We started today with breakfast at the hotel, which was quite different than a typical American breakfast. There were a variety of pastries, cold cuts, cheeses, and even a Nutella dispenser. After breakfast, the whole group participated in a Italian crash course session with a professional actress. We learned a lot of key Italian words and phrases, such as asking simple questions and counting to 20. Many of the ways we learned the language were through little games that forced us to repeat the words until we pronounced them correctly. It was a great experience and a fun way to be introduced to the Italian language.
After the crash course, we went out on our own for lunch. A group of girls and I went to a cute little café near our hotel. I ordered a caprese salad, which consists of lettuce, tomato slices, and mozzarella cheese. I covered it in balsamic dressing and olive oil and it was really good, but the portion was way too big so I couldn't finish it.
After lunch, we met back at the hotel to go on a walking tour of the city. Our first stop was the famous Duomo cathedral, which was absolutely breathtaking. It was almost surreal seeing it at first, because we walked up from our subway stop and the cathedral was literally right there. Our tour guide walked us through the inside of the cathedral. Even though there were many different styles of architecture present in the cathedral, it all came together beautifully. Everything was built with symbolism in mind. For example, there are 52 columns in the cathedral to represent the 52 weeks of the year. And around each column, there were 8 statues of saints to represent the number of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who the Duomo is dedicated to. The walls were also adorned with beautiful stained glass windows. The tour guide explained that the light passed through some of the windows differently because when the windows had to be replaced, they used regular glass that they painted, rather than real stained glass. On a similar note, the cathedral is constantly undergoing renovations, and some of the bricks and marbles were significantly more white in color than the rest. This is because they were recently replaced and hadn't yet been grayed by time. But I think the most memorable part of the cathedral was a statue of a guy who skinned himself alive and then wore the skin like a robe.
After the Duomo, we walked through the Galleria. It almost felt more like a museum than a shopping center, because all the stores were expensive brands that I felt like I couldn't even afford to go in them! After that, our tour guide took us to one of her favorite stores, a specialty boutique that and made all of their products with crocodile leather. They had everything from purses, wallets, and belts to even shoes, baseball caps, and cell phone cases. We were all amazed to learn that everything cost at least a few thousand euros. One jacket that we were allowed to try on cost over 30k euros, which is the equivalent of one year college tuition!
After going to a few more shops, our last stop was an enormous castle/fort. Like the Duomo, the castle had a mix of different kinds of architecture. Two of the towers were circular and the other two were rectangular. This is because after the two circular towers were built, cannons and gunpowder became commonplace, so the rectangular towers were built to provide better protection from the cannon's shots. The castle was even surrounded by a moat, although it was more like a valley of grass than a surrounding of water. Overall, it was a great tour and I learned a lot.
After the tour ended, a group of girls and I decided to stay in the area for dinner, which turned out to be the best decision ever. We found an amazing restaurant called Obicà. They gave us all fresh bread and mozzarella balls covered in balsamic to start. I ordered potato gnocchi in a walnut cream sauce and it was the best thing I've ever eaten. Others ordered pizza that was also really good. As we headed back to the hotel, we ended the night by listening to a street performer. It was the perfect end to a great day.
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