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Milan, Italy
She says I always do the same things over and over
In the center of Milano- between to the Duomo, its gloriously empty piazza, La Scala and some occasionally exclusive shops- the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shelters wayward pigeons and tourists alike while trying to distract them with its decadent cd shops and cafes and McDonalds, all underneath one of the finest ceilings Italy has to offer.
In a trip often haunted by ghosts of past travel, my start in Milan felt like a continuation of my time in Italy in 2000. My first day in Milan echoed my last one there two years ago- the same hotel, the same breakfast, the same city, the same suspiciously overcast weather. A wonderfully comfortable start to what turned out to be (despite my better judgment) yet another efficiently compressed railpass blitz.
This is Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the same view as the previous slide, only slightly pulled back and under some gracious daylight, as wayward pigeons and tourists alike find themselves distracted by all of those decadent cd shops and cafes and McDonalds.
Nothing on earth can prepare you for your first visit to Milano Centrale, Milan's massive train station, a fascist temple built under the unforgiving reign of Benito Mussolini. It is a world of almost scaleless stone vaults that lead to even higher, scaleless stone vaults that lead to an even larger steel train shed. This is a picture of the smaller stone vault, or more accurately, as much of the smaller stone vault that my 22mm lens could capture in one picture.
An hour north and a world away from Milan, the wonderfully quiet town of Varenna basks in its off season glow as Lake Como and its faithful waters quietly batter that brave shore.
Additional views as stone and stair climb away from the gracious lake and into the Alps, past fading walls, past disorganized plants, past a world that probably doesn't understand how lucky it is.
