Two days in Milan

DAY 1:
We woke up early in Barcelona and made our way to the airport to fly to Milan. So we walked to the bus stop, rode the bus to the airport, and flew to Italy. Then we took a bus to the city and rode the metro to our hotel. Lots of travel! Luckily, everything went smoothly.

Our Milan hotel is lovely, and fortunately we were able to check in right away. As soon as we were settled, we went out in search of food. We hadn’t had a proper meal all day and it was already 2pm. We quickly realized that we were too late for food—unbeknownst to us, the Italians were observing a sort of siesta. Or at least regulated times for serving meals. The cafes and bars we passed were only serving drinks. We feared that our first Italian meal was going to be McDonald’s (ugh) until we spotted a cute little “cafeteria.” We entered and asked if they spoke English. Alas, they replied that no, they spoke Italian. Ha! They said it with a bit of humor. That’s when we experienced our first bit of Italian kindness. A random customer who was on his way out offered to translate for us. With his help, we found out that they would allow us to order food, even though it was obvious that it wasn’t meal time. We had chicken Milanesa served with a side of spinach, carrots, roasted potatoes, and fresh bread. The home-cooked meal was just what we needed! After thanking them profusely, we started our adventure.

On our way to the Duomo cathedral, we passed through the shopping district. Boy was I impressed! The street was lined on either side with every shoe and clothing designer you could think of. Not to mention all those “chain” stores we’re used to at home. It was surreal though, to see the Italian places like Armani and Dolce & Gabbana and realize that they were at home here in Italy. We saw one suit ensemble advertised for nearly 2,000 euros. Wowzer!

At the Duomo we paid to walk up the 150 steps to the rooftop. From there we had a beautiful view of the city, as well as an amazing view of the cathedral and its architecture! I do believe that I was able to appreciate the gothic designs far better because I was so much closer to them, rather than squinting at them from below. It was hot in the sun, but that aside, I could have wandered around up there for hours!

We finished the day off with pizza, beer, and a night-cap of limoncello. This is where we experienced our second bit of Italian generosity. The waiter treated us to our limoncellos for free! We had asked about them (ie: when it was appropriate to drink them—after your meal in case you’re curious). We explained that it would be our first taste and that we would definitely order them after our meal. When he brought the check, he pointed out that they were on the house. So cool!

It had started raining just as we were finishing our meal. We hurried back towards our hotel, walking close to the sides of the buildings to try and stay dry. The rain wasn’t coming down too hard, but it was surprisingly cold. Luckily for me, the gelato-place on the corner was still open, and it happened to be the perfect place to hide from the rain. We sat on a bench in front of the shop and savored our treats while B regaled me with tales from his past. What a wonderful day!

Total steps: 15,878

DAY 2:

We had already seen everything we wanted yesterday, so today we took our time getting ready in the morning and casually strolled around the city. We visited a public park, walked past the Scala Theater, wandered through the Sforsesco Castle and tried our best to hide in the shade. We had pasta for lunch at a cafe and dinner again at the same place we ate the night before. Our favorite waiter was there again, and like before, treated us like royalty. If you're ever in Milan, visit the Olimpico Bar! We again visited the dessert shop on the corner, but this time we shared a cannoli. Mmmm! Tomorrow morning we'll be up bright and early to catch a train to Florence.

Total steps: 14,610

It's our Last Day in Barcelona

...so we spent it by the Mediterranean!

We walked along the beaches. I was busy taking pictures, but leave it to B to notice that the beaches had many topless/nude sunbathers. What a freeing experience that must be. I would probably give it a try one day, would you?

The sun was high in the sky by noon, so we headed to the aquarium to hide in the shade for a bit. At first I was a little under-whelmed by the experience (I guess I'm spoiled by the Baltimore aquarium?). However, they had a very, very cool feature: a people mover that took us through glass tunnels "within" the large shark tank. We loved it because everyone got a front-row glimpse, but no one could stand in one place and hog the view. I took a ton of pictures, but since flash wasn't allowed, they aren't as sharp as I would have liked. I'm gonna share some anyway!

Afterwards, I got a hankering for my new favorite flavor of gelati: Galleta Maria (aka: Maria cookie flavor). We stopped in every little ice cream place along Las Ramblas until we found one that had my flavor. I decided to get a scoop of coconut too. Why not?!

At this point, we decided to come back for afternoon shower and nap. It's so refreshing!

Dinner was an adventure! Upon recommendation from our hotel, we went to Siete Puertas for some good paella. And boy was it good! We started things off with the "7 Puertas Appetizer Sampler." I think that was the adventurous part. We enjoyed the mussels, cod fish ball, croquette, codfish salad (like potato salad), Serrano ham, and calamari. We did not enjoy the sardines nor those shell things (don't know the name):

At first we thought they were just decorative, but then we realized we had been given over-sized toothpicks so that we could pull the meat out of the shell. Now I've eaten and enjoyed escargot, but it's covered in garlicky sauce. This appeared to be "plain." Just as B was about to just go for it and put the whole lump of grey meat in his mouth, the nice guy next to us warned us not to eat the front. Huh? We literally had to ask him to point to the "front" since it all looked the same to us. That sealed the deal for us, and (un)fortunately, neither one of us tried it.

The paella came out a bit later and was delicious, with a combination of meat, fish, and shellfish. There was even part of a lobster tail on top. We washed everything down with a yummy Cabernet savignon and then rolled ourselves back to the hotel. Thank goodness for that walk back!

Total steps: 17,650

A Gaudi Day

Considering everything we saw (and I wrote about) I should have declared yesterday a Picasso day. That makes today a Gaudi day!

We headed straight to Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia, his unfinished Catholic cathedral (construction was started in 1882). According to B, half the charm is that it's still not finished after all these years, so there's no hurry to finish now. (Just a bit of a cynic, eh?) Inside, the columns are designed to look like trees in a forest.

Afterwards, we continued our trek up-hill to the park that Gaudi decorated. From that high up on the hill, there is a beautiful view of the Mediterranean Sea. Officially, the park was meant to be a bourgeoisie suburb of Barcelona, but no one wanted to live that "far" from downtown, so only two of the proposed houses were ever built. They look like real-life gingerbread houses. Who wouldn't want to live here?!

We ended our day with dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. I know that we're in Europe and we're supposed to be eating and tasting different food. But you know what? Tonight we missed home, and boy did my fajitas and B's cheese burger taste good!

These are other examples of Gaudi's architecture that we passed in the city.

Overall, we walked over 10 miles today, up and down and all around. We never once used the metro or a cab to get anywhere... just our feet! Take a look at where we went:

Total steps: 21,001... wow!

Barcelona: "Hot town...

Summer in the city,
Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city"

Beautiful day, but hot! Thank goodness for the cool breeze blowing off of the Mediterranean (the same "mistral" wind we enjoyed while visiting Cassis in southern France). It was like air conditioning for the city.

Las Ramblas is a long, wide pedestrian street full of little artsy-craftsy vendors and performance artists. Keep your backpacks and purses close to you! This place is a pick-pocketer's dream because everyone has to slowly "ramble" along in a crowd of squished-together people. Check the photo below to see what I mean:

Today we walked along the famous Las Ramblas, down to the water, and then through the streets to the Picasso Museum. The coolest part of the museum was Picasso's study of another artist's work: Valasquez's Las Meninas, which we saw in person while in Madrid. How cool! (Ok, and on a side note, this huge department store in Spain also has their own ad which pays homage to Las Meninas with a modern twist. Also very cool!)

Velasquez's original, painted in 1656:

Picasso's interpretation, painted in 1957:

El Corte Ingles's promotional ad, as seen in 2011: