A Day In Milan - a lesson in immigration and the EU
Our two day train journey from Paris to where my family lives in Italy (Veneto) meant an overnight stay in Milan (well it could have been elsewhere, but Milan worked and I wasn't going to argue).
As mentioned in the previous post, we had the pleasure of staying at the Hotel Il Girasole run by brothers Matteo and Nicola. These guys have some before and after pictures of the buildings which hold their quaint hotel and the transformation is amazing.
Once we got settled in, the group split in two. Alyssa and I were on a pilgrimage to Casa Milan - administrative home of AC Milan - while the rest were headed out to shop and poke around the famous Corso Buenos Aires shopping mecca of Milan.
The journey to Casa Milan was mostly on the subway but also about a 10 minute walk from the Lotto metro station. Alyssa and I shopped and also dined at the Cucina Milan restaurant. While this may have seemed like a pointless journey for most, it really was a treat for both of us and a little bit of a bonding experience for me and my Alyssa.
She's taken a lot of interest in my interests: soccer, fishing, my favorite teams, etc. and admittedly that's pretty cool. Plus the journey provided some teaching moments on traveling in foreign cities, etc. I had Alyssa help me picking out the right metro line, which station, how do you know what station you were at, what clues can be gained from station names, other signs, what services are typically at big metro or train stations, etc. She really wanted to learn all of this and was a sponge to absorb it all. I'll make a seasoned traveler out of her yet.
One thing that is going on currently in Milan is EXPO 2015 - the world exposition. This used to be a much bigger thing, but we now live in a global world and I think the impression is that the mystique of the world's cultures has been lost. We're all Walmarted, Coca-Cola'd, and McDonalded out. We did not head to the EXPO but a lot of people are in Milan to experience it. To prove my point about the over commercialization of the global giants - a group of Asian tourists were on the same metro train Alyssa and I were on while heading back from Casa Milan to the Piazza del Duomo. They had just come from the Expo. Each of them had a goodie bag, and I could see inside were a variety of things. But what made me crack up was that each was wearing a Coca Cola had with the "EXPO Milan" logo on the side, each had their tickets on lanyards Disney style - the lanyards were of another corporate giant - JVC and "EXPO Milan" branded on them. I can only imagine what goodies were in the bags - probably just all freebies from commercial giants.
What I gathered from our family is that the Milan Expo is neat and a welcome source of income to Italy in general, the ticket prices are so high they exclude most Italians from attending. The economy is still suffering in Italy as it is in many of the EU nations. The Italians, however, are hit the most hard from immigration from Africa. The concept of the EU was such that things like this were to be spread equally among the nations to lessen the burden on one particular nation. France, Austria, Germany, etc have all shut their borders to these immigrants leaving Italy the suffer the burden solely. And it is evident especially in the big cities like Milan.
As Alyssa and I exited the metro at the Piazza del Duomo, the threat of rain gave way to the reality of rain. Emerging from the woodwork were a flood of African immigrants all trying to sell us umbrellas, ponchos, etc. And there was a wall of them - choking the pedestrian traffic to a halt. Once you penetrated the wall of umbrella sellers, you were hit by the second wave of immigrant peddlers this time selling you string. Yes...string. Oh but not just any string, love and peace string. Multi colored love and peace string to boot!! For Heaven's sake, all Alyssa and I were trying to do was snap a few photos of the Duomo while dodging the ever increasing rate of rain drops, do a little shopping at the various souvenir vendors (my computer tried to auto-correct souvenir to Rhinovirus... hmmm), and find a gelato stand.
We were successful for the most part, but I let my guard down after I was about halfway through the most amazing pistachio gelato you could imagine. A dude approached Alyssa and I with string. Before I knew it, I had blue string on my wrist and was being told about the brothers and sisters in Sudan who need peace and love and "that is all". Except he wanted 10 Euro for that peace and love. I gave him 2 Euro and told him that peace and love are free and to buzz off.
You know, I can understand the plight. I can understand that these people have escaped a situation in their homeland which is horrifying. But please tell me you are more capable than just selling string and then threatening people over it? There is something to be said about earning your way, busting your butt, and making something of yourself. I'm sure I don't have the whole picture here, but selling string is not going to pave the path to the righteous land my Sudanese brother.
Oh well, we wrapped up our gelato dining experience, found some cool things to buy - my new Papa Francesco tea towel may just top all souvenirs - and headed back to our hotel as the intensity of the rain diminished.
Turns out Jule, Maria, Mom, and Dad had a limited shopping experience cut off by the rain. They found a great local restaurant to have dinner and otherwise just headed back to the hotel. You all know my mom, shopping is what motivates her the most. And while on vacation shopping for others becomes her focus...her sole focus. So she has been focused on buying this for that person and that for this person. Oh well, now that we're away from the big cities, we'll have plenty of local market days ahead... and hopefully less peace and love string salesmen.
