Milan is a huge city. There's absolutely no way to shove every tourist sight into two days. These two facts Ross and I already knew before getting to Milan, so we had no unrealistic expectations. Our first day we'd spend on the city's historic center. The Duomo we'd seen the night before now looked even more impressive in the sunlight. The plaza just in front of the Duomo was teeming with other tourists and panhandlers; it was clearly the heart of the city.
The inside was really interesting, a definite gem. Paintings hung inbetween columns and on the walls, their backs covered in scarlet cloth which made them seem all the more impressive. Rising to a dizzying height if you stared long enough the columns and the stainglass windows towered in comparison to the tiny people. Up one side, around the altar, and then down the other side in normal 'tourists in a chuch' fashion. Ross was fascinated with a sunken altar under the actual altar. There were windows at foot level that one could look through to see this small, secretive chamber. I imagined something out of a Dan Brown novel happening around the half-hidden altar. Ross I think was more interested in it from a religious and historical point of view. I could have sat all day watching the devout light taper candles for loved ones. Each prayed briefly over the flickering tables of lights and then attempted to secure their candle among the other without burning themselves. Something about the peace of the warm glow and the idea that just a candle can have such meaning ....it moves me. Just as we were about to exit the church I slightly yanked on Ross' hand. Nope, I wasn't ready to go just yet even though we'd probably already spent an hour in the vast hall. Ross led me to a pew where we sat for a while longer. When we stepped back out into the daylight it was like the world came to life again. People talking, cell phones ringing, children running about...I was both relieved to enter back into the world and a bit sad to leave the quiteness of the Duomo.
The doors to the church were giant, larger than any doors I've ever seen, so I absolutely had to get a comparison shot on the camera between teeny Ross up against the seemingly infinite doors. It took a couple tries but the picture turned out perfectly. The Victor Emanual Galleria was in sight so that's where we visited next. Since neither one of us was interested in shopping at Prada or Louis Vuitton...we turned our gaze upward to the beautiful architecture and glass work. If I ever suddenly hit the jackpot I think the Galleria would become more excited. So maybe we wouldn't be buying anything, but walking through the elegant space was treat enough. Next, we were off to the Rinascente 7 story department store conveniently, (and oddly, in my opinion) located next to the Duomo. Ross had read about it online, I'd gotten the scoop from a friend, but either way both of us wanted to be inside 7 stories of retail madness. Walking into the store I had a little bit of doubt. The place didn't look SO big. Where were all the stories? First on the shopping agenda... I needed moisturizer since we'd been out so much in the cold air. The Clinique lady, who spoke really good English, helped me purchase some moisturizer. Then it was off to explore all 7 stories of the store. From the bottom stories below the ground we were walking every aisle and checking out all the very expensive things. Before finishing all 7 stories our hunger got to us. So, skipping some of the exploration in favor of doing it after lunch, we took escalators to the tippy 7th story top. From the instant my eyes drank n the top floor I knew I never wanted to leave. This floor was instantly my favorite place in Milan. A mini grocery story, a candy/chocolate counter, smoothie bar, steak restaurant, sushi, restaurant, other Italian restaurants....hours must be spent here indeed. I was all the more charmed because the top floor sat even with the cathedral spires. Every menu was glanced over. The little grocery part was walked through, twice. Ross was looking for something culinary as a late Christmas gift for his mother. The initial pass through nothing caught our eyes. On to some yummy food. My boyfriend found Obika (the mozzarella bar) online or in a travel book. When I heard mozzarella bar my mind conjured an endless supply of differently seasoned mozzarella sticks with various sauces and side dishes. The restaurant was way better than my assumption! The entire menu looked scrumptious! It was a difficult decision but we both ordered mozzarella on pizza bread. It sounds very simple maybe too simple, but what the waitress brought was a complex, delicious dish. On a round piece of thick, toasted bread was heaped cheese, meat, veggies, and other ingredients. I loved the eggplant/mozzarella/caper/fresh tomatoes mountain of yumminess that I got. Ross got a softer creamy cheese/zucchini/tomatoes mix. We devoured our lunch in no time and were ready to finish our assault on the department store. Unfortunately our waitress had disappeared. Finally, having paid the check we decided to make another pass through the grocery story aisles to see if anything caught our eyes with another pass. We were supposed to be looking for Ross' mom a gift. Instead we found some sodas without flavors but with scantily glad girls on the bottle. I chose a fiery redhead, I thought maybe I'd be getting a 'Big Red' type soda. He chose a blonde on a blue bottle which we thought might be a 'Sprite' or lemonade concoction. With our purchases we continued exploring the Rinascente.
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