by Maureen | Dec 19, 2009 | Christmas & New Year's Eve, Featured Articles, Journal, Photos
The fridgy day and the taunting sky followed through on their promise and have coated us all with 2 inches of snow. And it’s still coming down. What will I wake up to? If there’s a thick, white blanket of snow I’ll have to hop on the subway and go down to the Duomo to take pictures there and around town.
As the snow began to fall, before it stuck to the pavement, it clung to the winter coats going in and out of the retail shops surrounding the Duomo. Umbrellas kept snowflakes out of the eyes. Wednesday’s salt piles remained, and stained my black boots.
This snow plow was at-the-ready earlier in the evening at the Piazza del Duomo.
A classic icon – the Vespa – lightly covered with the first snow and awaiting more.
Here’s the view outside my bedroom window, to the courtyard Christmas tree across the street. Snow has accumulated to about 2 inches since this shot was taken a couple of hours ago.
by Maureen | Dec 8, 2009 | Cheese, Christmas & New Year's Eve, Featured Articles, Food!, Journal, Photos, Shopping & Markets
It’s the holiday season, and it starts with a rush here in early December. Today, December 7, is the Feast Day of Milan’s Patron Saint, Sant’Ambrogio; it’s a citywide holiday. This day is followed with a national holiday tomorrow, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, and all the Italian world is shut down for a very long weekend, (except for a few essential services).
On Saturday, I went to the Fiera Artiginiale at Milan’s space-age, ultra modern, expansive fairground, Rho Fiera. Aye! Many city blocks-worth of vendors presenting regional foods and handgoods from around Italy, Europe and the world. The Fair is an amazing gathering for taste-testing oils, jams, spreads, salami, olives and wines. One can oooh and aaah at textiles and handcrafts. In under 4 hours, my energy was spent, my feet were spent and my wallet was spent… and I was carrying home a heavy bundle to ship back to the States for gifts.
Here’s a map of the pavilions, showing the regions and countries represented:
http://www.artigianoinfiera.it/ita/visit_miniguida.php#
And then there’s “Obei Obei“, or “Obeh Obeh”. The name is inspired by “Oh Belli!”, the shouted calls from vendors luring passersby to stop and look at the goods for sale. What started years ago as a smaller market near the Sant’Ambrogio station, grew to a huge event. It was moved, and now surrounds the Castello Sforzesco with booths of food, crafts and antiques. I came up out of the subway to a chilly afternoon and a men’s chorus singing Italian Christmas songs.
The conjunction of the old Castello Sforzesco and the mylar Babbo Natale (Santa Claus) made me chuckle.
Along the way, I sampled spicy salami from Calabria, nut-studded Torrone, and cheese with flecks of truffle.
I photographed, but passed by, the Sicilian sweets vendor. (When I bought a few goodies from the same vendor before, the macaroons and pistachio-paste cookies were dried out. They must bake for weeks in preparation, and therefore, the treats get old.) But these guys have got signage down pat!
I decided against either a hotdog or hamburger (of course not!) and finished with a hot sandwich of grilled sausage, peppers and kraut with mustard and a long bun.
Or I could have gone for a sandwich of porchetta…
As a highlight of the holiday weekend, this fair is an intense, people-packed, push-and-shove opportunity. It was pretty difficult to move, and therefore, hard to see much in the booths. (I recommend the Fiera Artiginiale for it’s greater variety and higher quality of goods, although it’s also jam-packed with people.) It was dark and 6:00 p.m. by the time I made it back through the crowd. The holiday light show was underway and enjoyed by many who stood watching the display of changing lights on the castle.
Though I could have walked, I caught the subway to the Duomo to enjoy a champagne-tasting that I had been told of, underway all afternoon and early evening.
by Maureen | Nov 5, 2009 | Featured Articles, Journal, People, Photo of the Day, Photos, Quips
Again! I got on the subway. Seated myself. The doors closed, and “Twang!” As soon as the train pulled away from the station, the guy started playing a random riff on his guitar and projected it throughout the train car with an amplifier in his backpack!
I had seen him over the summer, too. Same guy. He plays just long enough between subway stops. Then pulls a flattened paper cup out of his pocket. Makes the rounds for loose change and gets off at the next stop. How can they kick him off? He doesn’t start until they’re underway, then switches cars at the next fermata.
The other riders seemed non-plussed.
by Maureen | Jul 4, 2009 | Featured Articles, Journal, Quips
Friday night, and I hadn’t been out of the house all day. OK. I changed my clothes, walked to the subway station and hopped on the “green line” at Romolo. Four stops to Cadorna, a switch to the “red line” and just 3 stops to the duomo.
I stepped out of the subway looking right up at the sandcastle spires of the duomo in mid-evening light. Beautiful. And the tourist throngs of the day were gone, so the vast piazza was quiet and clear. What an easy, lingering wander along small back streets I hadn’t explored yet. I allowed my feet to go at half their usual pace, and it changed the whole tone of the evening.
All of the shops were closed and preparing for “Saldi!“, sales! Window displays were being changed and sale signs were being hung. It happens throughout the city, starting on one given day. Everything is discounted 30 to 50%. It’s likely to be a madhouse downtown today at 10:00 as the stores open up, but I plan to be a brave shopper. As I wandered around last night I saw several stores with shoes that actually looked comfortable AND chic. (I’ll brave the crowds for comfort. Besides, the walking shoes I’ve been wearing daily are showing wear and this is the time to buy!)
Just following my feet I happened onto Via Monte Napoleone. What a heady gathering of luxury clothing, jewelry and shoe stores! All the names I’ve heard of were assembled along that strip into a concentrated study in fashion and marketing. The displays were enticing and beautiful, and some quite playful. I saw paper cut-outs, african masks, 60s Op-Art, lush greens amidst stone. All so sumptuous. Ooo lah lah.
By 9:15 I had wandered north of the duomo and into the territory of the metro “yellow line”. The subway station at Monte Napoleone got me all mixed up and turned around, but I sorted myself out. There were groups of people dressed up as if they had been to a concert or the theater. Most stations had people milling about. There were only a few places where I was alone, but my awareness was keen the whole time. I hopped the yellow line to the red, then the red to the green and stepped out of the Romolo station, close to home, just before 10:00. Here I was, riding the subway alone after dark in the evening and walking home at 10:00. Was it genuine safety or ignorance? (I wouldn’t have considered it in New York.)
by Maureen | Jun 20, 2009 | Introspection, Journal, Quips
Yesterday morning at 11:00 I came up out of the subway right in front of the magnificent duomo. Wow. Such a sight and it was great to be back again; I enjoyed it so much last year. It reminds me of a sandcastle that was built by dribbling wet sand down my fingertips.
But there was no one to call at 11:00 in the morning my time! It was 2:00 a.m. on the U.S. West Coast. There was no one with whom to share the excitement…
