Milan

We had a whirlwind weekend full of buses and trains, monasteries, opera houses, and about 4 cities. We went to Pienza on Saturday, which was a really cute small town known for making cheeses and wild boar sausages....needless to say it was a really cute small town that smelled....interesting...
It was beautiful though. We went to a monastery and looked at some frescos, and we also went to a thermal spa (which also smelled...interesting...). But it was fun. We got home Saturday night, ate and passed out.
Then we left at 6:30 AM on Sunday for Milan. Milan is a huge city, biggest I've been to on this trip, and it is of course the fashion mecca of the world. It's interesting because Milan is very fast paced in comparison to other Italian cities, especially the further south you go in Italy. Milan holds the "time is money" ethic, where as everywhere south of Milan holds the, "you'll get it when you get it" ethic. I much prefer Milan's way of thinking...
The duomo in Milan was AMAZING! it had these crazy spires all over the top of it and it was really gothic and creepy. I loved it. We climbed the four thousand stairs to the top and I took some cool pictures (while frozen with fear).
It has also been Carnivale here, perpetually. I always thought it was just one weekend, but apparently the Italians really like to stretch it out, because it's been going since mid January. There is this paper confetti everywhere you go, and when we were in Milan there was this big festival going on in the main Piazza (in front of their duomo). It was kind of crazy because there was a big beautiful statue of Neopoleon and next to it there were these modern art performers. They were suspended at different levels along a giant canvas and they were all busily painting while there was really loud techno like music pumping throughout the whole piazza. It was really cool to watch, and so juxtaposed against the gothic background. Little kids were all running around in their costumes throwing confetti and silly string on strangers (the little kids dress up every weekend until carnivale is over, so you see little Italian children running around in costumes all the time, getting gelato all over their faces...brings back memories...)
Anyway, it was very fun. We did a little shopping but I kept myself away from Gucci and Versace...best not to know what you're missing when it comes to Gucci and Versace, that's my rule of thumb....