Milan

July 2015

I took a week long trip to Milan and Vienna with my mom to coincide with the World Expo 2015 in Milan.

Here are some highlights:

• World Expo - In Milano from May 1 to Oct 31, 2015, think of Expo like a massive six-month trade show of countries, or Epcot on crack. See bottom of the post for more, including a short video!
• Food - Milanese cuisine is more rice than pasta and richer than what I think of typical Italian food, but their love and care of food is still Italian and there are many opportunities for great meals.
• Duomo - the central Milanese cathedral is magnificent inside and out and worth a visit.
• Last Supper - one of Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous paintings is on a rectory wall in Santa Maria delle Grazie Church.
• Shop - I happen to not be a fashion type, but Milano is certainly one of the fashion meccas of the world. Emmanuelle Galleria houses the original Prada shop and some might enjoy the fashion district. I on the other hand, enjoyed the “saldi” season at your lower/mid level boutiques and made a killing at Promod. Italians make lovely shoes as well.

Notes on Milan

• Milanese speak some English in tourist areas, but it's worth getting some basic phrases down
• We stayed in an AirBNB studio near the Lima stop off of the Metro 1/Red line and a 5 minute walk from Centrale Stazione where you can get a bus/train direct from Malpensa international airport. It was so lovely to have a fridge and mini-kitchen for breakfast and snacking, and to live in a more residential area. Highly recommend over hotels.
• Summertime is ridiculously hot, and well into the evening. Avoid being outside mid afternoon if you can.

Eat and Drink

We had a lovely mix of casual and fine dining in Milan. Turns out the olive oil, tomatoes, pasta that I think of when I imagine Italian food is more prevalent in mid to southern Italy, and Milanese are closer to say Austrian or German food with more breads, rice and mix of meat and seafood.

• Ristorante Cracco - we had a decadent, luxurious and creative two and a half hour lunch at Chef Carlo Cracco's two-star Michelin restaurant just blocks from the Duomo. We splurged on the tasting menu with a few classes of wine
• Osteria del Treno

Milan Sites

We joined a guided walking tour through a company called Veditalia. It was 63€ per person for the "best of Milan + Last Supper" and English guide with eight other people for three hours. It was worth it because my mom wanted to see the Last Supper and reservations were full through five weeks out. But our guide Christian was a local Milanese, incredibly knowledgeable and we learned a lot about Milanese history and the sites.

We visited:

Duomo Cathedral and its Square - the central cathedral in Milan took five centuries to construct and is a continuing work in progress. It's 2

Da Vinci’s Last Supper and Santa Maria delle Grazie Church, a UNESCO World Heritage Site - given the sensitivity of the famous and ancient Leonardo da Vinci mural, there are strict 15 minute reservations. Totally worth it though, really powerful.

Vittorio Emanuele II Gallery, the “living room” of Milan with the flagship Prada shop

Sforza Castle - outside and its inner yards

Mercanti Square, the medieval city heart

La Scala Theatre (outside) and its Square

World Expo

For those who don’t know, one of my life goals after working at the Expo 2010 in Shanghai is to see every Expo going forward - they happen every five years and cities bid on them like the Olympics (next one is Dubai 2020).

The theme for Expo Milano is “Feeding the World”, focusing on what people and countries are doing to sustainably produce and provide food around the world. More broadly, Expo is about showcasing countries with each nation sponsoring a pavilion that represents their culture, technology and philosophy around food. So what better way to experience this Expo than food/drink crawling!

Highlights at Expo:

• Japan Pavilion - Japan did a phenomenal job weaving together Japanese food customs, industry and innovation in an interactive and digital experience. As a testament to that, it was the only pavilion with a constant line. Overall I would guess it takes about 20-30 min to get in plus an hour to get through the multi-stage show.
• Allavita! - Cirque du Soleil has a special show for Expo. It is fanciful and dynamic and incredible like every other Cirque show I've seen, plus set in an open air theater with a longer interactive show around the theme of food. 38€ for the closest to stage of three sections (open seating in all).
• Russia Pavilion
• Italy Wine Pavilion
• Eataly - I know there are other Eatalys in the city, but if you are in Expo and want to eat Italian food, Eataly is a great place to sample food from every corner of the country. Try the gnocchi and tiramisu at Locanda Mammi in the Abruzzo e Molise region, amazing!

