Western Stereotype?

I went into a tourist store called "Gadgets" that was in The Galleria. Up on the third floor they have little stationary items and figurines and right there seemingly out of place is this "Western" blowdryer. Who on earth would buy this at $50EU!!! Maybe gun-totin' Texans who left their gun-racks back home? Regardless, judging from the picture on the box this thing looks like a relic from the 50's.

Itali-Cuban Experience

Saturday, Feb. 4, 2006. Here are some more pics from my weekend trot around the city. I got a pedometer the day before at a sporting goods store called Decathlon (the local sportizi place). According to my pedometer I travelled 19074 steps and walked 6.33 miles. The top photo is the top of The Galleria.

The middle pic is near Brera, by the Santa Maria de Carmine cathedral. The bottom photo is taken from Piazza Cordusio. It was late afternoon on Saturday and everyone was just shopping that day. There were all kinds of street merchants too. Everyone tries to do shopping on Saturday since Sunday most places close.

So....it turns out there is a Cuban restaurant near where I am working! So me and my co-workers trot down to the restaurant and there it was on Via Leonardo da Vinci! It's called Tocororo which is the national bird of Cuba. Even though they tried to make it all "authentic" with pictures of famous socialists like Che and Fidel, the food was actually pretty decent. This more than makes up for the Mexican restaurant I went too that I am trying to recover from. Ciao for now!!

Olympic Torch Festival in Milan

The Olympic Torch festival was held in Milan on January 29th, 2006 at Piazza Duomo. The weather was a bit chilly but there was a huge turnout. The torch festival's last stop was in Milan and next stop is presumably Torino which is about about an hour and a half away. The festival featured music by Italian artists. Unfortunately I didn't know any of them but the crowd did as they were singing along with the musicians. What is Milan without a fashion show? Well there were no less than two featured shows by designers I have never heard of either. Next to the Duomo there were two tent areas sponsored by Coca-Cola and Samsung. The Coca-Cola tent had some PS2 games and an area where you could pose in front of fake Olympic backgroup and you held a fake torch. I stood in line for about 5 minutes and then I realized that I still haven't figured out the Italian queuing system so I was still last in line after 5 minutes...

On to the Samsung tent....actually the line for this was even longer than the Coca-Cola one so I didn't even bother! They were giving away free Espressos in there and considering how cold it was I can understand why it was so busy!