Milano in the Afternoon

Spouting from a water fountain, a knot at the end of a thread that ran under the road to across the street in front of the main train station through a needle. Contemporary art in a historical city to symbolize the world capital of fashion, the colors symbolizing diversity (or whatever the tour guide lady said, her accent was adoringly thick but difficult to understand).

another peek

Along the way, it wasn't just the weather that was hot!

Ever faithful to hit the most popular tourist spots, there was the famous Opera House

and across the street was the Galleria,

a giant mall featuring only the best

they have a McCafe inside, just like Hong Kong! Once we walked straight across, we arrived at the center of Milan, the Duomo di Milano;

with hundreds of gothic spiresand Our Lady at the top, once the highest point of Milan.

Inside was just as impressive, but we were not allowed inside if we were showing our shoulders and/or knees. Males were not allowed to wear hats

Across the square stood

the ever great Napoleon, who conquered this region of Lombardy once. His presence is well known in Europe
and not just by humans! But it's not specifically because of Napoleon. Random guys would stand around the statue all day, holding a palm of bird seed, they would come up to tourists, take their hand, pour seeds into it and gently raise it up so the birds would flock to them. A perfect picture opportunity. I didn't get my picture taken, we were told not to trust a lot of people. We were all afraid they would start asking us for money afterwards.

When we finished touring the Castello Sforzesco earlier, this guy suddenly grabbed my friend's arm and tied a rainbow string on her wrist like a bracelet. It was alarming since I was standing and walking right next to her. We were lucky we had a program assistant there to tell him off, but these guys were all over the city, unexpectedly giving tourists bracelets and then ask for a price. Most of them were Africans.

Europe has immigration problems too. I saw a news segment on BBC about phony football scouts in Africa saying they're looking for the best players to play in Europe, they'd sign up a family, take all their money so their son could go to Europe and "train" there, fly them over here, and leave them. That's just one of the many ways they move north. I'm sure many come up here looking for a better life. Is this better than what they left behind? It's like Mexicans in California. Am I a monster for discussing this but not making any action for a better change? I can talk all this talk, but it never means I really care.