Upon arrival to Milano Centrale station, we took the metro to Cadorna station and walked 5 minutes to our hotel. Our hotel is at the Palazzo delle Stelline, a hotel and conference center across the street from the Last Supper which we'll be seeing tomorrow morning. We grabbed a sandwich at a cute sandwich shop nearby - it was more like a wrap, but it was made with fresh cheese and speck and the place was crowded with locals. We then made our way back to Cadorna station to head to World Expo 2015.
The World Expo apparently happens every couple of years and this year it's in Milan - specifically, the exposition site is about 20 minutes northwest by metro from central Milan. The theme this year is "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life". I didn't know what to expect since I've never been to a world's fair and I just think of the Unisphere at Flushing Meadows from 1964. But many famous monuments today are from world fairs: the Eiffel Tower and Seattle's Space Needle, for example.
Our first Pavillion was the UN which was promoting Zero Hunger. Here's a trading board of food crops and the front of the pavilion - the board reminds me of the movie, "Trading Places":
When we walked over to the main area, the walkway is lined with pavilions - here's a view of how expansive it is:
I thought many of the countries had cool pavilions. Apparently the average cost of maintaining one is 20 million euros and takes 6 -10 months to build - yikes! Over 140 countries are participating and the Expo lasts from May 1st to October 31st. Hopefully my photos give you a nice variety and sample of what we saw, so here goes....
Here's Angola:
The Czech Republic - many countries showcased their beers and cuisine with bars and restaurants:
Inside Belgium, the fish and plants sustain each other:
Vietnam:
Qatar - the Middle Eastern ones were very cool:
And of course, here's Korea:
Most of the pavilions have shows with lots of visual effects, cool graphics, and art. Korea was no different trying to explain fermentation and the "symphony of food" using robots:
This was a cool visual showing fermentation jars with different food and playing music. My heart tugged a little when they played Arirang, a Korean folk song, as the fermentation showed the results:
China was very cool with the marigolds in front, an exhibit inside, and poles made to look like bamboo, but had lights on top to orchestrate this cool and harmonious show:
The UK Pavillion had a structure that is controlled by bees creating energy in Nottingham which makes the bulbs light up. We had a personal explanation and tour from the director of the Pavillion:
Interestingly enough, the U.S. Pavillion was supported by "Friends of the U.S. Pavillion in Milan", instead of the government. It explained the trends in the foodscape, like "farm to table" and "artisanal" with cute cartoons:
We enjoyed Austria which brought plants and explained the water cycle. We were to breathe the air from Austria as noted below in Korean. We also stood in front of a mirror where you can take a photo that says "Greetings from Austria" using a combination of sculpture behind us and words on the mirror:
I could have watched this guy at the Slovenia Pavillion for hours as he kept dancing and pulling in people - he had so much energy! Hopefully you can see the video which is very short.
After a glass of Malbec in Argentina, we had dinner in Brazil - a plate of different types of meat and salads. We then walked down netting that kids had a lot of fun climbing. Some photos below:
After our full day at the Expo, we returned to central Milan. It was a good day to check out the Expo as many museums are closed on Mondays and we had planned to spend one night back in Milan en route to Lake Como. I'm glad we went as we learned a lot. Also, the Expo is one of the reasons why the NY Times picked Milan as the destination of the year!
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