Jon Bon Comes to Milan

On Saturday, Asia, Magda, and I made our way to Milan to see a Bon Jovi concert. Yes, I will admit to being a Bon Jovi fan. You try to listen to "It's My Life" without singing along.

We got our tickets a few weeks beforehand.

But because we were spending a bunch of money just to get to Milan, we figured we should take in some of the sights in addition to rockin' out to "Livin' On a Prayer."

The Duomo. Still awesome.

Magda was really pissed off that the outside of the Scala Theatre wasn't pretty. That is the face of extreme disappointment.

And we stopped by the castle.

But mostly, Asia and Magda really wanted to get to the concert.

Side note: another thing that Italy seems to lack--people that clean up the stadiums. San Siro was absolutely disgusting. This spoiled American is far too accustomed to Citizens Bank Park and clean sitting situations.

There he is! I think he's gotten younger since the last time I saw him...

He played for almost 3 1/2 hours straight. We were exhausted afterwords (seemingly more so than Jon Bon who was, you know, doing all the singing and dancing and whatnot).

Happy to show my New Jersey pride all the way in Milan.

-Meri

Brad and Melissa Are Here!

Yay! Brad and Melissa are here!

That is the Duomo in Milan. Wow. Right when you come out of the Metro, you see this. It's pretty incredible.

But, before heading inside, we needed to get some foodsies in us. Rick Steve's recommended this amazing pizza place. I got a prosciutto panino. Oh my god that bread is so amazing.

Melissa is going to hate me for putting this photo online.

When we did go into this Duomo, we lit a candle for our Phillies starting Spring Training!

This was a cool walkway thing.

We went to the Museo Teatrale Alla Scala, except that the theatre part wasn't open that day. I think they were showing a play.

Melissa and Brad sent me to scope out the museum to see if it was worth it. They told me later I did a bad job of deciding. They didn't find it very entertaining.

Well, I was happy. This guy is totally making a grumpy cat face.

Then some cappuccino for my very tired companions. They were not happy when I told them we had to wait until at least 7 pm to eat dinner.

Next, we visited the castle.

It was super cool.

We visited one of the many museums the castle offered.

I love stained glass.

Finally, it was dinner time. Another Rick Steve's recommendation.

To start, prosciutto crudo.

Then, a lovely vegetable soup.

And then three pastas, two of which I failed to capture on my camera. This one was my favorite, with zucchini and baby shrimp.

The next day we took the train into Bologna, which I like a whole lot more than Milan. Milan reminds me of New York City too much.

Bologna is like Modena, just on a much, much larger scale.

The guy in charge of Melissa and Brad's breakfast is awesome. He made us espresso. I want to be his best friend. It stinks that he's in a different city.

Another castle-y type thing in the main Piazza.

More fun architecture.

One of the two towers of Bologna.

I left Brad and Melissa around 5 to catch a train back to Modena. I hope they enjoyed a relaxing aperitivo and dinner bolognese.

I was more than happy to bring back to my room some goodies that Melissa brought me from home.

Peanut butter, how I've missed you.

Don't get me wrong, nutella is great, just not 100% of the time.

Melissa made me these absolutely delicious cookies. I've almost finished them already.

My all-time favorite tea. I enjoyed my first cup today.

I should be seeing them again on Thursday when they visit Modena. We will eat gnocco fritto and many grapes.

-Meri