I am JPond: Day 12: Milano!

May 10th, 2012 ---

Mornings officially suck.

6am came very, very quickly. It was like I blinked and woke up again, this time with a cold and mini hangover that I believe was worse just because of said cold - either way, the combination made me want to curl up in a ball, blanket over head and give the world my middle finger.

Though, today was no day to flip off the world. I slowly dragged myself out of bed and to the shower, crossing my fingers I would feel a bit better by the end of it. I dressed and got ready only feeling slightly more awake but my eyes still feeling like they needed to close and my nose and head completely congested.
This sucked.

After returning my sheets to the front desk and checking out, I slowly walked my way over to the train station, grabbing an orange juice and a croissant for the ride. Luckily, on the train I had the entire face-to-face seating area (with table) to myself. *phew!*

I whipped out my iPod, began to blog and enjoyed the incredible journey from Switzerland to Milan through the Alps. (Even seeing a small but beautiful waterfall on the way!)

When I arrived, I went into the main area and began to look around for my friend, Anita.

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Back when I was 16, I was working at this hardware store, called Canadian Tire, on Victoria St. in my hometown of Kitchener. I hated it. I mean it wasn't thaaaat bad, but it just wasn't where I wanted to be.

At the time, my best friend had been working at this clothing store, Urban Planet. She had encouraged me to apply and after finally deciding I wanted a change I applied. I was hired on the spot by the manager that
happened to be leaving to go work at corporate a few days later.

Within three months I was promoted to a part time management position and I loved my job. Shortly after my promotion a new assistant manager came to work at our store. It was Anita. She was a sassy little thing and like me, was also a Leo - so of course, initially we butt heads.

After a short while we ended up realising that we could be great friends. I began to so enjoy going to the store and working with her. She even introduced me to electro and house music, which now, I don't know if I could live without some days. She is awesome.

Eventually, both went our separate ways - she moved to Toronto, I worked at a new store, then off to San Diego and her to Milan to follow her dreams of being in fashion.

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It's been almost eight years since I've seen Anita. We've facebooked each other here and there, but we were so excited to see each other after so long! I told her the dates I would be in Milano, she offered her home for me to stay in and said she would meet me at the train station.

As I wandered around Milano Centrale Station, I spotted a girl slowly walking and looking around. She had looked exactly how I remembered, long black hair, bangs, layered, fitted clothing and heels. Aa soon as we spotted each other we ran over and hugged each other. It was great!

We hopped on a tram and headed to her apartment that was about 10 minutes from the Duomo. It was a little studio with her bed, desk, kitchen and bathroom and a little courtyard outside her front yard. So adorable. She even keeps her water and wine on her window sill where it stays cold.

After dropping off my stuff, we headed down the street, through a little market with fruits and purses and jewellery to a little cafe, that apparently had just opened called Pandenus. We had some fococcaia bread and roast beef with sparkling water. I love Italian food, so much flavor! So good!

Following, we killed some time by having a glass of wine and a strawberry liqueur across the street before she had to go to work for a few hours.

When she left for work, I was hoping to go wander around the market for a while. Thought, sadly by the time I got back to the market it was closed with street cleaners disposing of all the leftover garbage on the streets. With nothing to do for a few hours, I googled the address of Zara, to see where the main area was, and started walking. It was approximately 15-20 minutes later, I found myself wandering around the main shopping and tourist area annnnnnnd a three-story Zara store! (Hell Yeahhhhh!!!!)

After doing a bit of window- shopping, as I'm walking down the main street, covered in people, I look up. All of a sudden I notice that only a few blocks from where I was standing was the Duomo! Ecstatic, I hurry on down the street. Staring up at it, it's incredible - i think almost more incredible than the Dom in Cologne. It was so large and every single part of it, so detailed. I somehow always seem to discover amazing landmarks whenever I'm not looking for them!

