ITALY Part IV: Milan

My quick trip to Milan is the perfect example of why you should research extensively before planning a trip. I booked a night in Milan at the last minute because to get back to Strasbourg I had to go through Milan any way, and besides, everybody has heard of the city, so I figured there must be something to see there, right?

Wrong.

Milan's tourist attractions include its Duomo, which is pretty to look at, and a few museums chock full of religious artwork. Honestly, after the past nine months in Europe, I've seen so many churches and cathedrals that they have started to all blur together, and I feel like I go to at least one museum every week (even though that's not true). At any rate, I didn't feel the need to enter any museums showcasing religious relics or one of the thousands of famous oil paintings of Madonna and Child, so I chose to spend my time in the Museo del Novecento (the Museum of 20th Century Art). People have already criticized my choice ("You didn't go see DaVinci's painting of The Last Supper? You fool!"), but that's the great thing about traveling alone--you are completely in control of the schedule! I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the museum that I chose, and that's what matters. I actually spent a good three hours in there... at the top, there were great views of Milan's Duomo, and museum admission was completely free, may I add! 

There was a whole section of strobe-light rooms that you could walk through. My favorite one was like being inside an optical illusion, as the lines and the lights tricked the eye into thinking the perfectly square room was actually seriously unbalanced. Besides from the strobe-light rooms, there were hundreds of paintings (some experimenting with materials such as rubber or shredded canvas). One of my favorite paintings from the museum was this one (below) by Italian painter Umberto Boccioni, and it's entitled "States of Mind I: Those Who Stay." I thought it aptly captured the emotion of people leaving a train platform after bidding goodbye to their loved ones.

Other than the museum, my time in Milan was spent window shopping, pretending I was French at the restaurant where I ate dinner, and talking to the guys I roomed with in my hostel. My hostel was really nice--probably one of the nicest I've stayed in--but it only offered 6-person mixed dorms, and of course with my luck, I was placed in a room with 5 other guys. They were all really nice, though--two American law students, two South Americans, and an Indonesian guy who works in Paris. 

And honestly, that wraps up my time spent in Milan, and Italy in general.  I don't have too much planned for the rest of May (I'm finished with classes, my last lesson at EPITECH was a few weeks ago, and I only have one more exam!) but I'm sure I'll scrape up something to do for my last few weeks in Europe!