To begin our journey in the Piemonte region, we took the train to a town called Asti. Serena asked if we had any expectations for Asti and we said “no,” to which she said “good.” She said one of her previous tour groups told her “Asti is nasty,” which I don’t think is true, but Asti is not very exciting. It’s pretty much just a residential town; not a tourist destination. We’re staying in Asti to be near wine country. Micah said going to Asti is like taking a vacation to Worchester. We took a walk around Asti and it has some churches and towers but I didn’t even bother taking pictures. For dinner we went to a local place and the food was good, but the best part was that water was included in the cover charge and they brought us an appetizer for FREE. I haven’t experienced that anywhere else in Italy. I got sliced steak for only 12 euros. 

So on Tuesday we took a bus to the rural village of Castagnole Monferrato. The countryside is very beautiful and covered with farms that make a patched landscape. It was a cloudy day, which was a huge relief from the heat.  

Saw a cat.

Next we met a local winemaker. He showed us the cellar and tools that his family used to use to make wine. The cellar is lined with a certain stone that keeps the temperature constant year-round. He’s not allowed to use the cellar to store wine anymore because of health laws, and he was pretty peeved about that. 

We sat down to chat and try the wine. I got a juice box. I tried a tiny sip of most of the wines and found them to be gross, like all wine. 

There was a very friendly cat at the winery who licked our fingers when we pet her. I spotted another very pretty cat as we were walking away. This is  good time for cat spotting. 

We took the bus back to Asti and we were going to go to a museum but the bus ride made us all feel sick so we just hung out in our rooms. FOMO isn’t a huge problem in Asti. In the evening Micah and I went out and got gelato and it was the least good I’ve had in Italy. Here’s a picture of me in a town demonstrating how ok it is. So yeah…that’s it for Asti. 

The next day we woke up early to get on a train to Milan. On our train the police actually came through and made people put on masks, which was exciting to watch. I think they also handed out fines. Sadly, as soon as the police left, people continued to not wear masks. 

In Milan we went to the Duomo, which is the biggest cathedral in Italy (the one in the Vatican is bigger but it’s not technically in Italy). The Duomo was really impressive to behold because it had so many spires with intricate carvings and statues. Apparently it took 400 years to build and contains over 14,000 statues, which is a record. We got to go on the roof so we got a good look at the spires. 

In the distance we could see a cool bird nest-shaped building and a building that was covered in trees. Milan is such a cool, advanced city. Did you know they’ve been zero-landfill since 1997? I did a project on Milan for my trash class.

Our entrance ticket was mainly for the roof so we only briefly got to go inside. To go inside, women have to cover their knees and shoulders but men don’t. I was covered up and so hot but Jamie, the one guy in our group, got to flaunt his knees in the eyes of GOD. The inside of the church was not as cool as I thought it would be. There was some cool stained glass but most of it was pretty empty, and I was expecting more ornate decorations throughout. 

After the Duomo, we grabbed some lunch and went to the Castello Sforzesco, which is a castle that contains a bunch of mini museums. They say they have like 8 museums but it’s really one museum with a lot of exhibits. The museums were really cool and they had a wide range of stuff: ancient artifacts, art, furniture, armor, musical instruments, and decorate art, which was mostly plates but also some weird stuff like a big crab. 

Funny statue that looked embarrassed. You can’t make out his face very well in the picture but his eyes were bugging out.

I liked this 3 in 1 guitar-like thing.

These pieces of marble art were really impressive because they had so much depth and that must’ve been hard to carve.

Creb.

It only cost 3 euros to get in because we were students, but the price is usually 5. I definitely recommend this if you’re ever in Milan because it’s a lot of museum for 5 eruos. Also I saw FOUR cats in the courtyard. Can you see all of them?

So yea that was Milan. I wish we could’ve spent more time there but it was only a day trip. In the afternoon we got on another train to Lake Como. I don’t have a lot of free time and these posts take like an hour to write so I really hope you’re enjoying them. They’re a labor of LOVE.