Milan

So we went to Milan from Istanbul, connecting from a 6 hour layover in Greece.

Milan is really a fashion capitol. Everyone is gorgeous. No joke. Literally everyone walking down the fashion district could have passed as a supermodel. So that's where Italy was hiding all its pretty women..

Milan can be thought of as Rome but incredibly urbanized. That being said, I think Milan is really far different from Rome. It was for one, much cleaner than Rome, and two, much younger than the population of Rome. Milan from what I saw was mostly compsed of younger people as opposed to the older people that we saw in Rome. Since most of the city was new and urbanized, it also gave off a sense of vitality.

The hostel that we stayed (manically booked at a vodafone promotional stand which offered internet while panicking in Athens International) at in Milan was definitely run by super Chinese people. The kind that barely spoke English (or Italian for that matter). We got super upgraded to a room with private toilette and shower. Also, we got free wifi the entire time, enabling the planning of the rest of the trip, which had not been done.

Oh the joys of being bilingual.

Also, finding a Punto Sma was almost like finding an oasis in the desert. Yes, I am not ashamed to say that I made sandwiches from super cheap (but still good of course) deli meat there two nights in a row. I'm not made of money.

In terms of sightseeing, we saw a lot of art there. Notably, the Museo La Scala was amazing. I love operas, so La Scala was a perfect to visit. Not only did I get a really good history of the place and saw cool things like a cast of Toscanini's hand, I got to see in person the stagehands working on the a set. It was super cool.

The Pinocateca Brera was also really interesting. The museum itself was the entire second floor; all of it was beautifully painted and decorate. The first floor, however, was dirty, unkempt, and filled with odd things like a model of the talking statue? Whatever it was, it was super weird.

The duomo climb was nice, but nothing compared to the one in Florence, and as it turns out, the one in Venice.

One things I'd like to add is that Olympic Air is the best airline that I've ever flown. In a 1.5 hour flight, I was served the best airplane meal that I had ever had, a coke, and two waters. And don't get me started on the hot flight attendants, and yes - all of them were gorgeous.