In Milan for a Wedding

I've only been to a handful of weddings so far in my lifetime. Being Japanese, and living in the US, it makes sense that most of the weddings have been in those 2 countries.

And then there are the destination weddings…only 2 of those. But for some reason, both have been in Italy. What it is with Italy and weddings??? Last one was in Florence. Now, it's Milan.

Since I was here to serve as a bridesmaid, I didn't have much free time. Obligations for meals, rehearsals, preparations, etc. What little time I did have, was spent on more food:

And WINDOW shopping. I fell in love with a Tods bag - military green. I must've touched every inch of that bag, spent hours in the store. But the rational brain overpowered the irrational side, correctly pointing out that I shouldn't be spending money on luxury goods with my current unemployment status. Boooooooo.

I did, however, luck into a ticket for the Last Supper. The painted mural, not food. My friend had reserved one for herself (probably months ago - apparently, they're hard to come by in the summer), but decided to let me go instead, since she'd seen it before. Very, very, very sweet : ) Thanks, Joan!

The masterpiece is housed in the Santa Maria dell Grazie church, and you get about 15 minutes in the room with 20 other people. It's a bit odd…to be in this vast, poorly illuminated church with 20 strangers, just to see a wall painting. But it's TOTALLY worth it. I'm sure everyone has seen replicas of the painting, but the real artwork is magnificent! Not only do you get to realize the size and scale of the work, but the faded colors are soft, beautiful, and fragile. Just stand and admire : )

By the way, there's another mural on the opposite side of the Last Supper, but that one wasn't gaining much popularity. Poor thing.

So, about the wedding.

Due to privacy issues, I'm not going to say/show much about it. Except that is was beautiful. And a lot of fun, especially the reception at a villa in the vicinity. The only downside being that the toilet was really, really far away from the reception area itself, and required a walk along a steep cobblestoned pathway. My feet were killing me, so I switched into flip flops. I'm not quite sure why I even had them with me, but I must say that it was a brilliant decision on my part!

Anyways, Happy Wedding to the couple!!!

Oh, and as you can see, there's no entry for Norway before this post. I was exhausted from my flight to London, and my adventurous spirit was just not there. So, I ditched the flight. Instead, I stayed in London to help my bride friend with final preparations for the wedding.

If I HAD gone, I would have only 4 days there, just Oslo and Bergen. Definitely not enough time; best to save it for another time!