Milar in Milan (Saturday)

I have just returned from a whirlwind weekend in Milano. My dear friend Kayvan gave me his "Faster Free Night" award to use at the five-star Park Hyatt Milano. (He must be a Hyatt Gold Passport member.)

Saturday morning I boarded the Eurostar at Stazione Santa Maria Novella. The binario (platform) number eventually appeared on the departure board, I validated my ticket and walked towards my traincar. On the way I overheard some Americans trying to locate their traincar. "We're in number two again?", one of them asked. I laughed to myself because there's a common mistake that foreigners make on these trains. It's an easy one to make. For whatever reason, all of the traincars have a large "2" printed on them. But the car numbers are printed very small on the door. So often foreigners with car number two printed on their tickets will board any one of the cars thinking it's number two, and then later find out it's the wrong one. (ed note: the large number "2" on the traincar refers to second class. And first class cars have a large number "1", which I didn't notice. Thanks Paola and Cristina!)

For this journey I treated myself to first class, as it seemed appropriate for a traveler staying at the Park Hyatt. If you want to see non-calcio (soccer) playing Italians move fast (bad attempt at a calcio joke), check out the refreshment cart on the Eurostar. I know this from past experience, so I prepared myself and had to shout a "Scusa!" to order my tea. And for my effort I was also rewarded with biscotti and a towlette before the cart burned rubber and headed for the next traincar.

I took the metro (so easy!) to the Duomo station and upon ascending the escalator to the piazza I was rewarded with a direct view of the cathedral. Surreal, as I vividly remember studying this cathedral with great interest in Art History in college, and it was a poignant moment to actually find myself seeing it in person.

The hotel was just steps from the piazza, adjacent to the galleria. I checked in under Kayvan's name and receive a "Yes, Ms. Milar, we were expecting you. How were your travels?". Oh what a spoiled girl I am!

Check-in was brief and simple. I'm also given a card for complimentary coffee in the morning. (This must be related to Kayvan's status with Hyatt.) A kind figure named Giraldo takes me up to room number 323. (I find this room number to be appropriate as Kayvan lives in the 323 area code. It becomes a little reminder throughout my stay of how I arrived there.) I am asked if "the room is to your liking." Ha! Travertine marble desk, Bang & Olufsen television and sound system, Laura Tonatto bath products (featuring an exclusive fragrance for Park Hyatt Milano), travertine shower and bathtub. I tested the bed, deep-inhaled the bath products, and plugged in my laptop. Then the bell rang. Another kind figure named Paola arrived with my welcome fruit: a yellow plum, grapes and strawberries in a pewter bowl.



Then it was time to check out this smog-filled city. Milan has a reputation of being smoggy, as it is an industrial city. This day was no exception. Kind of like LA. I headed out for an exhibit called Picasso Illustratore at the Palazzo Stelline on Corso Magenta. I took a short detour to walk up Via Dante and found a food stand where I bought an arancino (ed note: Thanks again Paola!) for lunch (breaded, deep-fried risotto with ragu in the center). Then to Picasso. This exhibit featured etchings and lithograpy that Picasso created specifically for publication, in the capacity of an illustrator. I loved this exhibit so much, as it focused on his stampe (prints), and many people aren't aware that he was a master at etching as well. I was pleasantly surprised to find they were also exhibiting his lastre (copper printing plates). First I viewed the prints, then I went to view the lastre. At that point I did what must have looked like a dance, running back and forth between each lastra and stampa. I wanted to purchase the catalog, but ironically the masterful prints were poorly printed in the catalog. But there was another book I found that included a decently reproduced selection of these prints and I purchased it.

On the way back I found a charming bookshop specializing in theatre and music arts. There was a Bob Dylan biography in Italian, with color photos. The pricetag stated 28,000 lire. I picked this up as I am considering doing a print of Dylan.

I had a webcam date with this weekend's benefactor, Kayvan, to do pug chat, so I headed back to the hotel and logged on. This chat served two purposes, 1. to show him my/our room, and 2. to see the pugs. Such fun to see the "piggies" in motion! As a remembrance, I made little pen drawings of the web chat windows on the Park Hyatt stationery and the this morning I mailed the drawings to Kayvan, Vince and the pugs.

I could no longer ignore the bathtub and products, so immediately after the pug chat festivities, it was zen-spa time.



Related links:
> Park Hyatt Milano
> Join Hyatt Gold Passport and earn a free night after two stays
> Picasso Illustratore