I feel so fortunate about the amount of visitors I've had since moving
out to Milan, spending time with family and friends is so valued and the pure
fact that I'm being a tour-guide round a city that was a stranger to me 6
months ago is so rewarding, I don't think that feeling will ever pass.
Nick clearly didn't see enough of Milan on his last visit so I was
fortunate enough to be blessed with his company… for a whole week. Luckily I
have a balcony so if times got tough at least I had the option to lock him out
there…
After playing hide and seek in Centrale station at 10pm, I
finally found him trawling along in a thick winter jumper despite the
temperature being about 29 degrees and I could have predicted the first thing he
said. Then home for cheese and wine on the balcony to greet my final visitor.
The Expo is a HUGE event out here in Milan, it's a fair that happens
every 3 years and miraculously it is Milan's turn, the event is held for 6
months and draws in 3x more tourists than the Olympics, so It would be stupid
not to go and see what the fuss was about.
The space where the EXPO is being held is vast, we've peeped out the
window every time we've passed but other than buildings we couldn't really get
a gist of what its about. So with a little hint from a friend we decided to go
on Friday evening where the tickets are only 5 euros after 7pm! Bargain -
especially as we were happily going to pay 39 euro to go during the day.
We entered the airport like security gates and then walked through a
plaza of large pasta figurines leading you towards a mile long promenade with
different buildings alining each side with 140 flags as far as the eye can see.
These buildings all intricately designed to suit the country which promoted
being able to guarantee healthy, safe and sufficient food for everyone, while
respecting the Planet. We wandered round pointing and expressing 'oooh's' and
'aaah's' every so often when we saw an interesting looking building. The
Brazilian pavilion is the one being talked about this year with its funky
net/trampoline (but not bouncy) installation which offered people to walk along
- I have no idea what it was about but it looked fun. Fun is a bit of an
overstatement when I forgot what shoes I was wearing and Nick had to pretty
much carry me along this 400m netting whilst Jess pranced along and laughed -
not my finest hour. May I add I was also wearing a skirt and no where did it
warn that there was people casually walking underneath. Yeah not happy.
So after that ordeal, I was more than happy to discover UK's pavilion,
'The Meadow' a beautiful daisy covered grass land leading you through to a huge
metallic structure shaped like a bee-hive. We enjoyed a pitcher of Pimms and
merrily enjoyed the rest of the expo.
On Sunday we caught the 8:05 train from Milano to Venice, the weather
was beautiful almost 33 degrees, we walked through the city towards San Marco
square, We headed over to the Biennale Art Show which happens in Venice every 2
years. It promotes upcoming and established artists whilst offering every
country to promote artists work within their own buildings. It was like the
expo but so much better.
We started looking at each building and our interest in the content was
evident at the amount of time spent in each one, the Dutch Pavilion was
beautiful, a circular rug of flowers was positioned in the middle of the
walkway with shades of pink, green and cream. The French Pavilion was a space
with 3 surrounding rooms with foam seating with a tree ever so slowly moving
across the floor. The British Pavilion highlighted the 'best' of Sarah Lucas'
work, I felt there was very little explanation and felt the crudeness of her art almost a
little embarrassing compared to other countries who were using trees and
flowers …
but that's art I guess?!
Japan was by far by favourite, as soon as you enter you see a haze of
red, string attached everywhere with keys protruding down from the ceiling with
boats almost floating amidst the sea of red. It was so impacting and an absolute
treasure.
The Biennale is definitely something I would return to, for a creative
mind it's perfect and the solitude and serenity of Venice fulfils the need to
think and gather thoughts, perfect location, perfect amount of things to view
and a perfect price.
There was a lot more to see and I was very envious for leaving Jess to
continue looking round however I wanted Nick to see Venice, we slowly walked
back towards the square and took the elevator to the top of the bell tower, I
don't think I'll ever get bored of seeing the panoramic of Venice, the wash of
terracotta with mixes of white and the sea surrounding. Its breathtaking and
definitely worth the trip up.
We wandered the winding streets of Venice and ended up in a very quaint
restaurant sitting on the street gasping for a beer- and a litre pint is exactly what we got (to share obviously - much to Nicks disappointment.)
Wandering back towards the square for some dinner we stumbled upon a
theatrical event, the Venetian annual regatta… why now? why today? These
strange people waltzed up and down this gated area wearing the most ridiculous
clothes and preventing us from walking along the waterfront. (Yes i sound
ungrateful and perhaps it would've been a bit more exciting if I had actually
watched this facade but my phone battery had died and with no other way of
contacting Jess I kinda needed WIFI.)
We finally reached a restaurant on the front and a very excited Nicholas
ordered a seafood risotto to share with a prawn cocktail starter and a
bottle of venetian white. It was perfect. An hour before our train
home (and may I add the last train going back to Milan) we decided to jump
on a taxi boat and on reflection knowing how fast I can walk this was
definitely the slowest means of transport. We jumped on the first boat only to
turn round and see Jess didn't get on. Now in full panic mode and clock watching like never before the boat proceeded to zigzag across the canal and stop
at every station, impatient as I am we jumped off and made a run for it through
Venice, no idea where we were going nor if we were heading in the right
direction. Reaching the train station at 7:51 we waved goodbye to our train
home.
Bla bla car was our saviour, after walking up and down and creating
circles in the train station trying to work out where we were going
to stay and what train home tomorrow morning we managed to find a car
going to Milan for 3 people. Brilliant.
The journey home was hilarious, our flamboyant and extremely
friendly driver was great. What other way to end our day then hit a huge
storm which 'never happens' according to him. The hailstones so large
that they dent the roof and bonnet, seeing and being a part of one massive car huddle under a
bridge on a busy motorway was definitely an experience. The car next to us
was clever enough to get a towel out of his boot and put it on the bonnet only
for himself to get extremely wet in the process and 2 minutes later be ushered
on by Police with the towel still attached to his bonnet. Hysterical and tired
we made it home after almost a 4 hour drive.
So all in all, it was an adventure that I'm sure we will never forget
but what a fantastic day.
I think that's enough of a blog for now, don't want to bore.
More to follow
Ciao
xxx
