The colors of the island were still so bright as if they were tattooed in front of my eyes, I wasn’t ready to get into autumn clothes or any clothes in that sense. But three phone calls and two flights later, I landed in the pouring rain Milan morning.
Every country has color in my head, and Italy is forever this warm shade of yellow. It tastes like summer and sounds like an Opera. And Milan, to me, is the lady in a fine black Armani dress. Everybody dresses up in Milan. In the light of early morning, I saw a Granny dressed in this trench coat, silk scarf, stockings and kitten heels, and she’s just about to go grocery shopping.
I like every city that still has trams, that every single joint has tasty food, that inevitably you will pick up some weight when you leave.
The last time I landed in this city was a beautiful early summer afternoon four years ago, and on my way to the airport, joined by a very dreaming sunset around 9 pm, the radio was playing “Romeo and Juliet” by Dire Stratis. So my memory of this city is sweet and romantic, with a warm shade of yellow, the Italian yellow.
Now I’m back here, every morning on my way to work, my lunch break, coffee break, and the evening walk, I snap the little things to refresh the memory, to remember, because I know, this is another city, that I will miss, even when I am still here.
I’d be honest with you, even though I did scale down the size of big cities in Europe, I am still very much amazed by how tiny the whole city is and how great it feels to just walk and wander around and you can get to pretty much anywhere by your own feet. But fear not, if you are not the type of person who likes to walk all day long, Milan has a pretty good public transportation system where you can take tram, metro and train to get to your destinations. Tram would always be my first choice on a raining day.
Milan rains a lot in autumn, the typical Mediterranean weather. I like it when it rains, it adds a moist thin layer to the yellow, more mysterious. To add more mystery, I decided to see the Cathedral of Milan.
From where I am staying to Duomo is very close and I finally paid a visit. It was raining too, and way too many people, and even more pigeons. I got people who’re selling things there forced me to stand still and called what I know all the pigeons to my arm and ask me to feed them. And just when I am busy crying and freaking out they tied a colorful African string made of thread on my wrist and asking for money, the string was tied up so tight that there’s no way you can return it in one piece, so I smiled at them and said I have WeChat or Alipay if you take any, and they were asking for cash only and I just shrug and they smiled, and said it’s fine, it’s okay. Oh the hell is fine, I didn’t want this ugly thing in the first place to be on my wrist and you forced me to take it and ask for money, I really don’t understand this kind of invasive selling tricks and left that place immediately. The Cathedral is still beautiful and majestic though.
Til this day, I still have this ugly string on my wrist, only I call it the lucky charm now, ha.
Thanks to the jet lag, I had some really quiet nights and early mornings alone with the city. Even it would rain later that day, the sunrise from my window was pretty epic each day. I didn’t document many, but the ones I did, they remind me of that every day is a brand new day and there are so many possibilities and chances lay ahead of you.
Watching the dark slowly disappear and that golden layer appears above and becomes larger and larger, I would have this warmth rise within and that I know, as small as humans are, it is still a wonderful thing to be alive and to be here, wherever you are, to have this life, to walk the path, to make mistakes, to learn from them, to laugh, to cry, to dance, to love, to over and beyond.
All photos by me shot in Milan, Italy.