A weekend in Milan

After spending a couple of days in Venice I've spent the weekend in Milan. It's like coming to a capital after staying in a mountain village. Not that Venice is a mountain village, but Milan is really different; cosmopolitan, international, busy, vibrant and a mix of old and new.

I had time for a museum here as well, the Pinacoteca di Brera; a great museum with an interesting collection. Highlights for me were Modigliani's portraits and Carlo Crivellis' "Madonna della candeletta". I actually had a hard time finding the museum. I was in the actual building, but it was dark and I got confused by the signs. A friendly student at the Academy helped me find my way - another great thing about this museum - it's actually a part of a greater whole; not only a museum in itself.

Milan was filled with thousands of people, enjoying a concert outside the Duomo, finding things in the big Christmas market and shopping. What was best in Milan was to sit a couple of hours in the sun in the courtyard of the imposing Castello Sforzesco. I was transported back to a time of knights and dragons (and the warmth from the sun was nice as well).

Castello Sforzesco, Milan (Photo: Norwegianblogger 2005).

Concerning shopping in Milan; I was more than happy when I found a four disc DVD version of the Wim Wender movie "Until the end of the world" in the famous shopping center Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. This is one of my top five favorite movies ever! I've seen it two times, and I loved it both times. The music (U2, Peter Gabriel, Daniel Lanois, Nick Cave, Jane Siberry, K.D. Lang, R.E.M and others) is amazing, the storyline is intriguingg and the movement between continents and different scenery is fascinating. The actors are also among the best; Max von Sydow, William Hurt, Sam Neill, Jeanne Moreau are all top notch actors. I've been hoping to find it on DVD for years, but I thought it hadn't been released. Well, it has - at least in Italy. I'm really looking forward to look at it. I will give you all a report when I've seen it. It was expensive, but if the Director's cut is as good (or better) than the original it's worth every Euro (actually 40 of them).