Eid in Italy

Beth and I were supposed to go to Egypt this year along with two groups of students from NYU Abu dhabi and their professors. Unfortunately, due to the ongoing instability there, we had to cancel the trip. With little time left to plan a vacation we needed to come up with a quick alternative plan. We considered Sri Lanka and St. Petersburg, Russia, but settled on Milan, Italy because it offered the best combination of proximity, inexpensive airfare, no visa requirements for US citizens, food, and stuff to do.

Rather than staying in a hotel, we tried a web service called www.airbnb.com. People post their own homes and apartments and you get the benefit of a fully functional home with a bit more character than a corporate hotel room. We lucked out and found a great host and a great apartment. We were located close to the metro and the main train stations inside a neighborhood with some very nice restaurants.

Unfortunately, the quality of Italy’s weather did not live up to the quality of its food. It rained all day, every day we will in Milan. More often than not, it was a light drizzle, but it was just enough to damped the mood as well as the streets. We also go to see a little less than would would have liked, simply because some sites are closed on Sunday or Monday.

We started our visit of Milan at the Duomo. It’s the central point of the city and by far its most imposing landmark. Inside, there must have been a dozen glass tombs for religious leaders who seemed to have been mummified. While some wore silver masks over their faces, others were fully exposed for everyone to see.

We spent our second day in Turin and we didn’t even get to see the Shroud. But then again, apparently no one gets to see it. Inside the cathedral, they have a short 5-minute video describing the shroud and theirs a picture of part of it, but that’s it. Since we were supposed to be in Egypt, we felt that a visit to the Egyptian Museum (apparently one of the best in the world) was fitting. The collection was impressive and was a nice excuse to get out of the rain for a bit.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 4th, 2011 at 12:29 pm. It is filed under Vacations and tagged with Duomo, Egyptian Museum, Itlay, Milan, Mozzarella, Shroud, Turin. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.