Milano

June 23rd I will be meeting Anthony at the Milan airport, he will have been on an all night flight so we are going to try to get a comfortable hotel near the sites we want to see; i.e.near the Duomo, Teatro alla Scalla, and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele. We have been advised that we should go ahead and splurge for a hotel while in Milan because the hostels are usually sub-par and nice hotels can be found for reasonable prices.

Here are the options I have found (leaning towards the first):

Residence Corso Italia $115

Very Nice, 10 min walk from duomo

King Mokinba Hotel $130

Decent, great location

Originally I was thinking that Milan did not have as many sites I wanted to see as other cities, but the more I research it, the more historic beautiful sites I find. The blogger "sushi75" from the Lonely Planet website is a Milan expert and took the time to recommend some fabulous walks from the Duomo here. I am definitely going to be doing some of these walks!

Hopefully Anthony will have been able to sleep on the plane and we can have a full day of exploring Milan the Saturday he gets in. As of now, we are planning to only stay one night in Milan, get up early, enjoy un cafe and a morning stroll in Milan, then taking the train, head onward!

Our general plan as of now is as follows: 

Milan --> Verona/Venice --> Bologna --> Genoa/Cinque Terre --> Florence --> Sardinia --> Rome

Quite a bit of traveling in our 2.5 week stay, so we may be forced to edit a city or two out in order to fully enjoy ourselves in each cite. Anthony and I have taken the night off of work tonight to set in stone our official plans and book our lodging. So those real plans are soon to follow. 

Study Abroad Leg - General Plans

My first trip to Europe is just around the corner and will be here before I know it! I am going with Arizona State University through the Herberger Institute for Design. Here are the plans for this portion of the trip as laid out by our group leader. 

(G=group; I=individual)

Sat. June 2:           Depart US for Barcelona

Sun. June 3:          Arrive at Barcelona Airport – Meeting Point

                                Travel to City, Program Orientation, Barcelona Orientation

                                Lodging: Hotel Bertran

Mon. June 4:         Barcelona

Barcelona city structure – G

Barcelona Pavillion – Mies van der Rohe - G

View from National Palace – G

Bull Fight Arena Retrofit

L’Eixample, Barri Gotic-Gothic Quarter and Las Ramblas - I

Botanical Garden

Fundacion de Joan Miro

Olympic facilities

Tues. June 5:        Barcelona                 

                                Temple Expiadori de la Sagrada Familia – G

Parc Guell - G

                                Parc Diagonal - I

                               Barcelonetta – new parks and plazas – I

Wed. June 6:        Barcelona

                               Other sites:

                               Montserrat (outside of Barcelona)

                               Ruta del Modernisme (Casa Mila by Gaudi)

                               New urban architecture

                               Besos District

                               TMB Park

                               New Horta Bus Depot

                               Santa Catarina Market                       

Thurs. June 7:     Barcelona to Madrid

                              Iguadala Cemetery – G

                              Lodging:  Etap Hotel Madrid           

Fri. June 8:          Madrid

                              Madrid urban river restoration - G

                              Matadero Madrid – 

                              Madrid Civil Courts of Justice Building - I

                              Caixaforum – I

                              Prado Renovation 

                              Reina Sofia Museum

Sat. June 9:         Madrid

                              Eco-boulevard in Vallecas – G                       

Sun. June 10:     Madrid

                              Free Day

Mon. June 11:    Madrid to San Sebastian

                              Salburua Urban Wetlands, Vitoria-Gasteiz - G

                              Lodging: Hotel Silken Amara Plaza

Tues. June 12:   San Sebastian

                              Day trip to Bilbao

                              Guggenheim Musem - G   

Wed. June 13:    San Sebastian

                              Free Day

Thurs. June 14:  San Sebastian to Avignon

                              Medieval City of Carcassonne – G

                              Lodging: Hotel Etap Avignon Centre

Fri. June 15:        Avignon

                              Canoe trip to Pont du Gard - G

Sat. June 16        Avignon

                              Arles City Market - G

                              Roman Amphitheater - G

Sun. June 17:     Avignon

                              Day trip to Provence villages, Les Baux, Roussillon and Gordes - G

Mon. June 18:     Avignon to Venice

                               Lodging: Hotel Reiter                                   

Tues. June 19:     Venice

                               Piazza San Marco and Campanile - G

                               Doge Palace (Palazzo Ducale) - I

                               Basilica San Marco, Grand Canal and Rialto Bridge - I           

                               Biennale

Wed. June 20:     Venice to Cinque Terre/La Spezia

                               Brion-Vega Cemetery (Scarpa) – G

                               Lodging: Hotel Genova

Thurs. June 21:   Cinque Terre/La Spezia

                               Day trip to 5 villages

                               Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, Monterosso al Mare – G/I

Fri. June 22:         Cinque Terre/La Spezia

                               Free Day

                               Portofina

                               Pisa

                               Bologna

Sat. June 23:       Cinque Terre (La Spezia) to Milan Airport or other destinations

Here, at the Milan Airport, I will meet up with Anthony and our Italian adventures begin! This is where major planning on our part needs to happen....