Sale Days are Here!!! Shopping in Milan

Yesterday, I was a complete bum. Apart from tae-bo, eating, and occasionally checking emails and the blackberry, I did nothing. Didn't even leave the apartment. Really. So, for those of y'all complaining about me about writing too much...that was your opportunity to catch up - think of all my writing as me giving you an opportunity to exercise your eyes :-). See, you should be thanking me. Seriously, I hope you are all caught up, because this week is going to be a good one. I can feel it. You know why? Because it's SHOPPING WEEK!
So I mentioned that the entire city goes on sale during the month of July - it's a mandatory sale period with sales ranging from 30% to 70 and 80% EVERYWHERE. From UPIM department store (we call it Milan's version of JCPenney/Kohls) to the Gucci boutique...everything is on sale. Somebody is talking my language. So since I was such a bum yesterday, and since the cleaning lady was coming again today (her last visit for the summer) and I like to give her space to clean, I was up at 9am so that I could hit the stores by 10. The only appointment I had today was my Italian class at 2:30, which gave me a good 3 hours to shop (most stores close from 1-3pm on Monday, if they're even open at all). Since I knew stores in the Duomo area cater to tourists and would likely be open in the morning, I headed down to via Montenapoleone. Of course me being the organized person that I am, I had to set an agenda to make sure I got to everything. First I planned to hit up the Armani mall (yes, Armani has his own mall - every store inside is Armani), then D'Magazine - a designer outlet store on Montenapoleone that is recommended by practically every guidebook I've come across, then Cafe Cova - a coffee shop that was also highly recommended for their cakes, and finally a vintage store called Napoleone on the opposite side of the Duomo.
So I took the tram to via Manzoni, and headed to the Armani store. The building takes up an entire block, and houses everything Armani. I'm talking: Armani Casa (home) on two levels, Armani Libri (a bookstore, which had a good selection of fashion books), Armani Jeans, Emporio Armani Donna and Uomo (women and men), Armani Prive, an Armani cafe (I read that it wasn't that good so I didn't even bother checking it out), Armani Profumi (perfumes, cosmetics, and accessories), Armani Fiori (a flower shop), Armani Dolci (a chocolate and candy store), and he even has his own Nobu restaurant and bar. No wonder they say this man is king of the city. Crazy. If you are a true Armani fan, you have to see this place. Since it is sale period, practically all the clothing and accessories were 40% off. Not too bad. I spent my time window shopping although there were quite a few things that caught my interest.
My next stop was D'Magazine. Rita and I had visited once before on our first visit to via Montenapoleone, but you know, we had been walking a lot, and I was tired...so I didn't get the chance to really check the place out. This time around, I took my time and checked out all of the racks. This place has practically every designer you could possibly want, and not just Italian either: Chloe, Versace, Marc Jacobs, Armani, Calvin Klein, DKNY, Gucci, Prada, Chanel, Dior, Ferre, Balenciaga...the list goes on. And the prices were insane. I'm talking D&G marked down from 1495 euros to 250 euros (I know, still pricey but that still represents a markdown of over 80%). For a reasonably priced example, I bought a pair of Max Mara dress slacks (oh, y'all didn't think I seriously walked out of there empty handed, did you?) marked down from 100 euros to 19 euros. And would you believe, they fit me perfectly? I'm talking waist and length...that's amazing. I told y'all I have trouble w/ the pants...most designers do not make bottoms for people like me with.....umm, curves (I'll let y'all read between the lines). I also snagged a pair of Versace jeans, but I won't tell y'all the price b/c you might still think it's too expensive and scream on me. But I justified it by figuring it wasn't much more than I would have paid for a pair of Rock & Republic or Seven for all Mankind jeans back home (well, that is if I bought Seven jeans - they're another one that don't quite make pants for us derrier enhanced folk).