Country Pavilions - besides the ones mentioned above, I find the larger countries to be somewhat underwhelming for the amount of money they are probably spending. I loved the "smaller" places like Bahrain that not only had the most beautiful architecture and told a wonderful narrative about gardens and their primary agricultural exports and Morocco showed their various regional environments and specialties. Qatar was impressive, and I actually love going to places like Senegal to try a baobab drink or Slovenia to learn about salt.

Coolest architecture (take pictures of the outside but not worth going in) - UK, Vietnam, USA (sorry it's true...)

Eat/drink - in addition to Eataly, Italy Wine and Salumeria Pavilions, Japan and Russia, the Czech had pilsners from an outside poolside bar, Belgians had fries, beer and great cafe, Morocco had nice outdoor garden restaurant, US has a Food Truck 2.0 area (I didn't go), Chile for daily 4pm wine tasting seminar.

Expo Pub Crawl

There are many ways to experience World Expo -- see amazing architecture, wait in lines to see the big guns, or visit small countries that you probably wouldn't get to in your lifetime. Another way to enjoy Expo is to eat and drink your way through it. This post is about drinking.

Zone C in Pudong where Europe, America and Africa's country pavilions are located have the largest concentration of brewhouses and good restaurants (click on map below). A handful of contenders are in Puxi as well. Note, this is not the cheapest way to do a pub crawl in Shanghai, as you will pay a 160rmb to enter the park (or 90rmb after 5pm) and the beers are not inexpensive. However they are good and you also get to see a lot of Expo.

Here are some suggested stops for an Expo pub crawl, as well as other places you can eat and drink at Expo.

Zone C beers
The Americas, Europe, and Africa make up the westernmost zone on the Pudong side. Enter at Gate 7 or 8, or you can come from the Puxi side by subway or to ferry dock L4 or L6.

Belgium - clearly you can't do a pub crawl without including the Belgians. For those on the fly, you can get Stella, Hoegaarten and something else (sorry I forget) at the little kiosk bar in front of the pavilion alongside the Belgian fries and waffle huts. If you have a few more rmb and time, go up to the 2nd floor cafe. The entrance is to the right of the pavilion queue, and can you walk right in. I got a Chimay (had Red, should have gone White) which comes with cheese, and I was excited to see they had Delirium Tremens which is one of my fav Belgian pale ales.

Germany - obviously we had to stop at Germany as well, and lucky for us, they're only two doors down from the Belgians. They have a small bar and slightly larger restaurant with outdoor seating located at the front of the pavilion under the arches. Light and dark beer. Note, at the risk of sounding like a total wuss, it's worth splitting the 1/2 liter beers with a friend so you can keep going, here and at other pavilions.

Netherlands - wasn't on the original list, but the daily parade foiled our plan to cross the street to Lithuania, and we discovered that the Netherlands sold 20rmb Heinekens at their kiosks closest to the street and Luxembourg. Also was a good time for fried sticks of meat.

Lithuania - the bar at Lithuania is actually inside of the pavilion - enter and you'll see a few bar counters and seating area in front of you towards the left. They serve serveral kinds of Svyturys, which was fantastic. Our pavilion directors swears this is the best beer at Expo, and it was one of the best we had.

Mexico - we were hungry after four pavilions so head to Mexico, sponsored by Corona and with Mexican fare at their restaurant (and decent accessible bathrooms btw. Belgian cafe is the other nice pit stop). The entrance to the restaurant is at the exit of the pavilion -- walk down the left side of the stairs where everyone is coming out, and you'll see the restaurant on the left.

Malta - our last stop for the evening was at Malta Pavilion, a small pavilion within the Europe Joint Pavilion I, and one of my favorites. The bar is towards the end of the pavilion visit, and they serve Cisk, a Maltese lager named after slang for 'cheque' from the old owner's banking background. They said we need to come back to get the Cisk 'X'. Say "thank you" to them in their native language - sounds like Italian "grazie"

Czech - one pavilion that we missed on the beer tour was Czech where they serve Budvar, the Czech Budweiser.

