We had to get up super early to catch the train this morning because its about a 6 hour train ride and we wanted to be in Milan as early as possible. Melissa decided to come with us last minute, so her assigned seat was in a different car, but she came and sat with us anyway. Every time the train stopped we had to move around so we could all stay together (we were having too much fun to split up). We ended up sitting on the floor outside the bathroom for quite a while. The train was awesome because it had compartments like the Hogwarts express. There was even a snack trolley although they didn't have any chocolate frogs as far as I could tell.
taken from the train. they were adorable but i think they got mad when they saw me taking a picture.
arrival at the train station in milan
on the right: some kind of coconut water they had at all the little snack vendors. i had never seen anything like it..
The Duomo cathedral (not to be confused with the one in Florence, because I was looking around for the big Dome)
from far away it looks white but up close you can see all the different colors and patterns of stone.
details on the cathedral doors
inside the duomo. right: altar and stained glass, left: floors
If you ever find yourself inside the Duomo, and you see a sign that says 'crypt downstairs', do not go unless you are interested in seeing mummified popes..it was more than a little bit creepy.
galleria v. emanuele ii-home of some very expensive shopping.
a tiny lemon meringue tart at a yummy italian cafe.
i loved the bird perching on his hand.
Santa Maria delle Grazie Church-where da Vinci painted the Last Supper.
When I was reserving tickets to see the Last Supper, the only thing left was an 'after hours' tour-where they charge you twice as much for a 30 minute guided tour instead of 15 minutes. I am so glad I did it because it was definitely worth it-and really, when am I ever going to get a chance like that again? I was so relieved that the tour was in English, I learned so much.The first thing I learned was that the Last Supper was not painted on a canvas (for some reason I thought it was.. no wonder you can only see it if you are in Milan.) It was painted directly onto the wall inside the dining hall of the church where friars ate every day. The lighting in the painting matches the lighting in the rest of the room-the wall on the right is across from a window and is always the lightest wall, This was in order to look like an extension of the room. There is actually a door that was added later going from the kitchen into the dining hall, so the part of the painting where Christ's feet would have been is gone. Da Vinci was experimenting with painting techniques and decided to paint onto a dry wall rather than buon fresco (on wet plaster), so the painting deteriorated very fast. It was restored several times until there was nothing of the original painting left to see, it was completely covered by layers and layers of new paint. You can read about the most recent restoration project here.
a few things to notice:
-Judas is the lowest and darkest person in the painting-not because he had darker skin but because he is leaning away from Christ and into a shadow. You can't really see it here but he is holding a bag of money in his hand and is knocking over a bowl of salt, which was a bad omen in Italian culture.
-Jesus' hands: on one side his robe is red-signifying his mortality and death. On that side his hand is tense and clawed, showing his anxiety and fear for what he had to do. On the other side, he is wearing a blue cloth draped over his shoulder-blue is the traditional color symbolizing deity. On that side Jesus' hand is facing up and relaxed, showing that he accepted the will of the Father.
-Three: There are 3 windows on the back wall. The disciples are clustered in groups of 3. Jesus' head and hands forms a triangle (3 sides.) This is a reference to the 3 members of the Godhead or in Catholicism, the Holy Trinity.
-Also, Peter is holding a knife. I don't remember why, I think he was always represented that way in paintings.
On the way home, it started raining.. really hard. I actually saw the lightning before the rain, so I was a little confused at first, I thought it was a concert or something. You don't have to watch the whole video but just take a look to see how crazy that lightning was!
I was completely soaked. RIP my poor hat.
sunday june 10.
First we went to church. We were planning to leave after sacrament meeting since we wouldn't understand anything but they were actually having a regional broadcast/stake conference instead so we got to hear it all in English! It was great!
After church we went to the 'castello'. We couldn't even see it because of all the scaffolding, seems like everywhere we go there is construction work going on.
If you want to know more about the castle, you can do a little research on Google. Because I know nothing.
After walking through the courtyard of the castle we found a beautiful park on the other side.
are you sure we aren't in Paris anymore?
Next we found a great restaurant to get some real Italian pizza! It was called 'Pizza....ok.', which we thought was hilarious.
the pizzas were enormous but so tasty. I got a pineapple and gorgonzola pizza and Melissa got a spinach/tomato and bell pepper pizza. Chloe had already eaten so she just hung out in the park and read a book. It was such a nice day!
you probably can't see anything in this picture, and I couldn't figure out how to rotate it, but what it is showing is our bill with a 3 euro charge for 'coperto'. We could not figure out what that was until we looked it up in my italian phrasebook.. apparently they had charged us 3 euros for the canopy over our table.
