Milano

I knew that there would be the possibility of having to travel for work, but didn’t think it would happen so soon!  Lewis Sherlock (my boss with the most English name possible) came over to my desk about two weeks ago and said, ‘I might need you to come to Italy for some meetings.’  Twist. My. Arm.

I flew in last Sunday afternoon after making an ass out of myself at Gatwick.  I actually picked the worst line possible (confirmed by the girl in line behind me).  It took me 25 minutes to go through security when it took everyone else 7 minutes.  So by the time I finally go through, I check my gate and it supposedly closed in 2 minutes.  Awesome.

So I took off sprinting, or trying to anyway, through the airport with my two bags.  It was all quite awkward.  Keep in mind that I’m already feeling a little under the weather so I’m panting/coughing while I’m running.  Gatwick forces you through the duty free shop before you can even get to the departure gate.  Mine happens to be furthest one away.  Awesome again.

I’m that asshole knocking peoples bags over and yelling sorry while trying to make it as quickly to my gate as possible WHICH WAS NOT CLOSED WHEN I GOT THERE.  All that effort for nothing.  I was literally sweating when I got to the gate, coughing a bunch because my throat wasn’t feeling hot, and then the sensitive eyes were tearing up from the coughing.  BUT I made it on the flight.

I arrive in Milan and it’s gloomy because the next two days are supposed to suck even though Saturday was apparently gorgeous and sunny.  I arrive to the hotel at around 5pm, dropped off my stuff and took the metro to the duomo.  I never visited Milan when I lived in Italy for Camp Adventure because no one ever had great things to say about it.  Well, I can now confirm that, really, it’s not worth your time.

Milan isn’t particularly charming.  From driving around in the various cabs I’ve taken for meetings, it looks like a city that is stuck in the early 90’s.  There is graffiti everywhere and is dtruly lacking in character.  The duomo is a different story.  That thing is magical looking.  It is the largest gothic church in Italy and quite the site to walk up to from the metro.  As it was Sunday, I was able to catch some of mass happening when I visited the inside of the duomo, which was really neat.  Other than that though, I’m not sure there’s much else that’s worthwhile.

literally you walk up from the station and that's what you see

 the duomo in all its glory

mass!

Right next to the duomo is a famous galleria that houses high-end shops that I can’t afford like LV, Prada and Gucci in addition to restaurants that are way overpriced.  Not too far away is also the Milan Castle which looked cool but I got there right when it was closing so was only able to snap pictures from the outside.

galleria on left, duomo on right

beautiful architecture within the galleria

sforza castle

I had the most odd thing happen to me right outside the castle.  I was standing there minding my own business when this guy (early 20’s?) walked over right towards me and got up in my face basically while making this grunting noise then walks away so proud himself.  For what?  Who knows.  He was with his mother, and what I’m assuming to be sisters.  I gave him this what the fuck are you doing look and his mother then looked at me and just kind of laughed.  Like really?  Is this how you people raise your children?  And you’re okay with that?  What kind of parent are you?  Disappointing.

Since I was in Milan, I had to take advantage, which meant I got a gelato cone (salted caramel and hazelnut) which was magical and stuffed my face with a slice of pizza when I first got in because I hadn’t eaten in 6 hours.  I knew this would spoil my dinner but I was so hungry I didn’t care.  And it DID spoil my dinner.

But being my food loving self, I still stopped into a restaurant near the hotel that the staff recommended and ordered some homemade pasta with a meat sauce.  It was okay…nothing to write him about.   I was also feeling especially yucky at this point so I retreated back to the hotel and called it a night.

homemade taligatelle with meat sauce

I had three meetings this morning before leaving.  Our company signed several global deals with a few large holding companies that agencies belong to, but no one at these agencies even know what it means so they aren’t even sure how to conduct business with us.  That was interesting to learn and means that I will have some more work to do on my end! 

I left Monday afternoon to catch my flight back out.  I never thought I’d be so excited to return to London…