Zone C wine and spirits
There's also a fine selection of wine and other drinks in this corner of Expo

Argentina - I am itching to try the Argentinian steak house with wine from their 15 sponsor wineries. Argentinian steak... mmm...

Chile - the other great wine from the region comes from Chile. I hear they have a great wine bar where you can pass away the day.

Moldova - the obscure former Soviet republic produced some fantastic wines. There's a Moldovan merlot that I loved, along with a pretty wide selection from what I hear. Moldova Pavilion is part of Europe Joint Pavilion II.

Peru - Peru's national drink is the Pisco Sour, a fantastic concoction of pisco (grape liquor), egg whites, lime/lemon, sugars and bitters. The drink is fantastic, and I'd recommend a refueling stop here for their amazing ceviche, seafood rice, and the potato turnovers.

Cuba - unfortunately Cuba was closed by 9:30pm on Saturday night, but hear they serve great mojitos

Spain - the tapas restaurant on the ground floor of the Spain Pavilion also serves sherry. Enter the restaurant at the right of the queue.

Angola - I am not sure how Angola made the list, except they are supposed to have 38rmb cocktails at their bar...

Puxi options
So the Puxi side is less trafficked but has some hidden gems.

Asashi Beer Garden - hard to walk by without stopping for a beer. Second floor of one of the dining buildings at the border of Zone D and E by the Aurora Pavilion, there's really nothing else around there. Could be your first stop if you come in from Gate 2.

Madrid - Madrid Pavilion has a fantastic tapas restaurant on the 3rd floor, and they also do sangria and churros. Madrid is at the faaaar corner of Zone E Urban Best Practice Area, but really is one of my favorite city pavilions.

Barcelona - stop by at Barcelona's funky neon pavilion and head towards the back to their wine bar. Also in Zone E Urban Best Practices Area.

Japan Business - not so much a bar, but Zone D Japan Business Pavilion food court has awesome green tea ice cream, yakisoba and takoyaki, and cold cans of beer. Nice stop on the way home from work :)

Here's a SmartShanghai article on Expo pub crawling... pictures at the bottom are nice...
http://www.smartshanghai.com/blog/1669/Getting_Pissed_at_the_Expo.html

World Expo Part II

I often get asked for advice about Shanghai World Expo now that I work there every day. Here's a few suggestions and other random thoughts.

As we go into the summer months, yes it is very hot and humid and yes there are a lot of people! Many of my suggestions for Expo definitely have a lot to do with dealing with the heat and people...

