Italy - Day 36 (Milan)

Finally healthy enough to get back to running!  My first morning in a week.  I headed out about 6 and could not wipe the smile off my face.  The city is not quite awake, the sun is just coming up, and the air is the perfect cool temperature before the heat of the day descends upon us.  

I am on the other side of the canal looking back at our condo which is in the far left of this shot.

Another view.  Our balcony is the first one on the far, far left, partially cut off in the photo.  The building right on the water on our side of the canal is an area of restaurants, shops, and market stalls selling fruits, veggies, fish and flowers.

The digital bill board (The Cube) was "asleep".  Closed eyes on two sides and the messaging on the other two so that you could see him sleeping from whatever direction you were coming.  I plan to get with Charlie about Burkhart introducing the cube in South Bend :)

 

Looking back down one of the main streets in Navigli.  Notice the network of electric cables to fuel their awesome public transport system.

 My run this morning had a purpose, and that was to explore Domus Academy, one of the internationally ranked design thinking schools in Milan.  The gates were open so I was able to walk around the campus and gaze in windows :)

Looking back on the main entry

A studio for making music together, complete with a DJ turn table

I had to snap this photo that lists the labs in just one of the buildings - too small to read, so in order, they are: jewelry, light model, foam, knitting, dyeing and printing, textile, design, wood design, 3D design, and plastic design.  I sense a future girls getaway to Domus Academy with Brooke :)

The Design Museum on campus

The design offerings are quite comprehensive from fashion, to luxury goods, automotive, etc.  They also have Business Design (design thinking), which is my teaching area.

Once home, I showered and had a chance to catch up on email before the crew awoke.  While they ate breakfast, I headed back to Domus Academy to try and meet their business faculty.  I ended up having a great meeting with one of their international staff and meet their director of the business program Monday.  So exciting!  Another highlight of this adventure is that I used it as an opportunity to use a city bike.  I felt very Italian biking around the city in a dress :)

#BikingSelfie

My bike

Also very Italian is using a cell phone while biking - although generally for talking :)

 Later in the day Corey was able to break away from work to join us to head out to use the other portion of our Duomo ticket by visiting the museum.  However first stop was Carolina's, whose tag line reads "Smoked Things for Carnivores" (or rather carnivorous in Italian).
What could be better?

Carolina's did not disappoint!  We had ribs and pulled pork tacos and great beer.  So delicious!  When ordering we were shocked to see our own Lillie's Q BBQ (Chicago favorite owned by Dugard's friend) sauce featured in the window!  Apparently the owner of Carolina's spent time there training with them, but now uses his own sauce.  Definitely could see some connections in the excellent food.

This lunch also afforded some more competitive Spot It play.  Lily asked that I be sure to include the blog that she is still undefeated!  But we are getting closer to cracking her... :)

Next stop was the museum for both cultural and air conditioning reasons!  All religious statues and artwork, mostly affiliated with the Duomo.  This tour sparked many interesting discussions.  We increasingly feel like Lily is fast becoming our family expert on Catholicism!

This statue of Job and the devil really got the conversation going... Q: Is that what the devil looks like? A: Ummm... don't know.  Q: Did he take Job's head and arms?  A: I don't think so.  It looks like they broke off.  Q: Will the devil come and get me? A: That depends.  The probability goes up if you don't stop whining about how hot you are and if you don't sleep in your own bed. (didn't really say this aloud - I don't think!)

Similarities???  Anyone???  I know the angle is a bit off...

The Duomo model

Next up we jumped on the Metro again and headed to the ritzy shopping area of Milan.  Sadly this appears to be the only photo we snapped!  The sidewalks all had a foam carpet down the middle - either for the luxury of decreasing walking stress on shoppers, or more probably, for decreasing the filth tracked into the stores on the shoes of shoppers.  Either way, it was a nice touch.

We decided to shuffle through Prada (shuffle is the best word I can think of when you have three sticky kids in tow and are obviously not the target customer for a $1,200 pair of shoes).  The staff was very sweet and paid a lot of attention to the kids.  They were really taken with Lily calling her gorgeous, which I completely agree!  We managed 3 floors, and then tired of explaining to Lily why we couldn't just buy a little something.

We headed back to the train, stopping for ice cream along the way.  

Caden loved this fountain requested a photo.  And it provided a good opportunity to rinse the ice cream off everyone's hands! 

It was quite late by the time we got back.  I tried to get the kids interested in Glee - beginning with Season 1.  Gia and I were the only takers.  I plan to try again.

In the evening, we had not one, but two! live music concerts right out front.  The one to the left was more of an African drumming / dancing bit, and the one to the right was full on sun glass-wearing singer with an orchestra behind him.  He was right below us and simultaneously broadcast on the cube.  So fun.