Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is very big.
And heavily embellished.
One last look at the cathedral.
Inside the Galleria. Lots of repeated shapes.
What have we here? Not the hat, not the shades, not the clothes.
Look at the art in the background.
My mom has made paper constructions somewhat like this, only more complex and interesting. They look different in every light..... Just think, Mom, here's something like your work, in an extremely ritzy shopping area, in one of the major design centers of the world!
Anthuriums outside a cafe.
I bet the white is a security gate. I was interested by the distortion (and change of color) of all those rectangles in the reflection, as well as the distortion of the building.
Wire sculptures, overlapping, behind the merchandise.
Various and sundry things beyond the ends of the wings of the Galleria.
A passel of pink silk ties.
Vehicular doo-dads.
Milan is a major design capitol. It seemed to me that I saw lots of innovation.
Here's an example -- the background is fabric printed with a digital design. The dress is made from that fabric.
Cool. I would buy a piece of this fabric (if it weren't grotesquely expensive!).
Love this color.
I walked out of the Galleria.
I'd been thinking of taking the subway back up toward the hotel. Rick Steves said it was a straight shot from the cathedral stop to (and from) the train station.
I looked at the subway map (on the tourist map I'd gotten at the train station). There was a stop even closer to the hotel, so I decided to take the subway back up there, rather than walking 45 minutes.
It was a piece of cake.
Unfortunately, the map I had with me, which showed how to get from the train station to the hotel, was lacking A LOT of street names..... And only showed one exit from the metro.....
I didn't know it yet, when I took this pic, but I was about to walk in circles again, for too long.
One good part about wandering was that I found a nice big grocery. Here I am, waiting in line to buy bread for supper. She would slice whatever you wanted to order for you. Look at all those choices! And I bet most of them are better than what the grocery will slice for you in Ann Arbor.....
I was not adventurous. I got my bread, and yogurt, and an apple.
Lush, in Milan.
Someone is working on traffic signals.
The first pic I took, the morning of the 16th, was of this exact same building. Maybe knowing that, at the time, would have helped me figure out where I was. Or maybe not.
Eventually I asked someone for help. I had written the address for the hotel on the map showing where the hotel was, and I had that with me.
I asked a man who was unlocking a shop -- "Por favore, dove รจ..." ("Please, where is...") and I pointed at the written address. He looked at me, and told me to go straight ahead, and take the second left. He was very clear, with gestures and small words. "Uno, due, sinistra" (one finger, two fingers, pointing to the left.
I thanked him profusely, and, sure enough, there was the hotel. Hooray! I knew where I was, I had something to eat, all was well.
When I got home to Ann Arbor, I had lunch with my work buddies, and when I talked about walking in circles, one of my buddies told me that the iPod has a compass.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, yes, of course it does.
(Isn't it cute? Love the look of it......)
I had it with me, too, when I was walking round and round (on two separate occasions) on the 16th. (It was fully charged then, too, unlike when I took the above pic, in the comfort of my study, for illustrative purposes.)
Had I thought to use it, I could have saved myself a lot of time/energy/aggravation. But I have never actually navigated using a compass. I didn't even think to wish I had one, and I had never seen the one on the iPod........... Had I thought to wish I had one, I might have thought to look and see if I actually did have one. But I didn't, and I didn't.
Ah well.
I suppose it goes to show. It always makes sense to pay attention to what you have with you, which might be useful in ways you haven't considered! Especially when one of the things you have with you is as intelligent and versatile as an iPod..............
AND -- it's a really good idea to ask someone how to get where you mean to be going!
This is one of my cardinal rules -- ASK SOMEONE. My cold must have been affecting me more than I knew, since it took me such a long time to remember, and act on, my own cardinal rule!
No harm, no foul, but if I can learn something from a frustrating time, and avoid that frustration the next time, I'm eager to do so!
(Talking this over with my daughter as I write this post, I have realized that I was wrong about which of the streets at the ends of our hotel's block was Corso Buenos Aires. Had I realized that Corso Buenos Aires was *west* of our hotel, not east, I'd have made it right to the hotel from the subway. I think. But then I wouldn't have found the grocery.....)
Jotting down a note-to-self -- always carry the address of your place-to-stay with you. You may need to ask someone where the heck it is......................
In order to facilitate chronological traversal of these posts, here is a link to the next post.
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