Fashion on Fashion on Fashion Milan

This past weekend we traveled to Milan. Milan was a very cool and modern place. The city was for the most part clean, and has a pretty easy metro system to learn. We arrived at the train station in Florence at 8:45am. My professor says this isn’t early… His definition of early must be 6am because this is still early. After arrival we board our train to Milan. The train ride was about two hours.

When we arrived in Milan we headed straight to drop off our stuff at the hotel. Then we headed off to the Duomo area. The Duomo area had many upscale retail shops, places to eat, and the beautiful Duomo of Milan. We were given about a half an hour to eat lunch. After lunch I walked through a couple of the upper end retail shops. I went in the three stories of Louis Vuitton, Versace, and Mercedes Benz. Don’t worry I only looked. Many of the items were out of my budget anyways.

After lunch, we started our walking tour. We went in one of the most famous Opera Houses in Italy. We got to see and hear Opera singers practicing. We also learned about the history of the Opera. The singers were very beautiful. I am going to an Opera in Florence in April. After the Opera house, we walked back to the Duomo and went inside. The inside was very beautiful. After we continued to a castle area. We stopped for gelato on the way, a must in Italy. Than we headed back to do some shopping.

Our professor, Francesca, took us all on a shopping spree. We walked down the shops very close to our house. The shopping in Milan is huge. We spent a couple hours going in and out of shops. I purchased some clothes for spring break. After returning from shopping, we relaxed for a little before heading for dinner. We went to dinner over by the water, but there wasn’t really any water. For dinner Ashley and I split a calzone and shrimp and zucchini risotto. All of it was very good.

The next morning we were up bright and early. We did a walking tour of the fashion district. This is where the fashion starts, and most headquarters are. There were three stories of Gucci and Versace headquarters. We saw each and every high-end retail store you could imagine. All of it was amazing. The windows were so beautifully decorated. After our walk we then went to the headquarters of a newspaper, Corriere della Sera. This opportunity was very interesting. We got to talk to a journalist. A journalist in Italy is much different than a journalist in the US. We learned about the history, saw the office space of the editors. It was very very interesting.

After we had a second tour with Pirelli Company, a worldwide company known for their tires. This was very interesting as well. We got to see original painted advertisements from the archives, learn about the history. They had a really cool room, which allowed us to print pictures and see all their products. We saw the original cooling tower, which has now been turned into a luxurious theater. This was very interesting. We then headed back to Florence. It was a fun trip. Milan is very modern compared to Florence, and it did not seem as touristy.

The start of the Fashion District.

The Castle.

A cchandelier in the Opera house.

The Duomo.

A street crew.

The Duomo.

The castle.

The Fashion District.

The headquarters.

Who knew Mercedes benz had fashion line?

Pirelli company.

The floor.

Gucci window.

Pretty in pink.