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Wednesday was a long day in class but after we went to a bar before the soccer game. The place was called George Payne’s. It’s a giant two story Irish pub with tons of TVs and sports games on all over the place. About 50 IES kids were going to the game on Wednesday and most of them went there before. We took the metro over to the stadium. Right when we left the bar it started raining. When we got off our stop it was pouring and it didn’t stop for a couple hours. The first day it really rained hard and of course it’s the day we choose to go to a game.
Our tickets we’re behind one of the goals on the lower level. Because of the rain the stadium was nearly empty and because the opponent was so bad. Half of Barcelona’s starters didn’t even play. So the few people that stuck around were all under the awnings on the first and second levels. The game was still a lot of fun and I get the chills thinking about the intensity in there for a great game. Even with the poor weather, poor turnout, and the lack of competition the section we were in did not sit down or stop chanting or singing for the entire 90 minutes. Only for halftime did these guys stop yelling. Literally non-stop beating 4 or 5 drums in rhythm shouting chants in Catalan. It was crazy to see for such a crappy game. Your lucky to get MetLife Stadium on its feet for a third down against the Pats and these guys were just going crazy for their team. It was awesome to see 100 people doing it and I can’t imagine 100,000 people doing it together at a good game.
Thursday after class we packed for Milan and cleaned up the apartment. We had to be up by 3:45 to head to the airport so we went to bed early. Our flight to Milan was on time and easy enough. We took a bus from the airport to the city center. From there we bought 2 day metro passes that ended up lasting us an extra couple hours for some reason. We took the metro to the northern outskirts of the city where our Hostel was located. The Milan metro made me appreciate how quick easy and clean the Barcelona metro is.
Our Hostel was in a small neighborhood near some ghettos and a university. The hostel used to be a mental insitution and it had a creepy vibe going for it. There were some old people living there with disabilities now so I think the downstairs is like a group home and the top is used as a hostel. Our room was nice and the people were really nice. We had a couple bunkbeds and a German girl on her winter break was staying in our room too.
The weather in Milan was the worst we’ve had yet. It was high 30s/low 40s and it didn’t stop raining the entire time we were there. We maybe saw 20 minutes of sun on Sunday. The grey weather coupled with the graffiti EVERYWHERE in the city gave it a kind of dirty feel but the city definitely has many beautiful spots just not where our Hostel was. It would have been nice to have some sun but the weather didn’t impede on our trip.
After we checked in we took a couple hour nap to recharge from getting up early and traveling. After the nap we took the metro to the Duomo. We got our first Italian food which was the fried dough pockets filled with mozzarella and tomato and then gelato next. Both we’re from well known tourist spots a block from the square. Both places were cheap and really really awesome. The gelato place had some awesome flavors and filled the bottom of your cone with melted chocolate from the fountains they have.
After eating we walked around the Duomo and the plaza and then bought tickets to walk up onto the roof. We spent about an hour or two up there and it was awesome to be on top of the marble building overlooking the city and plaza. After some exploring and hanging out we headed back to the Hostel to get ready for dinner.
We thought we found a pasta place close to a metro stop but we ended up wandering around asking people for directions for a good hour and when we finally found the place it was a brewery that served burgers. We didn’t care so we went in and had a great dinner. The food was good and we had some good cheap beer they made in the same basement we were eating in. It was Jeremy’s 21st birthday so we wanted to celebrate. We headed down to the street with the most notable bars and clubs on it after dinner. The clubs were all 20 euro to enter so we said screw that and found the cheapest bar to go to. We found a cool spot and hung out there all night buying Jeremy drinks.
Saturday got a late start. We planned to walk to a little pizza place near our Hostel. When we walked out the Hostel’s gates the entire street was transformed. There was a market about 2 football fields long set up on the street we were staying on over night. There were numerous cheese, meat, vegetable, fish, and fruit stands as well as flea market type deals. It was an awesome surprise and we walked around enjoying it for a little. We finally made it to the pizza place which was an alright to-go place.
After lunch we went to the Leonardo da Vinci museum of Science and Technology. This place was really cool. They had models of a lot of Leonardo’s sketches and ideas and explained them all. The guy was probably one of the most curious and smartest people ever as he tried his hand at and was a master of so many different aspects of science, invention, and art. The museum also had a submarine a few planes and 2 warehouses with gigantic steam power trains and a display of ships from the 1800s to WWII vessels. It was a great place and fun to spend a couple hours at. There was also the original personal Mac and IBM computers and cell phones from the 90s on display.
On the way back to the Hostel we stopped in a bakery and got some pastries. I don’t usually eat dessert but I went all out because I was in Italy and the food there just doesn’t compare to anywhere else. For dinner we did a good amount of research and found a traditional northern Italian cuisine restaurant and made sure we knew where it was. We had to make a reservation so I wrote down what I needed to say and some other phrases I might need for the conversation to use when I called. I at least tried to say “Hello I don’t speak Italian but I wanted to know if you have any tables available for tonight.” The lady on the other end started laughing and responded in English so we were good to go.
This restaurant was awesome! The lady who I talked to was the sister of the owner and the daughter of the chef(her mom) and she was the only one that spoke English there and she took great care of us. It was like eating at your Aunt’s house it was great. We asked her what she recommended and how to go about ordering. She explained you order a first course dish like pasta or antipasti and hang out for a while and then we can order a second course like meat if we are still hungry and everything is made fresh when you order it and the meat is all cooked on a grill in a fireplace right in the center of the dining room. I had pasta with broccoli rabe and anchovie and then shared sausage with someone. We all got dessert two. I opted for a canoli which was the greatest thing ever. The cook came out and told us how she made the filling that morning herself and wanted to make sure we were happy. The entire meal was just an awesome authentic experience with delicious food and was a lot of fun. It was exactly what we all wanted to experience while in Italy. After dinner we just went back to the hostel and went to bed early.
Sunday we checked out and went to the park in the city where the arch and the Sforza castle was. We had the entire day because our flight wasn’t until 9pm. We wandered around there for a couple hours and enjoyed the massive building and decorative arch. I forgot to say before going to the castle we walked around the downtown streets which were much nicer than the area our Hostel was in and they all had train tracks on them. We found a bakery with endless amounts of breads pastries and pastas. Lunch was awesome and we found another local authentic spot and it was just awesome. We talked to the head baker and he recommended his chocolate cake which was so goooooood. I went all out eating in Italy and it was worth it.
After the castle and lunch we walked around more of the city trying to find canals we heard about. The canals were dried up/under construction/covered in graffiti so that was a failure but we ended up walking around the city for 4/5 hours which was great because we got to see so much of it. Before heading to the airport we went back to the Duomo one last time and got gelato one last time.
We took the bus back to the airport and left rainy Milan. We got to our apartment by midnight and it felt great to be back in Barcelona. It felt like coming home and it was refreshing hearing Spanish. Italian was really hard to try and understand and it was overwhelming at times.
We went to the bar downstairs for the Superbowl but ended up leaving by halftime because the game wasn’t much of a game. Today is going to be a long day of school work but Milan was very worth it and a lot of fun. I’m excited to be in Barcelona for the next 2 weekends and Dylan is also coming in early March!!!
I’m attaching a link of pictures.
Joe Fernandez 
I was feeling sorry at first about the weather for you, but sounds like you didn’t let you stop your experience. And then I looked at the pictures and realized why. They are your best yet – cool setups and really capture the flavor of what you are experiencing. Thanks for sharing!!! Can I come for a visit?? Wish I could!
COME ON BY AUNT MICHELE!!!! We’d have a blast!