After D'Magazine, my next stop was Cafe Cova. I didn't buy anything here, I just wanted to check the place out. It was a cute little cafe, that didn't look like anything special inside, but the mini cakes in the window were very eye-catching. They had lots of chocolate cakes (yummmmm) and these tart-looking fruit cakes that looked heavenly. Umm, ok, enough about food, I'm getting hungry. I intend to return before I leave Milan though. Since I had to cross the Duomo plaza and all the shops near the square in order to get to my last stop, I checked out a few other stores in the area (including a pop-up designer outlet that had a good selection but a really long fitting room wait). I also decided to make a 10 minute detour to Puro Gusto for a cappuccino. I sat next to a friendly middle-aged looking Italian guy in a window seat facing the plaza. Poor guy was trying to hold a conversation but outside of "e bella vista" (it's a beautiful view), I barely understood a thing he was saying. He was talking way too fast. I'm taking Italian classes but I'm not quite that far along yet to be holding full conversations with natives. After Puro Gusto, I found my way to Napoleone, but by this point, it was just after 1pm and they were already closed for lunch. I want to return though b/c they had some really interesting looking items in the window. I headed back to the Duomo to catch the tram, and waited 20 minutes with no tram in sight. While I was waiting Sook emailed me and asked if we were meeting today for the project. She got the days mixed up, and thought we were meeting today. I told her we only meet Tuesday through Thursday, but felt bad b/c she came all the way to the school building for nothing. I offered to meet with her anyway after my Italian class so her trip wouldn't be a waste but was very happy when she declined and decided to go home instead. By 1:35, with no tram in sight, I just sucked it up and started walking back to the apartment b/c I didn't want to be late for my Italian class. The walk is about a 20-25 minute walk, but a New Yorker like me did it in 15. And you know what? There wasn't a tram in sight the entire walk. Good thing I didn't keep waiting.
I met up with Rita back at the apartment and we went up to Bocconi for our Italian class with Susanna. Today's class seemed to go by so quickly (maybe b/c I had shopping on the brain still). We covered time, weather, and went further into descriptions/adjectives. We also reviewed last week's class. I'm making a lot of progress - my vocabulary is expanding, but my grammar could use improvement. Next week's assignment is to pick a person to describe, and we have to come prepared to talk about them in class. I'm thinking of choosing my mom, but any of you can step up to the plate and volunteer to be my subject. Lol. Susanna also informed us that this Wednesday night is what they call "notte bianca" or "white night" when the stores are open overnight so you can really shop until you drop. She suggested we check out Corso Buenos Aires, which is supposedly the longest shopping street in Milan, and an area we haven't been to yet. Sounds like a plan. She also suggested that we check out this gelateria called "Chocolat"....you know as soon as I heard the name, I was ready to go.
After class, I dragged Rita with me to Corso di Porta Ticinese to check out the stores over there that we hadn't seen before. Rita's not in shopping mode just yet but she's being a good sport. We found a gelateria called Frozen (you know the only reason I remember the name is b/c it was in English) and got some gelato. I tried peach this time and it was yummy. On this street, we also found the Adidas and Levi's concept stores. The Levi's concept store was interesting b/c in the states, Levi's are relatively inexpensive (mostly in the under 40 bucks range, although they tend to have higher priced items in their standalone stores) but the prices at the concept store were in the 100 euro + range. Everything in the store is a one of a kind piece, which is supposed to justify the premium in price. I'm not buying it (literally or figuratively). They did have some cool apparel there though, including a Levi's Red line, and some unique denims. We also stopped in Biffi and Rita priced a Gucci bag, which came out to 895 euros after the 40% sale discount. They also had Hudson jeans for about 50 euros but I've decided I cannot buy any more jeans (yes, I have a bit of an addiction...I prefer to call it an "appreciation" for denim). After all that shopping, you would have thought I was done, but after we got back to the apartment, I decided to run out one last time to get milk, although of course I never buy just one thing at the supermarket. I ended up buying some sausage (I'm a little nervous about it - I couldn't tell if it was beef or pork or something completely unidentifiable - the Langenscheidt failed me in helping me look up the meanings), and eggs (I found a little 2 pack that was refrigerated - I'm going to try to make a pasta salad). I also stopped back at the "American store" and bought some more Haagen Dazs cookies and cream ice cream (I know, completely counterproductive to the tae-bo...oh well). I'm in for the night...I'm about to find me something to eat, and try (for the 50th time) to download "Why Did I Get Married?". Yes, I'm still having that problem where iTunes crashes my computer everytime I resume the download, even though it only has 15 more minutes of download time. Jeez. Well, the schedule for the week includes project meetings tomorrow through Thursday, all night shopping Wednesday night, a trip to the designer outlets in Switzerland on Friday, and possibly Florence on Saturday. I told y'all I have a feeling it's going to be a good week. Stay tuned...