After lunch we found Chloe and then walked back to the hotel, it was so nice out and we loved exploring! Then Chloe and I had to grab our suitcases and catch our train to Venice. We were ok leaving Milan but sad to say goodbye to Melissa, she couldn't come with us because she was flying out of Milan the next morning on her way to Israel. Thanks for being a wonderful friend and travel buddy Melissa! xo
...to be continued...
xo Heather
thursday june 7.
Tonight was our last dinner as a class. We went to what we thought would be a fancy seafood restaurant in Old Nice, but it turned out to be a little more adventurous than we expected.
Ashley's fish, it was smiling at her.
I played it safe and ordered the salmon, but it was so burnt and dry that I could hardly eat it.
I also tried the mussels and the duck foie gras but refused to try the oysters after watching everyone else's reactions. Apparently they tasted like ocean water. I decided that I would wait and try oysters another time when I knew they would be good.
melissa, ashley, and me. i wore my lobster dress for the occasion.
ashley,me and john
Afterwards Ashley and I stuck around to check out the open air craft market, there were vendors selling handmade jewelry, paintings, sculptures, etc. It was fun to talk to the artists and designers about their work. I walked away with an adorable ring for my sister and a little bit of inspiration for my own artwork.
friday june 8.
After finals, Emily and I took a walk down to Old Nice for some gelato. It was crazy windy on the way there and the waves were enormous.
loved this boy throwing rocks into the ocean. his swimsuit matched the water.
We were looking for a gelato place called Fenocchio, which we had heard good things about. We got to the right street and found 2 places called Pinocchios and then the Fenocchio all on the same square, so it was kind of confusing but once we saw all the flavors at Fenocchio we knew that was the one. It was like Bertie Botts every flavor beans but with ice cream. They literally had everything you could think of- I would not have been surprised to see dirt or earwax.
You can see a full list of all the flavors here, in case you're interested. Make sure to scroll down to see the sorbet flavors too. It's a little bit insane. (You have to wonder what kind of person would order black olive ice cream!) Anyways with all the options, it took me forever to choose but I decided on one scoop of apple and another scoop of caramel and it was really good! I may be a little obsessed with gelato...luckily the calories don't count because we walked home, right?
After we got back we met up with the rest of the group to go to the church for an activity with the young single adults. We heard they were going to be making quiche and playing wii-dance, but instead we had sloppy joes and played loup-garou (werewolf.) There was also a game that involved tipping a broom over and calling out someones name-this was entertaining because the French simply cannot say "Heather." It usually comes out as something like "Eeezair" or "Aidair". We had a lot of fun, they were all so kind, friendly and welcoming. They even drove us home after so we didn't have to walk 3 hours.
Laura and I after the church activity!
That's it for my last night in Nice. Italy, here I come!
xoxo Heather
wednesday june 6.
Today was another fun day just discovering new things in Nice. We started by taking the bus to Old Nice and then walking to the produce and flower markets, definitely one of my favorite things to do.
The Petit Ecolier mascot
side note: We are a little obsessed with Petit Ecoliers. I can easily go through a box a day. I did a google search to try to find somewhere that I could buy them in the US, and came across a ridiculous article written by some pretentious English tea biscuit connoisseur about how much he hates them because of the gap in between the chocolate and the cookie. You can read that here. (just promise to read it aloud in a British accent) We had some fun reading it out loud and laughing at all the times he used the word "whilst".
I love the little chalkboard signs at all the restaurants and markets.
We were looking for socca, a Nicoise specialty made from chick peas and olive oil, but by the time we found the vendor that Melissa's guide book recommended, they were packing up so we found an Italian restaurant to eat at instead and it was delicious.
We shared spaghetti, socca, and bruschetta.
this adorable little girl was playing by our table so we tried talking to her in french and then gave her some chocolate.
Next we went on a tour of a candy Factory called Florian. If you are ever in Nice I would recommend it-they show you how they make gourmet chocolates and candied clementines and crystallized flowers and then they take you into this room full of all the free samples you would ever want.
even the toilet seats were covered in candy..haha
right outside of the candy shop was an awesome flea market. perfection!
it took a lot of self control not to buy that anchor.
Afterwards we just walked home along the beach, chatting and taking everything in.
