i came, i saw, i duomo-ed

There was a moment this morning when I the pilot on my EL AL flight to Milan said, "It's -1°C on the ground in Italy right now," and even though I'm an American who believes that temperatures should only be read in Fahrenheit dammit, I still knew that -1°C is below 0°C, which is below freezing. Then I realized that the white I was looking at out of my window wasn't clouds but the Italian countryside, completely blanketed in snow. And I knew I didn't bring a winter coat because I'm going to India where the average temperature ranges between 50-75°F in February and this lack of proper outdoor apparel could mean hypothermia. But I decided to go to Milan anyway because what use is sitting in the airport for ten hours anyway?



First off, Italian security is so much less strict than Israeli security. (Can I also take a second to gripe about the fact that Israeli security tested my two jars of unopened peanut butter for explosives? Ridiculous.) I breezed through Italian security and grabbed the Malpensa Express from the Milan airport to downtown. I caught the express train, so I was back on the ground within 30 minutes. After some wandering and following of crowds, I stumbled upon the Duomo. It's huge and gorgeous and sort of sneaks up on you and then there it is in all its glory.

I didn't go inside because the line out front was something of a zoo. (And, just for the record, I did ask a stranger to take that photograph of me. I thought my mommy would like to see a picture of me in front of a major European landmark. You're welcome, Mom.) I did wander around Duomo Square for a little bit but then I got incredibly cold because this is northern Italy and I don't have a coat like an idiot. So I retreated into the nearby stores and took more pictures and got hungry. I was also painfully sleep deprived due to a 4AM wake-up call to make by 7:40AM flight this morning. This resulted in grabbing a casual espresso on a street corner from a nice old Italian man who clearly thought I looked like a fool with my giant backpack and lack of ability to converse in Italian. I then passed a train station and after a brief exchange in broken English and Italian managed to get a hot sandwich and a beer from some vendor on the street. Casual lunch in Milan, you know?

I'm sitting in the Milan airport again, with another six hours before my flight. I broke down and paid for Internet access because I might lose my mind otherwise. I still can't believe I'm in Italy, that I spent the last few hours chilling in Milan. I've been to Europe before, and it's amazing how familiar this city seemed despite the fact that I was only dropping in. I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but I do know I'm ready to go on to my next adventure. I'm also going to add that it was nice to have my own space for a little bit, but wandering is much more fun when you have someone else to wander with you. I can tell you that India is calling me, and I'm pretty positive that ten hours in Europe has been plenty for the time being.