My Affair With the Duomo!

Photographs: The Duomo. A picture of Amy, Brett and Annie sitting along side the Navigli.

August 25, 2007

Friday night would be the first time I would meet the Duomo, the beautiful cathedral that sits in the center of Milan. I half believed that I truly was not living in Milan, after not seeing its most famous landmark. Feeling as if my true introduction to Milan should be a special one, I decided to wear my beautiful black sequined v-necked sun-dress and my very high healed patent leather sandals. Even after hearing there would be some walking involved in our tour, I still was not deterred. When questioned about my comfort, I honestly replied, “Tonight is not about comfort. For, I am meeting the Duomo, and I want it to be love at first sight.” (Sorry, Empire State building!)

I was not disappointed. As I stood in the center of the piazza staring at the massive Duomo, I felt a feeling of disbelief in the fact that this city is my new home. My smile was grand, my walk was (hopefully) graceful as I was dazzled by the scene before me. I just walked around the perimeter, gazing my adoration. The galleria with its mosaic tiled floor and its arched glass ceiling beckoned me with a piano concerto playing quietly in the background of my mind. I hardly recognized the people around me. It was if I had finally arrived in Italy and I was now being formally introduced.

Our dinner group of new and old teachers weaved our way from the Duomo to the Navigli. The Navigli is what is left of Milan’s canal system, which was designed by Leonardo DiVinci himself. Milan once had a huge network of canals much like Venice has today. However, when Napoleon’s troops invaded Italy, he took to the task of filling in most of the canals. The Navigli is the only section of canals in Milan still in existence today.

Cafes, restaurants and bars line the Navigli. The weather was perfect to sit on the stools next to the canal’s edge and share bottles of wine and beer among friends. It was here that I first met people who were not employees of the school. The street lamps reflected a warm glow in the water and we all found ourselves talking with people we hardly knew. Yet, there was a tone of familiarity among us as if we had known each other for a very long time. At about 1 AM, Jenn, one of our orientation leaders, led me down the edge of the canal, so I could try my first gelato. I tried Baccio and and hazelnut piled on a small sugar cone. There was something so heartwarming to realize that I was living exactly in that moment. In that beautiful night, beside DiVinci’s canals, I wanted nothing other than the gelato that was in my hand, the high heels and dress that I was completely enjoying and the friends I was starting to know. It was nothing short of glorious.

It being August, and it being completely late, we had to take a taxi home. Jenn our fantastic tour guide, led the three other new recruits from Opera, to the arches, to hail a cab. Brett, Leah and I followed Jenn a little like children with none of our Italian being up to par. Our Italian cab driver was happy to give us our first Italian lesson. Brett was in the front seat. The cab driver was so interested in us that he ended up missing his turn and stopped running the fare clock. When discussing a restaurant nearby, he struggled finding a word for an animal this particular restaurant served. He clearly did not enjoy this dish. After making many interesting noises and hand gestures, none of which remotely corresponded with any animal I had ever heard of or seen before. Leah, Jenn and I shouted from the backseat, “Duck!” “Goose!” “Lamb!” “rabbit?” “bahhh bah”. The cab driver just shook his head, “No, No, No”. Then, took us out a deserted road and pointed to a gate with a sign and on the sign was a an outline of a frog. Frog legs! The restaurant served frog legs and the cab driver hated them. We finally made it back to our respective apartments with giant smiles on our faces and two new vocabulary words "rana" means frog and "piedini" means leg. We said good night, only after promising that we would someday eat at that restaurant. It was after 3 AM, and we were heading to Bellagio in the morning.