Glasgow Prestwickit's 4.14 am and it appears that i am not gonna sleep tonight. behold singapore! for i, kenny, will be home in june. watch me count down the grueling days to the exams and the anxious days to home bound flight. yes. for now, a tale of many italian cities will unfold before your eyes... once upon a time, there were 2 lil pigs. they left their warm lil huts in edinburgh and made way for their italian adventure. it was their virgin trip to italy. we started our long journey around italia from glasgow prestwick. flight was in ard 7pm (uk time) landing in milan bergamo orio al serio airport at 2330pm (italian time)
Moments before we boarded the planeHaving wanted to save money for the first night, we decided to sleep in the airport till daybreak. Man, it was a pretty bad idea with no food and no entertainment. well, not when u have drunked scots running around in kilts, singing songs as they waited for the a flight to Bari to watch their fellow countrymen play the world champions the following day. xy suggested making poker cards out of paper and we promptly did so. tried playing dai dee but i was instantly disoriented with 26 paper cards the size of memory sticks and spades not looking like spades. but i won cuz the silly girl ending with a 'dee'.
Poker cardssoon, daylight appear and shops opened. we had our first italian breakfast of crossiants and italian coffee before missing 10 buses heading for bergamo city centre. we waited diligently in the morning cold for the next bus with tickets from a not-easy-to-use ticketing machine.
Xinyi with citta alta in the background (bergamo)Bergamo consist of two city centers: Citta Alta and Citta Bassa. meaning, upper city and lower city. we got our train tickets to milan and realised that we still had time to spare. we snapped pictures along our way from the train station to somewhere close to citta alta. had macdonalds breakfast before boarding the 1030 train bound for milan. within moments, i strayed into dreamland, waking up once in awhile to capture a few shots of the lombardy landscape. we arrive at milan and the train station is mother huge. i was amazed at how big it appeared as we made our way of of the train station.
Lombardy Landscape
Milano Centrale StazioneThe first thing on our minds was to locate Hotel Brasil. we navigated the milanese streets with a printed map, courtesy of google earth and found ourselves in Giardini Publicci. we sat by the fountain watching kids playing and dogs chasing one another. we finally found our hotel and slept for 2 hrs before deciding to visit the attractions. first stop was the milan duomo. duomo is an italian word for cathedral. we navigate the mazy streets, chancing upon the shopping district where power brands such as Dolce and Gabanna, Valentino, Paul Smith and Chanel can be found. Fashion capital, enough said.
Giardini Publiccisuddenly, the streets exploded into an huge empty area where the milan duomo stood beautifully in the sun. having not eaten anything since breakfast in bergamo, we settled for pizza at spizzico and our first gelato of the trip followed. milan duomo was huge as we explored the interiors, sneakily snapping a few illegal shots here and there. we settled for more pictures of the majestic cathedral and explored in immediate surroundings. having seen enough pigeons in the piazza where the cathedral stood, we trotted off to the Castello Sforzesco which was just a mere 1.5km away. took a few picturesque shots of the castle before heading home. chanced upon the Leonardo da Vinci statue. before we bumped into dinner. bushed from all that travelling in the first day, we rested early as the next destination was Venice. Santa Maria delle Grazie housed the famous The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci but we didnt have the time to see that. no time for the san siro stadium either. that's all for the first day in italy. tired but happy and excited that we are in italy.
Milan Duomo
Castello Sforzesco
