Martin's Milan Blog

Forget Bond St, Rodeo Drive and the like, Via Montenapoleone is the shopping street, in the fashion capital of the world. Took a walk along it last week following fashion week and saw lots of hyper stylish people, lots of men with 'man bags' and a few over the top cars alongside all the major label stores such as Armani, Gucci, Valentino and some non-italian labels.

As I told people before I moved, this is Milan, I need to dress better and spend more on clothes to be an unemployed student here than to be a Manager in Sunnyvale.

Following a quick shop in the center we took a walk over to the various boutiques near Tricinese which is a kind of cross between Camden and Covent Garden with lots of more affordable but ultra trendy shops.  As we were looking around we caught site of a number of people watching Mischa Barton (pic below) pick out some threads in a store nearby - she had big hair and according to Silvia too much make up, and must have hung around after the end of the fashion week but didn't seem to have been eating too many of the local snacks...

- 

Posted by martin4878 at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (5798) | TrackBacks (0)

So by far the most popular event in Milan is the evening Aperitivo held at (it seems) every bar and cafe across the city.  Since I've been working most nights so far I've sadly managed only a couple, but this weekend I got to take my revenge and try a few nearby places with Silvia.

Aperitivo basically involves paying for a couple of drinks ideally cocktails and included in the price is a buffet of snacks and treats, and then you need to go and pile up your plate which everyone does in a remarkably un-restrained fashion - especially suprising considering everyone here is wafer-thin! Being Italy the food is pretty good and ranges from hot and cold snacks, pasta, focaccia salumi and other items to salad and fruits.

Crash - Porta Romana - very trendy bar, cool decor, good drinks, glass floors mean you can literally look down on people from the floor above, good snacks and a bit more space than fresco art, door/face policy later on in the evening.

Fresco Art - Porta Romana - busy, famous for its aperitivo and while a good selection of items felt a little underwhelming

Posted by martin4878 at 08:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (2645) | TrackBacks (0)

Well I didn't pick all of these myself :-) but did spend a great day picking grapes at Silvia's parents for this years wine, sadly they don't think it will be a good year due to all the rain but certainly should be enough picked for this years vintage.  Next year if interested in joining please send me an email - payment is a hearty lunch with some of last years harvest to drink, however its tough work - everyones backs are suffering a lot since the picking!

Posted by martin4878 at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (3383) | TrackBacks (0)

As I'm soon to be offically a student for the first time in a long time I decided I need to find cheap/good places to eat incase I put the Martin & Silvia family out of business, however I soon remembered I was in Italy and surely they have this stuff covered. Here are a couple of things I've found so far near the centre of Milan....

Luini Panzerotti - nr Duomo

Panzerotti is like a mini calzone, fried only in the case of the fantastic Mozerella & Tomato version but oven cooked for the regular versions.  Luini is near the duomo and has a queue every day half way up the street for the little pieces of goodness 2-3 euro's each and plenty of room in the street to finish them off.

Princi - for anything else

Another awesome place near the duomo is Princi which serves everything from Focaccia to cakes and fantastic olive bread snacks  and the recent internal redesign gets the thumbs up from the Italian contingent.  More info http://www.princi.it/

Posted by martin4878 at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (4672) | TrackBacks (0)

So there are festivals I'm familiar with (Radiohead in a field for example) and the odd wine, beer and/or local bands day every so often but this was a different league all together - Italian food festivals in Italy, wow this was serious food and very good fun. 

Started with a parade of floats, cars and people dressed in 'traditional' clothing to remind everyone of the old technology and where they come from.

Followed by over 50 stands serving local food and plenty of the local wine, add in a few thousand people, some musicians and more local wine and you've got a serious day out even the weather couldn't spoil.  Everything from fresh pasta and deserts to fried frogs and ox tongue!

More info http://www.festivaldellesagre.it/ 

Posted by martin4878 at 04:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (3857) | TrackBacks (0)

Well after just over 9 years I’m back doing something I never ever thought I’d be doing and ‘studying again’! First day in-class was started in amusing fashion by an elongated prank from the 33rd class (mine is the 34th) who are finishing their course now. I won’t spoil it for anyone considering the course, but suffice to say it lead us to genuinely believe the class was run like a military training camp and our class contained strippers, porn stars and mafia bosses!

Rest of the day was spent in classes with a high level overview of accounting, on the second we started on micro-economics.  Both classes despite my initial reservations have been excellent so far, they explained complicated models in ways I (and other non-finance people) could understand them and provided a good base to build on over coming weeks.

The 34th class is the first SDA Bocconi MBA class to be only taught in English (usually they split the class into English & Italian) and last just12 months rather than 15 months more details at SDA Bocconi's site

Posted by martin4878 at 06:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (2867) | TrackBacks (0)

Spent a good couple of days near the beach at Varazze catching up on some much needed sleep before starting my MBA course and being back at work for Y!.  However a good language faux pas I made while ordering drinks near the beach, after reading a sign about hot showers, I tried to order ‘Acqua Calda’ or hot water from the bar in 30+ degree heat – providing great amusement to all concerned!

Posted by martin4878 at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (4310) | TrackBacks (0)

Pic of Silvia's apartment in Porta Romana in Milan our new home! After looking at some other options this Thursday both to rent and to buy in Milan it seems the market is following the rest of Europe and set to potentially keep going with increasingly high prices to rent and dropping prices to sell, we decided this is the best place to stay rather than trying to find something new for now. 

The area is close to everything and the apartment is just two stops on the underground from the Duomo so is easy to get around the main city. While not quite as posh as the Marina in San Francisco, the area has some good shopping & good restaurants and bars that are all a bit more affordable compared to the rest of the city.

The apartment is pretty small compared to our last few places at around 53 sq meters but actually larger than other apartments we saw at higher prices and quite typical for central Milan. We've got some work to do & we'll see if we can extend the upstairs ceiling so I can fit a bit better and make the interior a bit more Martin & Silvia style!  Where is the big tv and the wine you may ask - good point I say! Once we have it looking a bit better and have our stuff arrived I'll post more photos.

Posted by martin4878 at 06:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (486) | TrackBacks (0)

Before flying to Milan this last Monday was interesting to see the new and rather posh Heathrow Terminal 5. Plus thanks to my shiny new BA Gold Card was able to check out the arrivals lounge, and the above brand new departure lounge in T5 for some champers and a bacon sandwich before the flight to Milan - very nice and much better than the old T1 lounge but still prefer Virgin - sorry BA!

Posted by martin4878 at 05:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (361) | TrackBacks (0)

Well finally arrived in the old country! Now time for a few days to get our bearings/apartments/info before I start studying & working in Milan next week.  Here is the pic from the window where I'm writing this from, been a few days looking at this while we get over the jet lag (i've been up at around 4am each day) and get used to the tropical temperatures of 32 C every day with 90% humidity!

Posted by martin4878 at 04:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (2677) | TrackBacks (0)

Always a bit strange to stop off in your own country! We had a great couple of days in London though & many thanks to Bjorn & Louise & my family for looking after us

Saturday - Exploring SW6 with Bjorn & Louise, then a BBQ at Bjorn's with Fernando & Anna in the evening, good conversation, food & drinks outside with fire - everything you need.

Sunday - Great and huge dinner with the family at home in Kent, Yorkshire puddings, roast beef, wine and lots of desert!  In the evening visited some other friends in London & after watched the Zohan movie, funny and quite quite wrong!

http://www.youdontmesswiththezohan.com/

Now on to Italy to setup the new life!

Posted by martin4878 at 04:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (2181) | TrackBacks (0)