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Despite the lack of photos on my blog, i really do love to take them. I just dont really think to take them in the city where i am living, and hate to stand out as a tourist.
In milan the prime feeding ground for tourists is piazza duomo. It seems that when tourists come to Milan they only have a few things on their list, convienently located close together so that they dont have to wander out into the big, dangerous city. This list includes the duomo, the scala (theatre), the castle, and the last supper. oh, and i almost forgot, shopping. But this doesnt take them away from the center either.
Sitting on the steps of the duomo during an afternoon can be fun. There is great people watching to be had and you can hear countless languages go past you. It can also be fun to laugh at the tourists as the street venders corner them. There are two types of venders at the duomo. Type one is the type you find all over the city trying to hand you religeous books, or sell you items which may actually be useful in some cases. The second type is the kind you find only where tourists are, and they bother only tourists. Trying to give you the "free" friendship bracelets, or sell you pigeon food so you can stand like an idiot covered in pigeons (not to say it isnt fun - yes, i did it in venice several years ago). Now I was never bothered by the second type, only the first type. They seem to know the difference between locals and tourists and stick to their given territory. This made me happy as I got extremely annoyed by the ones who attacked tourists (even though it can be funny, one time I actually told one off as he was trying to tie a bracelet on some poor guy's wrist. the guy obviously had no idea what was going on. guess i was in a bad mood that day....)
During my year in Milan I never walked around with my camera at the duomo, except for the occasional concert or 3am drunken walk home, and even then it was only to take photos of friends, never of the duomo itself. Yet I was determined before I left to take a few photos. So on my last night in the city I stopped by the duomo with K before heading to an aperativo. I painfully took my camera out of my purse and started to point it at the duomo. All the sudden at my side their was a man trying to sell me bird food. Before I had even taken one foto. Now K and I werent speaking English, we werent looking around in awe, the only thing we were doing different than normal was that we had a camera. Typically these guys will bug you for awhile before they leave. This one however was smart. He got the hint from my glare and my simple yet firm "i dont want any" and left. I took one foto and then my phone rang, and I spent the next 10 min talking to a friend, loudly in italian. no one came up, until I closed my phone, at which point someone else immediatly came up. I wasnt quite as nice this time, and was a bit annoyed. it was ridiculous after all. I had spent all year there, yet as soon as i want to take a photo I get bugged. Well, as this guy approached me with his handful of food i didnt even let him say anything. Instead I looked right at him and (in italian) said "Dont you think if I wanted some of your fucking food I would have come to you and bought it?"He turned around and left, mumbling something behind him. And we did the same thing. I'd had enough playing tourist for one day.
Instead off we went to our aperativo, one foto taken, and decided to come back that night when we wouldnt be bothered taking photos. | | 
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2 Comments:
Nice to see some photos of Milan at last.
Don't you just love being bugged by all the strange people around Duomo?!
Best regards from NY!
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