• Don’t come at 9 AM when the gate opens – masses of people line up for hours before 9AM open because Expo Bureau gives away tickets to line up at China Pavilion to the first 50,000 or so (note: it is a ticket to get into a line, much like at Disney World--you stand in line for up to two hours after you get in the line). After that first push, the lines are much shorter. Here’s a fun chart if you want to see patterns of how busy different days and times are--http://en.expo2010.cn/yqkl/index.htm
• Don’t come at end of month – the city of Shanghai gave each household one free ticket, but the tickets have an expiration date, which is typically last day of the month. The end of month is nutty.
• Come in late afternoon and stay for evening – less people, shorter lines, somewhat cooler (though it’s still pretty hot at night now too), and the pavilions lit up at night is actually one of my favorites parts.
• Get dinner at one of the pavilions – many of the country pavs have food options. Spain’s tapas place (towards the right of the line), Mexico’s fast food but good dishes, margaritas and Coronas, and Indonesia's restaurant are all casual and fast options that you don’t have to line up for and can enter without going through the pavilion. If you get reservation at France, Spain, or Italy pavilion's fine dining establishments, it might cost an arm but you get Michelin starred food and fast track entry into the Pavilions (though confirm that when you book)
• Check out the "small" pavilions. The smaller pavilions have shorter lines but some very cool content. Think smaller Asian countries, Africa, Central/Eastern Europe, Caribbean and Middle East. I heard Iran was interesting. There are also a lot of fairly large but less well known pavilions like Egypt, which was designed by Zaha Hadid and has amazing authentic artifacts. I think Thailand’s line might be a little longer these days, but theirs is super fun.
• Try some of the "big" pavilions closer to 8, 9pm. Australia, UK, Canada, those that have a few hours of lines during the day you can probably get in with minimal wait at that time. However, be aware that many pavilions close at 10pm and will cut off their lines at some point before then
• Pudong (Zone A, B, C) has the country pavilions and Puxi on the other side of the river (Zone D, E) houses the corporate and Urban Best Practice City pavilions. I do think Pudong should be your first stop, but Puxi is definitely worth the trek if you have time. I think the corporate pavilions have the some of the best night displays -- Oil and State Grid, not surprisingly have been allocated ridiculous amounts of power to light their pavilion exteriors in the evening. The Urban Best Practice Area is actually pretty cool if you like museum-type experiences and you have more time to spend. Madrid Pavilion is my favorite, cool architecture, fantastic content on urban renewal in the city, and great tapas restaurant on the 3rd floor.
• The “chop”... For whatever reason, the Expo passport is all the rage, and public goes nuts to collect passport stamps from the pavilions. I don’t have one, though I will get one soon. It’s kind of cool though to fill your “passport” with visits to so many countries from around the world. Honestly, when will you ever get to visit Palestine, Syria and Monaco in a span of 30 minutes. The joint country pavilions are key if you are going for stamp volume.
• Don’t get stuck on seeing the inside of all of the pavilions. The exterior architecture is the best part of many. You'll see some amazing stuff just walking around, there are a few things like Denmark’s Little Mermaid and the sculpture at Luxembourg you can see without going inside. My votes for coolest exterior = UK, Spain, China, Scandinavians of course, State Grid and Oil at night.

Other random thoughts...

• Japan Business Pavilion has the best ice cream (green tea, chocolate and vanilla in cone, 20rmb) and also good takoyaki (35rmb for 8 in a box, 40rmb with soda)
• All of the transportation is free within Expo, including buses, ferry and subway between Puxi and Pudong. You can also rent one of those golf carts for 10rmb at some stations too.
• Beware the silent electric buses. Seriously, you don't hear them coming and they definitely do not slow down for pedestrians.
• The bathrooms are generally OK but ladies beware that most are squatter. You can identify a Western stall if the door is close to the floor, usually the last stall in the row. A step up will be squatter.
• Best photo op that I have seen for the China Pavilion so far is from in front of the Theme Pavilions in Zone B/C and also the covered walkway between that area and China Pav.

World Expo Shanghai 2010

World Expo Shanghai 2010 will be the "largest ever gathering of humanity in the history of mankind" with over 70 million people expected to attend over the 184 days from May 1 to October 31. Cisco is a senior IT sponsor and host to a corporate pavilion, themed "Smart+Connected Life."

I'm fortunate to be in Shanghai to help prepare the Cisco Pavilion for our customers. Here are some videos and photos from the preparation and stress test of the Expo site prior to the opening.

See the Picasa web album for some photos of Expo Pavilions. The slideshow starts with Puxi side Zone D (Corporate) and Zone E (Corporate, Urban Best Practices Area), then Pudong side Zone A (China, Asia, Middle East), Zone B (South Asia), and Zone C (Europe, Americas, Africa).


April 20

Day 1 of public stress tests. Over the next week, the Expo Bureau will open the Expo grounds to 50,000 to 200,000 people to "test" the site -- everything from safety and security to whether the plumbing will hold. Note that the "test" sample is the size of a small American city...



World Expo 2010 Shanghai - Zone D

Cisco Pavilion is in Zone D closest to Entrance No. 1. You'll see the security lines (96 security machines!), the vastness of the grounds, and the Cisco Pavilion. The public show at Cisco Pavilion introduces the challenges of urbanization and the concept of Smart+Connected Life, then demonstrates the experience through three generations of a Shanghai family in 2020. We are co-located with the other corporate pavilions also on the Puxi side.



Expo 2010 Urban Best Practices Area

The Urban Best Practices Area is in Zone E on the Puxi side, and consists of "Case Pavilions" which host exhibits for multiple cities in one building as well as city pavilions, like Madrid or Shanghai, who have their own structure.

