Milan's Liberation

The next day in Milan, the sun was shining and it was a glorious relief compared to the downpour of the night before. We set off for the center of town to where Il Duomo is and notices along the way that many shops and places were closed, but we figured it was because it was early.

  The duomo of Milano is gorgeous. It's one of the most important examples of Gothic architecture in Europe (at least that's what our guide book said, although it was in Portuguese because we borrowed it from the shared bookshelf at the PGC, so some of the words we had to guess). It has a ton of gargoyles and flying buttresses. We climbed 250 stairs to get to the roof, and you could see the entire city. This was the best part of the day relaxing in the sun sitting on the roof of the duomo

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 There was a sign at the top which I didn't understand, see if you can decipher it's meaning. If it leads to a treasure of statues, please remember who pointed you in the right direction when you're splitting the reward:

Afterward we walked to the Novecento(900) Museum which houses Italian are from the 20th Century. Lots of Futurism in there, but they also have an amazing neon sculpture by Fontana, 3 rooms of Marino Marini, and some interactive optical art. All for only 3euros!

When we finished wander through 900 we decided to find the restaurant that a fellow intern recommended but it was closed. So we looked for a cafe she also pointed out and it too was closed. So we found cheap panini and wandered around. All the stores we wanted to go into were closed. It turned out to be the Festa della Liberazione and most places were closed for the holiday. Not very convenient when you're only in a city for a day. 

Luckily, PAC was open and it had an exhibition of Marina Abramavic called The Abramovic Method. For about 33.45 seconds we thought she was actually going to be in the exhibition because of what she did in MoMA. But then we realized she invited spectators to be a part of it instead. She's a performance artist and her work is all about challenges: physical pain, endurance, disturbances. A few years ago she realized the mind controls the body so she should challenge her mind instead and so she comes up with these scenarios that involve concentration and meditation. The participants had to sit, stand, and lay down for 30 minutes in each position on different chairs, stands, and tables made of wood with crystal rocks, magnets, and copper in different positions. Then the viewers observed them in person and more closely through binoculars. Do you think you could do this?

We spent the rest of the day relaxing on the grass in a medieval castle. I love that in Italy,  with just a couple of steps or bus rides, you can experience 4 different centuries.