Friday, June 5, 2009

June 5th: Milan, The Last Supper and the Scala Opera

Our view from our seats at the Scala Opera.
Jessie and I on the tour of Milan bus.
Cool costumes at the opera.
Clarke took us to a cool place for lunch. This is Kelsey.
Another crazy Italian sign. Don't get eaten!

Oh it's just another day in MILAN, ITALY. Yeah that's right. 


Ok bragging over. As awesome as being in Italy is, I'm ready to be home.


So today we went to the Brera museum. We thought it was going to be contemporary art, but it was a lot of the same old same old. I did see a Caravaggio, a Picasso (not famous at all, though...the bull head one?) and some Braques. There was an AMAZING painting called Il Bacio (The Kiss) that I am now in love with. Alexis said it was her dream to one day be kissed like that, and all I could say was, "I have." Is that mean? Attention to the world: Matthew Hardin is an excellent kisser.


There, now that that is out of the way, I'll get down to bidness. We did a bus tour of Milan today. We went to the Duomo (again) and our tour guide explained cool things about it like how it took like 300 years to make, and it's all stained glass, and that they will be cleaning the marble walls until 2021 (say what now?) and things like that. We saw a fat kid with an awesome mullet. I tried to take pictures but no flash + dark cathedral = not so awesome aka blurry pictures. 


Clarke and I got so tired following old people around that we ran off to get cokes at McDonalds (they are RAMPANT in Milan) and the group only moved like five feet. We fell asleep on the ride to The Last Supper because it has been a really long day. Oops. Before the last supper we stopped at a cool castle but no one got out because it was pouring rain. But we had to pee so we booked it to the toilette and still got soaked. The Last Supper was even more awesome in person than I imagined. We see a lot of crappy art going to all these museums. I am so impressed with the way he handled his paint and how well he structured his figures and the composition of the work. He had to do a last supper scene, but chose to do the moment when the 12 apostles all found out one would betray Jesus instead of them just sitting around breaking bread. The Dan Brown controversy was brought up. And to that I say, Dan Brown and Rick Steves are probably friends, because I don't have much respect for either of them personally. They're awesome at what they do, but I wouldn't give them the time of day otherwise. 


After that we rushed home to change for the Opera. It was really last minute but a good experience. We thought we were going to see A Midsummer's Night Dream but instead saw a play about the martyrdom of the archbishop who refused to let King Henry divorce his wife. The first half of the play was awful because we sat on the side and couldn't see a damn thing. All I did was read the English translation in front of me and looked at the gorgeous chandelier. At intermission we were determined to see something, so Amber, Kelsey and I went and stole some empty seats on the floor below us and switched off standing since there were only two. I actually understood what was going on. I still don't understand why the opera is awesome to people. Seriously, is it just for the bragging rights to say you went to the opera? Because other than that, I see no benefit to it when A) You can't understand what they're singing, B) You can't SEE what they're doing, and C) It's effing expensive! I'd rather get some culture in a way that is enjoyable and doesn't piss me off. 


Rant over :) 


In other news, I now have 12 days until I get back to America. I'm wondering what it will be like to be in real life again. I assume I will be somewhat bored at times because we pack 1,000 things into every single day. At the same time, I will be glad to be able to relax, get adequate sleep, see my dearest loved ones, and be making some money instead of spending it. And  I'm excited to see Brian and Melissa get married! And hang out with my friends! 


I'm so glad I blog every day. I already forget what happened at the beginning of the trip, so it will be nice to look back on this experience and know exactly what happened each day.


Tomorrow we're going to Lake Cuomo. Apparently it's really famous and awesome. I think it may rain tomorrow, so cross your fingers. I'm ready to swim!


Love you all.


Kellie

Pin It!

No comments:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...