After freezing in Como, we made our way to Milan, one of the fashion capitals of the world. Big whoop. Milan was such a letdown. I had such high high hopes for this artistic city, being an artist myself, but the overall impression I had was that Milano was so bland, austere and cold-shouldered. In juxtaposition with the sunny, jolly south, northern Italy was turning out to be quite a snooty bunch. (And I don’t say this as a generalization, only an impression of my brief visit there)

To top it off, outside the Duomo we were totally harassed by these two dudes who kept trying to force pigeon feed into my brother’s and my hands. Even when we kept saying “no” in clear english, they grabbed our hands, shoved the feed into our palms, and proceeded to whistling to call the damned birds over. My sister snapped some pictures (we couldn’t really do anything because they were still grabbing our hands), and when the pigeons had gobbled the feed up, the men had the freakin audacity to demand payment! WHAT PRICKS. We just told them, very sternly, that we said no to begin with, and that we had no money. After realizing that we really could not (or would not) pay, they left sort of angrily.

Got a cool shot, at least. We quickly ambled off to a different photo spot -.- But that definitely wrecked my mood. I was always looking over my shoulder, expecting to see a gang of pigeonfeed con artists with an army of angry pigeons flying overhead. OK that last part was a bit of overactive imagination, but you get the gist. We were pissed and scared and feeling very unwelcome.

The staples of Milan were gothically cool of course—the rising towers and turrety things of Milan’s famous duomo, all dark and haunted and gothic (kind of like me, i suppose). The inside was not as uniquely striking (metaphor for Milan?) as the outside for me, although the cool vaulted ceilings and the standard set of paintings lining the walls still making it undeniably beautiful.

Inside, it was warm compared to the biting wind outside, and yet felt a bit cold-shouldered. I don’t know if it really seemed that way to me, or if I was just feeling a bit cynical post-incident. Looking at the photos now, I cannot deny that the Duomo is still really gorgeous.

Beautiful stained glass

Creepy statue, almost skeletal.

Back outside, a gorgeously ornate steel door

Positive or not, this was definitely memorable. A must-visit when in Milano—truly a city of startling contrast.

Photos: Canon 450D + 10-22mm