ITALIA milano (mmm japanese new years!)
i swear that NOTHING can beat japanese new year food! it is tradition in japan to prepare a special meal for new years called “osechi.” made up of everything from seafood and beans to pickled vegetables, every item symbolises something (for example, black beans for good health) and is prepared in the days leading up to the first of january. another traditional dish and also my favorite is ozo-ni. the ingredients differ depending on which region you are from, but it is basically soup with mochi. my aunt’s a great cook so everything was so delicious that i seriously ate it all day everyday. even after a whole week of consuming the leftovers, i was loving it!
it was so cold in milano that one of my first questions to sara was if it usually snows this time of year. she was like,”no, it hasn’t snowed in a while…” so it was a nice surprise when it started snowing the following day!
did you know you can buy animal tickets for the trains? i had seen passengers with their dogs but assumed they just brought them on board…but actual animal tickets? awesome. i found this out when i decided to bring bell along for my day trip to lake como. because it was snowing (ok i admit not even that much…but snow is still exciting), i had this brilliant idea of going and taking scenic photos of the snow-capped mountains. was i ever wrong! i didn’t think of the fact that it would be really cold and windy, and there wasn’t enough for it to stick around the water. boo. so the photos are not of “snow-capped mountains at lake como,” but “bell’s trip to lake como.”
ITALIA milano
for new years, i hopped over to milano to see my relatives. i can’t believe how close everything is in europe. i mean, the flight was only a hour and a half! i was last there in july but considering they are so close i really need to visit more often.
buying my ticket to the city was kind of funny since i wanted to find out which was cheaper-the bus or train. i was trying to ask the lady at the counter with a mix of spanish and italian when she just looks at me and says, “the bus is cheaper and leaving now.” i was like, “oh, grazie.” at least i tried.
i think i mentioned this before, but i really like the milano centrale station. it is really magnificent. so it made me really happy to see it again as it also meant i was just minutes away from my relatives!