Milano

The bus day from Italy to Serbia. A jiggling office/coffee shop where you hang out in whatever you just slept in. A continuation of last nights conversation accompanied by breakfast at 2pm. The bodum cup is working hard today. 

Last night’s show was in Parco Sempione, city center of Milan. One of the more beautiful venues I’ve seen. The epic Castello Sforzesco gracing one end of the park and on the other, the ferociously beautiful horse topped Arco Della Pace. The stage set center of a running track in the neoclassical Arena Civica. Location doesn’t get much more cultured than that really. The crowd was so sweet, big italian hand gestures as they sang (not kidding!). It would have been the perfect show for me had it not been for the swarms of mosquitoes. I realized I’d never had an itchy show before. It’s something else. A private hell not worth indulging, all these joyous people in front, the band jumping around. Am I the only one getting eaten alive out here?! Between the fingers, on the face, everywhere. They took off for the second half of the show, leaving me to calm down and find the show zone. 

We have this really sweet promoter in Italy that always goes above and beyond- making sure we take in what the city has to offer. This time we were booked in for a viewing of Leondardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper in the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Eerily quiet, warm faded colours depicting the drama on the wall. The painting has deteriorated and been restored many times, now it’s appointments are highly coveted and short, no photos of any kind for fear of further damage. 

I did a lot of walking on the day off here. I found Milan to be really approachable. There’s all sorts of fanciness fashion streets of course, but there’s a lot of cozy neighbourhoods too. And people seemed genuinely friendly even in the diamond studded shoe stores. On every corner a classic old man bar begging you to take back yet another espresso on its 1950’s bar stools. 

And let’s not forget the food, it is Italy after all. On an epic walk Will and I stumbled across a tiny hole in the wall place crammed with people standing around. It seemed like they made only one thing- the typical workers lunch in the area, the piadina romagnola. Behind the counter there were two people, one with a pile of dough breaking off small pieces and cranking them through a press, then throwing them on a hot grill for a second. The other one would put a couple things on this flat bread, fold it and hand it to the customer. I love the simplicity of Italian cuisine. It’s all about a few quality ingredients. Mine was buffalo mozerella and tomatoes. Perfection. We made the summit of our walk through town a gelato place, surprise surprise. One that all the bloggers agree is amazing. Truly, pine nut gelato and lemon sorbet is a combination on a higher flavour plane. I’ve renounced sugar on this tour unless it is in Italy, because it really doesn’t get better than that. 

Day of the show I had the chance to remember teaching yoga, and had a private session with our tour manager. I love it when this happens. Often we’re all on such funny sleep schedules we can’t get it together to combine our more athletic endeavours. But all you really need is a window of time, a five by eight space and a couple mats. Teaching someone else when you’ve been in your own bubble for a while is refreshing. Changing the perspective often wakes you out of my your own habits and can be just as revealing as taking a class yourself. 

This is the point in the bus journey where it starts to feel like a little much. 3pm crosses a line somehow. The coffee and impatience start bubbling in my system and I need real air. To walk somewhere that’s not a narrow shaking hallway, and maybe even have a shower.