would have thought that the 'failed' practice would be one of his most famous. 

One of the most interesting things inside that castle itself was the Rondanini Pietà, Michelangelo's

unfinished work. While it was slightly underwhelming just looking at it, it was worth seeing. You often here that sculptures can see the piece inside the rock, and this is the first piece I've seen where I understand that at all. 

At the end of the evening we had dinner at Rost Eat. I found this place doing a google search of places to eat on a budget, and I don't regret it. The food was amazing and cheap, and the atmosphere was really nice. The atmosphere was similar to a city deli in the US, and MTv was playing on a tv in the corner. 

The highlight of my dinner there was the arrostcini, or grilled lamb kebobs. I used to never eat lamb, but after trying some at a few turkish places, I've started to liked it. I figured it I liked it prepared in a Turkish style, I should try it the Abruzzo way (a region of Italy). It was delicious, flavorful, and tender, but not something to have on a diet because boy was it dripping with fat. It was absolutely delicious and a must try if you are ever in Milan.

Dessert was a popsicle for 2EUR. I tried the strawberry and loved it. Alexa, it almost rivaled Las Paletas, and pric-flavor ratio it did. Again tasty and these popsicles with chunks of fruit and no extra sugar are amazing. Too bad they don't have them in the states like the do here.

The rest of the week was pretty typical, so I won't repeat to much more other than homework, class, work, cooked dinner, etc. I'll post about this last weekend tomorrow, but I need to get my homework done now. Until then!