Sardinia

After about a week ish of working (which involves mainly playing with a toddler, or reading while he sleeps) I had some time off to do pretty much whatever I wanted. I spent one day wandering around Milan, hyperventilating over amazing clothes, and going to the Brera museum for a couple hours. Seeing works of art in real life is so much better than looking at a powerpoint presentation in a classroom in crappy Idaho. Art history classes should only be available as a study abroad. I would pay for that. (well, I mean the government would pay for that) Also, I've fallen in love with the duomo in Milano. I could take pictures of it all day.

On Thursday I woke up at 5am to catch an early flight to Sardegna. I spent the next few days visiting my friend Zak who is living in Sassari right now for an internship. We mostly just ate a lot of pizza, gelato, and other junk food. But, we walked around all day too, so it's fine, right? Super worth it. A festival celebrating the culture of Sardegna was happening while I was there too, so that was pretty sweet. Concerts at ancient ruins, people wearing traditional Sardinian dress, people selling useless crap, lots of people. Cool. Mostly I just liked that there were a lot of cats roaming around the streets. I love cats. 

We took the bus to some nearby places like Castelsard (castle of Sardegna), and on Saturday we went to the beach in Patamona. We laid there for like 4 hours, and I got a stupid sunburn, but it's my own fault. I hardly ever use sunscreen, and I don't really care. I probably already have cancer. I've accepted it.

I woke up at 5am on Sunday to walk 30 minutes down to catch the only bus to the airport. Then sat in the airport for a couple hours before my flight. I was back in Milano by 10am, ready to sleep for awhile. For dinner we went to Lecco, a beautiful city on a lake about 30 minutes away. Too bad it was pouring rain the whole time, so walking around wasn't necessarily going to happen. 

Vimercate - Monza - Milan

Every Friday there is a huge farmer's market in Vimercate, so naturally I went. (And bought nothing) I guess you could call it a farmer's market, but there were probably too many vendors to call it that, and no one was wearing overalls. It covered most all of the streets in that medium sized town that I've fallen in love with. Some little things about the market (people yelling at me in a foreign language to buy their stuff etc.) reminded a bit of India, but with fewer diseases and less me wanting to punch someone in the face. It was a good time. I will most definitely be back next Friday.

Saturday morning I went to Monza with Bea to meet up with her sister and do some shopping. We wandered around for a few hours, got a crescent, visited the duomo, and ultimately bought nothing. Well, at least I bought nothing. I'm probably too cheap for all of Italy, but also the least expensive thing in that city was probably a scarf for 39E. Sorry, not gonna happen. (Kerri Lindsey: shut up, I WILL buy something here that's more than $10, don't worry) The city was great, and I am definitely going to be back to wander again soon. I'm determined to visit the shops I missed and find something cheaper than the scarf. Also, there's a record store there. So.....

Saturday night we went into Milano for a ballet, Giselle, at the Teatro alla Scala. I've never been to a ballet, and normally wouldn't really care too, but the whole experience was pretty incredible. I have no words for the beauty of that place. My jar literally dropped when I walked inside. I was just imagining people in the 19th century walking around in their fancy outfits, looking classy, and immediately wishing I had one of those outfits on. Then realizing that it gets unbelievably hot in those little private boxes, and wondering how the crap more of those people back then didn't get heat strokes and die at the theater. But then again, maybe they did. I don't know if I've felt more classy in my whole life. Drake's "Fancy" lyrics of "Oh you fancy huh, oh you fancy huh" were repeating in my head most all of the night. It really added to the classiness of the night. Thanks, Drake.

Vimercate

Yesterday morning I went to a little town called Vimercate, just a few km's away. I was happy to wander around the streets for a bit looking into the shop windows at clothes and shoes I could never justify buying. Gucci, Prada, etc. so beautiful, but so out of my budget. I'll stick with my $11 Target sandals, thanks. It, along with every city/town/village/wall/tree/rock/ in Italy, was such a beautiful little place.  The rest of the day I spent eating lunch at Ludo's grandparent's, reading, going to a sushi place for dinner with Bea and a couple of her friends, and doing yoga. Good day.

Today I had real homemade Italian pizza! It was unbelievably good. The entire U.S. (yes, including New York) doesn't even come close to this. Actually, most likely the whole world doesn't compare. Needless to say, I loved it. I also visited a little town on top of a hill, I think it was called Montanga Vecchia or something. Basically, it just means an old mountain, and there's a church on it. They also grow grapes and rosemary there. The view was enough to feel like you had possibly died, and that Heaven was indeed real because you were in it. Holy yikes, it was pretty. After getting sweaty from the somewhat of a hike, we stopped at a gelateria on the way home, and got some of the best gelato I've ever had.