Milan

9 juin

I got about 4 hours of sleep last night as we had to get up super early to make it to our early train to Milan.  It was sad saying bye to France, but I am just so glad that I get to come back and don't have to wonder when my next time back will be.  I keep speaking French here though to everyone!  It's a problem, and I'm having to work very hard to not say oui or ca va or merci to everyone.  I had forgotten how annoying and sometimes frustrating it is to not know the native language--you are completely at the mercy of how much English someone knows or at the mercy of pantomiming.  Nonetheless, Heather, Chloe and I have had fun being here in Italy.  Heather has a handy Italian phrasebook that we are using to learn some practical Italian.  It's so fun to speak with an Italian accent.  Just take any name of cheese or pasta and say it in an Italian accent and it sounds legit :)  

 We went and saw the incredible cathedral called the Duomo.  I had forgotten how big this thing was.  It is massive!  And so beautiful with all of the spires on the outside.

This is the glass covered arcade on the Duomo piazza that is filled with high class shopping.

Chloe's guidebook took us to a delicious Italian bakery with delicious pizza...oh man so good.  

That night we went to an opera in the Teatro alla Scala, the most famous opera house in Italy.  We got 12 euro gallery tickets.  The opera was called Luisa Miller by Verde.  I looked up the synopsis before hand so I could better understand and enjoy the opera.  Just being inside the breathtaking opera auditorium was worth the price of the ticket for me.  There were six levels of balconies and everything was covered in gold leaf.  We were on the top balcony level on the side and so we could not see the stage which ended up being fine because there wasn't an elaborate set or elaborate costumes.  There was an English translation of the libretto on little screens in front of our seats.  The orchestra was incredible, the singers were incredible, and it was an inspiring night.  During intermission, I went and walked around and found lots of the audience in this grand room that had a bar at the end.  Everyone was in their fancy clothes was sipping champagne and being super classy speaking Italian.  One of my favorite parts of the opera experience was the audience.  After each scene, the audience would cheer Bravo! or Brava! and clap and whistle!  It took me aback at first but then I remembered I was in Italy, not France.  I'm pretty sure a French audience would not react as boisterously.  

Our hotel in Milan has a crickety pully-operated elevator with folding manually-operated doors.  I got up a small white spiral staircase to get to my room and am created my a roaring porcelain white leopard at the top of the stairs.