Another sunny morning in Milan.


After breakfast, we wandered down Via Torino for a spot of shopping before it got too crowded.

I took Mum to this cool little church tucked away on the busy shopping street with an excellent optical illusion. Can you see it? 



Now you can!


On returning to Piazza Duomo there was another kind of illusion however.

Three men suspended, two of them with guitars and one dressed as an astronaut. Disappointingly they weren't playing David Bowie (they weren't even playing!)




As Mum pointed out, everyone was so busy watching these guys that they completely failed to notice Father Christmas on his Easter holidays.


We ambled back to the apartment to drop our shopping bags off and jumped on the metro to meet Magro at Lambrate, another design district which is slightly less central but absolutely buzzing every year.



I love that in Italy, the likelihood of seeing a chicken in someone's garden is greater than seeing a dog!

This showroom below was boiling as I'm sure you can imagine.Tin foil and lights? We felt like chickens! Oops..



A deceptive chair. It was actually made from concrete!



This exhibition was all about making small models of buildings and furniture.






My favourite (above) and the rather dubious Sexy Relaxy below...


Around the corner, another exhibition was all about the miniatures too!




These pads charged your Android phone simply by resting it on them. It didn't work for iPhones though, boo.








FuoriSalone was full of interesting textures and really did just turn the city into a huge designers playground.





The lamp above supposedly traps light during the day before releasing it again at night. A little like the glow-in-the-dark stuff we had as kids I suspect but much cooler!

The feature below changed colour according to the temperature (although this was a slow process and required sunlight).










Magro finally decided to cut his beard..


And based on a silly and rather rude conversation from the dining table the night before, I got in on the act and (finally) shaved my legs. Although I didn't really commit to the photo as there were people watching, I'm sorry!













Mum wandered outside to get some fresh air away from the crowds and enclosed spaces where she became friends with a lost bee that kept going in and then reversing out of holes in the wall.










How is there not an obesity crisis in Italy??








A table with hairy legs and.. well. Anyway, Mum found it hilarious and said it was my table because I evidently still think its winter. Ok guys I get the hint..










This table belonged to a researcher working in Amsterdam who is trying to create a diet that will shrink the population?

Why?

Because we have been growing for centuries and centuries and are slowly getting taller not to mention fatter. This is all due to a diet rich in animal products which are currently proving to be unsustainable as the population grows in number and size.

Certain populations around the world are smaller and he believes it's all to do with diet. He proposes that we modify the way we eat in order to downsize over generations in order to adapt to our growing population and find more sustainable ways of life.

You can find more about him here.

Magro is now in love with this guy. He hasn't changed his eating habits at all but he tells anyone and everyone about this guy. Sigh.










We finished the evening in Lambrate by sharing a pizza as an appetiser. We went for the Cauda, based on the Bagna Cauda dish from Piemonte. Oh it was delicious! And healthy because it's covered in vegetables right?

I'm sorry that this post has been full of photos with little explanation, today is a bit of a bleh day. I'll be back up and running properly in no time!