I started my day by walking along the Martesana Canal, which is fairly near my house. There is a nice multiuse path along it, which is heavily populated by joggers, cyclists, and people out walking their dogs/children. Along the way I saw some animals! Luckily, I brought my camera - because I saw some amazing creature right away in the canal. It was some sort of large aquatic rodent - either a muskrat or a coypu, I think. No one else paid any attention to it, so I figured it wasn't rare here. I ended up seeing over a dozen of them along my walk.
My walk took me past a park, named in honor of the Iraqi martyrs who were victims of terror. Take that, America. Later, I saw a very striking statue and went to investigate. From Wikipedia:
After walking for over an hour, I was cold and decided I was too tired to walk all the way back. I grabbed a caffe and headed to the closest metro station. Slightly recharged, and it only being around noon, I decided to head out and see a sight. I went to the Castello Sforza, a big castle housing a number of museums. I went in to the instrument museum, since it was free, where there was a lutier doing a live display. From there, I walked through the Brera neighborhood and headed to a tea shop. The tea shop wasn't open yet, but I grabbed a huge slice of pizza and had a nice lunch walking through this high-end shopping district.
After picking up some tea I decided to do some clothes shopping - but I wanted to head to the stores where I thought I might actually be able to afford something. I had intended to hit up "Il Salvagente", an outlet store that I had been to on my previous Milan trip. It isn't easy to get to by public transit, so I had a bit of a walk ahead of me. This was, of course, after I had been walking for over 3 hours.
Unfortunately, Salvagente is closed for an hour in the afternoon and that was going to be right around when I would get there. I stopped in a few other stores on my way there - I was specifically looking for shirts to wear to work. Not only was I unsuccessful, but I was a bit overwhelmed and confused. So many Italian women have a nice classic/elegant style - but all of the stores I stopped in had bizarre clothing. The few things I found that I liked were way outside my price range. I couldn't take advantage of the seasonal 50-70% discounts going on right now. I was also looking for nice, flat shoes - there seems to be a trend of "menswear inspired" shoes that I wanted in on. The ones I found were either not in my size, or way too expensive!
I got to Salvagente when they re-opened for the afternoon, and found that it was similar to the earlier stores - there just weren't shirts that I liked. At this point, my hour-or-so walk along the canal had turned into an 6 hour expedition, walking almost 20,000 steps!
Google was not being very helpful in finding the best way home. Google maps doesn't seem to have a good understanding of public transit here - all of the methods involved at least 3 different changes. I can tell that this doesn't make sense when it has me get on the metro and then get on a bus - the metro takes me right to where I want to go! I headed to a square where I should have been able to catch a suburban train, which connects with the metro. I didn't succeed in finding where the trains were, but a bus came that said it was going to the Duomo - I knew there was a metro stop there, so I hopped on.
I got off the over-full bus as soon as I saw the Duomo, since I could then navigate to the metro stop. On my way there I was walking through a different part of the shopping district and headed into a shop, where I found some reasonable shirts! In a second store I found another shirt and a great pair of shoes. At that point, satisfied, I grabbed the metro and headed home.
My goals for today were to walk along the canal, do laundry, and go grocery shopping. Getting home almost 8 hours after I left in the morning, I had wet laundry waiting for me and I had no energy left to go grocery shopping. But, I saw an awesome castle, made it to Salvagente, and managed to take advantage of the end of discount season!
My walk took me past a park, named in honor of the Iraqi martyrs who were victims of terror. Take that, America. Later, I saw a very striking statue and went to investigate. From Wikipedia:
During World War II, on 20 October 1944, Gorla was the scene of a dramatic bombing by the Allies. The bombing was allegedly intended to strike industrial structures, but the bombing group went off course, even if the weather was exceptionally clear. Their commander, upon realizing the mistake, decided to release the bombs on the town instead. Most victims were civilians, and one of the bombs hit a school, killing 184 children. The victims are now remembered as "the little martyrs of Gorla", and a memorial was built where the killing had taken place; a museum dedicated to peace has also been established in the area.
After walking for over an hour, I was cold and decided I was too tired to walk all the way back. I grabbed a caffe and headed to the closest metro station. Slightly recharged, and it only being around noon, I decided to head out and see a sight. I went to the Castello Sforza, a big castle housing a number of museums. I went in to the instrument museum, since it was free, where there was a lutier doing a live display. From there, I walked through the Brera neighborhood and headed to a tea shop. The tea shop wasn't open yet, but I grabbed a huge slice of pizza and had a nice lunch walking through this high-end shopping district.
After picking up some tea I decided to do some clothes shopping - but I wanted to head to the stores where I thought I might actually be able to afford something. I had intended to hit up "Il Salvagente", an outlet store that I had been to on my previous Milan trip. It isn't easy to get to by public transit, so I had a bit of a walk ahead of me. This was, of course, after I had been walking for over 3 hours.
Unfortunately, Salvagente is closed for an hour in the afternoon and that was going to be right around when I would get there. I stopped in a few other stores on my way there - I was specifically looking for shirts to wear to work. Not only was I unsuccessful, but I was a bit overwhelmed and confused. So many Italian women have a nice classic/elegant style - but all of the stores I stopped in had bizarre clothing. The few things I found that I liked were way outside my price range. I couldn't take advantage of the seasonal 50-70% discounts going on right now. I was also looking for nice, flat shoes - there seems to be a trend of "menswear inspired" shoes that I wanted in on. The ones I found were either not in my size, or way too expensive!
I got to Salvagente when they re-opened for the afternoon, and found that it was similar to the earlier stores - there just weren't shirts that I liked. At this point, my hour-or-so walk along the canal had turned into an 6 hour expedition, walking almost 20,000 steps!
Google was not being very helpful in finding the best way home. Google maps doesn't seem to have a good understanding of public transit here - all of the methods involved at least 3 different changes. I can tell that this doesn't make sense when it has me get on the metro and then get on a bus - the metro takes me right to where I want to go! I headed to a square where I should have been able to catch a suburban train, which connects with the metro. I didn't succeed in finding where the trains were, but a bus came that said it was going to the Duomo - I knew there was a metro stop there, so I hopped on.
I got off the over-full bus as soon as I saw the Duomo, since I could then navigate to the metro stop. On my way there I was walking through a different part of the shopping district and headed into a shop, where I found some reasonable shirts! In a second store I found another shirt and a great pair of shoes. At that point, satisfied, I grabbed the metro and headed home.
My goals for today were to walk along the canal, do laundry, and go grocery shopping. Getting home almost 8 hours after I left in the morning, I had wet laundry waiting for me and I had no energy left to go grocery shopping. But, I saw an awesome castle, made it to Salvagente, and managed to take advantage of the end of discount season!
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