The Madrid Pavilion was well done and had the meatiest content around how they have built and managed their city. Exterior is cool too, its modelled on the Casa De Bambu in Madrid. Would recommend for anyone interested in city planning, urban design, etc.

The joint case pavilions are easy to get in but a little less compelling. Several cities share each building, and their showcases range from the fun, interactive activities (Seoul, Bologna) to museum-like exhibits with some video and signage (most others) with plays on the space to localize. Shenzen was an arty fun-house with rooms filled with paintings and modern art installments, Porto (Brazil) had cool video walls and game on touch screen table.



Shanghai Expo Pavilion of Future

The Pavilion of Future, while I made fun of the 19th century factory-like exterior design, is a fantastic exhibition about how mankind views the future with a perspective to cultural and urban planning. Great video and other content that shows real-life best practices in areas of urban design, sustainbility, city management, and the like. The Pavilion suggests a 'fast' and 'slow' line for a 20-minute or 40-minute visit, but I think I spent a good hour in there, and this was without crowds. Loved it.

April 21

Only 50,000 people were expected for the second day of stress tests, and I could really feel the difference. Much less people, no lines for security, ferries, or buses, though queueing for Pavilions may have been worse since very few were open today.



Expo 2010 Zone A Pavilions

I took the free Expo ferry from L3 on Puxi side about 3 minutes from Cisco Pavilion, to L2 on Pudong side on East end near the Japan Pavilion and Gate 4. Also shown are Vietnam, Korea, Saudi Arabia, and India country pavilions, all in Zone A (note: video title is mistaken!)

Expo has multiple modes of free transport within the grounds. Ferry was good, subway seems straight forward. The bus will be a disaster... they run the length of the Pudong side. With almost no people on site on a moderately warm day, the electric buses were overflowing and smelly with barely standing room and a lot of shoving.



Expo 2010 Europe Pavilions

The European pavilions are in Zone C closest to the river. They have some of the most interesting architecture out of the country pavilions. Of course the Scandinavian countries are all fabulous with clean lines and well designed space.

The UK pavilion is the most fascinating -- surreal porcupine like structure that is actually 60,000 fiber optics rods that let light in turing the day and in turn lights up the exterior at night.



Expo 2010 Americas and Asia Pavilions

The Americas pavilions and some of the Asia pavilions are in Zone B and C. The USA, Canada and Australia pavilions are enormous and impressive from the outside. The Asia square has the Aussies, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Philippines in one place, and Vietnam is over by Korea and Japan

Walking further West towards the China Pavilion, I came across the behemoth Theme Pavilions. I jumped into the Pavilion of Urban Being right as they closed the line -- it shows city infrastructure, rail, utility, urban life, and the highlight is a very well done film with vignettes from urban life around the world (teared at the Sichuan segment themed "resilience")



Expo 2010 - Pudong side

I have many photos of the China Pavilion but I didn't attempt to get in line, as I hear they're running 2 hour waits with reservation during testing

I went to the Expo Culture Center, which has performance hall, movie theaters, and shopping -- 360 view of the Expo site from their 6th floor observation decks for aerials of Pudong and some of Puxi side. No exhibits, likely not for a customer visit.

April 23

200,000 people were expected for today, though there were no lines at Gate 1 by 2pm when I entered.



Expo 2010 Japan Business Pavilion

There happened to be a short line at the Japan Business Pavilion two doors down from Cisco Pavilion. They have a main movie, the series of 3 min shows by the sponsoring companies, and a live show outside. Interesting video including a 3D show, a globe-shaped theater where it "snows" at the end, and choreographed windows. I am going back for the "world's best toilet" which was not on display today...



Expo 2010 at night

Expo at night is a fantastic experience. The awe of Vegas, and certainly the energy costs, but more beautiful. I can be mesmerized by the lighted buildings all night! Expo is open until midnight, definitely worth waiting until nightfall.

We had dinner at LaoFengGe PinZhenXuan next to the Coca-Cola Pavilion on the 2nd floor, Zone D. Good selection of Shanghainese food and appropriate for customer meetings. They take reservations with minimum one day advance notice (33300078 and 33300079)