manolos in milan.

back in february we had a long weekend and i ended up staying in milan because i needed to take an italian language test so that i would be eligible for the carta di soggiorno this fall. this means that i will be able to live in europe, even if i am not working. right now, i have a permesso di soggiorno, which must be renewed every two years and is conditional on employment and such, so the carta is more permanent. you have to have lived in italy for 5 years and take an italian language test.

happily, i passed my test! 95%! the required level of italian is pretty low, but it was a test of listening, reading and writing, and i'm proud that i have achieved some level of language skills.

so while i was in milan (and many of my friends were traveling), i tried to stay busy and went and saw my friend, jenna's, new baby, dalia. i went and had lunch with my italian teacher at her apartment. i took a day trip to a small little town south of milan. and i went to the manolo blahnik exhibit that was here in the city for several months with my co-worker and friend, odaliz. if you've ever watched sex and the city you must know of these famous designer shoes.

newborn dalia

inside palazzo morando

loved this one!

a pink version of Carrie Bradshaw's famous shoe

from there, we went to the new marchesi cafe that had opened recently inside the galleria. it is above the Prada store and i had seen it several times in social media. it just looked so fancy. 

it was very nice, but two snacks and two glasses of wine cost 50 euro, so i don't plan to return! there are equally delicious desserts available in milan for a much friendlier price! 

i do love all the rounded windows.

paying for name and location

but, there's always something to do in milan, whether it's checking out an exhibit or a discovering a new restaurant, and that's one of the things that makes milan such a great city to live in!