As I stood taking pictures, a man came up to me offering me popcorn kernels to feed to the pigeons. He offered to take a picture of me with my camera and the Duomo in the background. Reluctantly, I said okay and as he held my camera, he told me to bend over and then sprinkled kernels on the ground infront me then began to whistle for the birds. All of sudden, I'm close to the ground with a ton of pigeons all around me! I'm not usually afraid of birds but honestly, it totally freaked me out! I quickly sprung up, laughing and embarrassed by how freaked out I was from a hundred birds surrounding me at my ankles and after thanking him, went on my way.

I got in line for the entrance to the Duomo. I noticed a man that was working for the cathedral looking at everyone's attire.
What's going on?
In front of me, a girl wearing a dress stopping just above her knees and dark stockings underneath was stopped and told that her dress was too short and she would not be allowed in. Looking down at my small dress with crocheted top, I nervously used my pashmina to cover myself. The man looked me up and down, and miraculously let me pass. I was shocked. My dress was no longer than the girl before me, but he said nothing and I waltzed into the cathedral.

The cathedral was enormous! So tall! It reminded me a lot like the Dom in Cologne. Same type ceilings, same layout, just a bit larger in size. Quite incredible! I wandered around, cracking up when I saw a sign that claimed Jesus was on the web, an advertisement for their website I suppose. As I walked through I was approaching the exit when I noticed the outfit of a historic, now deceased, lying horizontally in a glass case that looked much like a coffin.
Hmm.. What's that?
As I get closer I notice that it is not just a costume in there... It's the actual dead body of a priest in his religious gown.
WHAT THE HELL?!
There is a silver mask on the face and covering the head so you can't see a skull, but his now flaky, dry green-colored dead hands rested on his torso. So gross.
Beside this coffin is another, but with this one the mask doesn't cover the entirety of his head so you can still see the side of his head covered in thin patchy white hair. Aghhhh... Soooo creepy!!!!! I was standing 4ft away from a dead body! I'm sorry but ewwwww...!

I leave the church and decide to head back to Anita's to get ready to go out when she got off work. She had given me the keys so I was good to go.

When I arrived at her apartment I had to pee so bad! I put down my stuff and walked into the bathroom, when suddenly I heard what sounded like someone opening the door. I had forgotten that Anita had informed me that her boyfriend would be over after he got off work, so when I opened the door - there he was, this short Romanian guy named Bogdan with an accent, saying hello and apologizing for possibily scaring me.

I got ready and we headed out to meet Anita at her work at 8pm. After meeting her we decided to head to a place called Le Trottoir, about a 10 minute tram ride away. It was a great little place with a happy and small free buffet looking on to a busy street, as well as a piazza with a giant archway in the center. We sat on the patio drinking our wine, eating and laughing/ catching up on everything that has happened in the last little while.

Following Le Trottoir, we walked over to this small Asian corner store where we were refused when trying to purchase some wine. Commmonnnnn! This is Italy!! Wine all day, wine all night! Cheers and vino for everyone! Haha

So we ended up walking some more and found another place where we grabbed a couple bottles and headed over to a place called the 'Columns'.

The Columns, well, its exactly as it sounds. A piazza with a church on one side, a statue in the middle, and a row of columns on the other. Bogdan and Anita explained that this area is a local hangout that everyone comes to. They sit on the ground of the benches (if you can get a spot) and they smoke, drink and socialise with everyone around them or with their group of friends while people come up to you trying to sell you roses or lighters, etc. It was a cool little spot, bustling with lots of different people. We sat and drank our two bottles of wine enjoying the stir of people around us.

On our way home, we passed a place selling crêpes that Anita informed me were the best! So we stopped for a chocolate-banana crêpe, crispy and covered with powdered sugar, which was pretty fantastic, then got on our way!

I was absolutely exhausted by the time we got home, but I wanted to see Anita's fashion designs! I've seen the work she's posted on Facebook and her sketches are incredible! She's very, very good! She came up with these white three-dimensional, geometric balls that are sooo freakin cool and she's going to include them in the collection she has to design for school. So neat! (below is a picture of the balls that I'm talking about)

After going through her sketchbook and showing me all her work, we decided to hit the light and get some sleep for another fun day! :)