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Expo 15 – Milan, Italy
The United States exhibit at Expo 15 in Milan, Italy
A selfie at Expo 15 in Milan, Italy – Wayne & Kathy were there!
Today was World’s Fair Day as we trained to Milan. Milan is noticeably upscale and fashionable. It is Italy’s banking and commercial heart, and it is known worldwide as a fashion and design center. Expo 15 is a huge attraction to the city with countries from Angola to Zaire participating by hosting beautiful and unique event buildings at the Expo site.
The theme of the Expo is food production and sustainability. Kathy and I are on stimulation overload. The site is quite well-organized, and the layout is simple and easy to navigate in spite of the large crowds of people from around the world. However, the lights, the sounds, the fountains, the sculptures and the buildings are amazing. Besides the nations that are participating, many corporations involved in food production, as well as Italian corporations, have inviting displays and buildings. Almost every country has food that is indicative of that country, as well as flowers and plants. Products, mainly related to food, are for sale.
Just a few random sites or observations: Ten high fashion models using the main concourse (that stretches about half a mile) as a runway; every state/region of Italy hosting a restaurant in the Italy section offering food for which they are known; Israel having a slanted roof on their building on which were planted the crops grown in that country; large screens, worthy of Times Square, featuring food from around the world; countries in which coffee is a major export grouped together and each offering it to drink; interesting and large light sculptures in the central site piazza; the magnitude and scope of the displays; the variety of building designs quilted together to make a whole; Vatican City’s “Give us our daily bread” quote on the entry and the huge plexiglas, “Rebuild Nepal,” offering box filled with generous monetary donations.
I have never been to a world’s fair and may never again, but I am glad Kathy and I were able to spend time at this one. WEG – Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Expo 15 – Milan, Italy
Expo 15 – Milan, Italy
Expo 15 – Milan, Italy
Expo 15 – Milan, Italy
Money, Power, Art — Florence
The Stradivarius Red Violin in the Accademia in Florence
And enjoy it we did! Dan Berg and I spent the afternoon at Santa Croce, a beautiful church that is the burial ground of Italy’s heroes and heroines over the centuries. We saw the graves (don’t think of an American cemetery, think huge sarcophagus of marble and marble floor markers) of such famous people as Galileo, Dante, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Florence Nightingale, Marconi and the list goes on and on. We also saw the Donatello Christ and the Cimabue crucifix.
Our whole group took a tour to the Academia where the main attraction is Michelangelo’s 17 foot high sculpture of David envisioned as being just before David kills the giant Goliath. Chiseled from one piece of white marble, the artist’s realism is eye-catching. Bone structure and blood vessels are clearly visible. Michelangelo personally believed that sculpture was the highest art form, and David is his greatest achievement. Along the way, we saw a Stradivarius viola and the famed instrument maker’s “red” violin–both the most valuable instruments of their kind.
In the late afternoon, we attended a guided tour of the great Uffizzi Gallery. Here were many of the works of art that most people have seen in one way or another. Allen and Rhonda saw Boticelli’s “Venus” and immediately recognized that a copy of that famous piece hung in their bedroom at home. The great artists’ works hang throughout the 45 room museum. The halls are filled with ancient Greek and Roman statuary. It is simply mind-boggling.
The evening ended at an “Italy as Italy can be” trattoria (local family owned eateries where food is high quality, but priced reasonably–found across Italy) where the food and wine were excellent. Veal stew, roasted rabbit, ravioli with white truffle sauce, chef’s specialty meatballs and fried chicken were main courses. We strolled to our hotel near the cathedral in the cool relaxing evening air. And the day was done. WEG
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
The Stradivarius Red Violin in the Accademia in Florence
Rhonda & Allen Krahn in front of Botticelli’s famous “Birth of Venus” painting in Florence’s Uffizi Gallery
Ponte Vecchio Bridge as seen from a window in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy
Michelangelo’s Sarcophagus in the Sante Croche, Florence, Italy
Studying the menu before selecting the trattoria in which we would eat our evening meal in Florence
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