Peace and love friends. Sent for free (and a 2 Euro processing fee) to you from me.
As mentioned in the previous post, we had the pleasure of staying at the Hotel Il Girasole run by brothers Matteo and Nicola. These guys have some before and after pictures of the buildings which hold their quaint hotel and the transformation is amazing.
Once we got settled in, the group split in two. Alyssa and I were on a pilgrimage to Casa Milan - administrative home of AC Milan - while the rest were headed out to shop and poke around the famous Corso Buenos Aires shopping mecca of Milan.
The journey to Casa Milan was mostly on the subway but also about a 10 minute walk from the Lotto metro station. Alyssa and I shopped and also dined at the Cucina Milan restaurant. While this may have seemed like a pointless journey for most, it really was a treat for both of us and a little bit of a bonding experience for me and my Alyssa.
She's taken a lot of interest in my interests: soccer, fishing, my favorite teams, etc. and admittedly that's pretty cool. Plus the journey provided some teaching moments on traveling in foreign cities, etc. I had Alyssa help me picking out the right metro line, which station, how do you know what station you were at, what clues can be gained from station names, other signs, what services are typically at big metro or train stations, etc. She really wanted to learn all of this and was a sponge to absorb it all. I'll make a seasoned traveler out of her yet.
One thing that is going on currently in Milan is EXPO 2015 - the world exposition. This used to be a much bigger thing, but we now live in a global world and I think the impression is that the mystique of the world's cultures has been lost. We're all Walmarted, Coca-Cola'd, and McDonalded out. We did not head to the EXPO but a lot of people are in Milan to experience it. To prove my point about the over commercialization of the global giants - a group of Asian tourists were on the same metro train Alyssa and I were on while heading back from Casa Milan to the Piazza del Duomo. They had just come from the Expo. Each of them had a goodie bag, and I could see inside were a variety of things. But what made me crack up was that each was wearing a Coca Cola had with the "EXPO Milan" logo on the side, each had their tickets on lanyards Disney style - the lanyards were of another corporate giant - JVC and "EXPO Milan" branded on them. I can only imagine what goodies were in the bags - probably just all freebies from commercial giants.
What I gathered from our family is that the Milan Expo is neat and a welcome source of income to Italy in general, the ticket prices are so high they exclude most Italians from attending. The economy is still suffering in Italy as it is in many of the EU nations. The Italians, however, are hit the most hard from immigration from Africa. The concept of the EU was such that things like this were to be spread equally among the nations to lessen the burden on one particular nation. France, Austria, Germany, etc have all shut their borders to these immigrants leaving Italy the suffer the burden solely. And it is evident especially in the big cities like Milan.
As Alyssa and I exited the metro at the Piazza del Duomo, the threat of rain gave way to the reality of rain. Emerging from the woodwork were a flood of African immigrants all trying to sell us umbrellas, ponchos, etc. And there was a wall of them - choking the pedestrian traffic to a halt. Once you penetrated the wall of umbrella sellers, you were hit by the second wave of immigrant peddlers this time selling you string. Yes...string. Oh but not just any string, love and peace string. Multi colored love and peace string to boot!! For Heaven's sake, all Alyssa and I were trying to do was snap a few photos of the Duomo while dodging the ever increasing rate of rain drops, do a little shopping at the various souvenir vendors (my computer tried to auto-correct souvenir to Rhinovirus... hmmm), and find a gelato stand.
We were successful for the most part, but I let my guard down after I was about halfway through the most amazing pistachio gelato you could imagine. A dude approached Alyssa and I with string. Before I knew it, I had blue string on my wrist and was being told about the brothers and sisters in Sudan who need peace and love and "that is all". Except he wanted 10 Euro for that peace and love. I gave him 2 Euro and told him that peace and love are free and to buzz off.
You know, I can understand the plight. I can understand that these people have escaped a situation in their homeland which is horrifying. But please tell me you are more capable than just selling string and then threatening people over it? There is something to be said about earning your way, busting your butt, and making something of yourself. I'm sure I don't have the whole picture here, but selling string is not going to pave the path to the righteous land my Sudanese brother.
Oh well, we wrapped up our gelato dining experience, found some cool things to buy - my new Papa Francesco tea towel may just top all souvenirs - and headed back to our hotel as the intensity of the rain diminished.
Turns out Jule, Maria, Mom, and Dad had a limited shopping experience cut off by the rain. They found a great local restaurant to have dinner and otherwise just headed back to the hotel. You all know my mom, shopping is what motivates her the most. And while on vacation shopping for others becomes her focus...her sole focus. So she has been focused on buying this for that person and that for this person. Oh well, now that we're away from the big cities, we'll have plenty of local market days ahead... and hopefully less peace and love string salesmen.
Peace and love friends. Sent for free (and a 2 Euro processing fee) to you from me.
Comments
Post a Comment