ICAA ITALY TOUR

Bryant Irawan/ Indonesia Media

It’s been a while since my last vacation with ICAA. As you may have known ICAA hosted its fourth international tour this past week. Instead of traveling into the oriental world, ICAA was headed off to Italy. Not only was it our first time crossing the pond; it was our first time traveling to Europe! Like always, we started our tour early in the morning at the airport. Contrary to the recent financial problems of Delta, our flights were miraculously great. There was hardly any delay before takeoff and before we knew it, we were already on our transfer flight from New York.

We arrived in Milan’s Malpensa International Airport in the morning. Though we were all tired from the sudden time change, none of us dared to sleep and miss the scenes of Milan. Our first stop was at the Gothic Duomo, the second largest Gothic cathedral in the world. Once you step inside, it’s as if you enter a sea of darkness, but the glow from the candles and the stained glass windows shed just the perfect amount of light so you are still able to see the intricate details in the marble walls. The best part of Milan, however, was outside the cathedral’s walls. Just outside, is the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping center. The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is a covered double arcade formed of two glass-vaulted arcades at right angles intersecting in an octagon; it is prominently sited on the northern side of the Piazza del Duomo in Milan, and connects to the Piazza della Scala where there is a prominent statue of the great Leonardo Da Vinci. Named after Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of united Italy, it was originally designed in 1861 and built by Giuseppe Mengoni between 1865 and 1877. With marble floors, high end restaurants on every corner, Louis Vuitton and Prada shops, and to top it all off, a huge dome standing out in the middle of the shopping center, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is just another reason why all the celebrities regularly come flocking to Milan, the fashion headquarters of the world.
Unlike other tours, we were given the plentiful time to shop and stayed there the whole day. An alternative to shopping was going to the top of the Gothic Duomo. Though I was the only one that went up, it was well worth the 7 Euros because I had a chance to take a glimpse of the cathedral’s pillars up-close. Each pillar has its own set of uniquely carved statues. All in all, the Gothic Duomo has exactly 3,500 statues. The effort and magnitude of the construction project is impossible to imagine, but it was finally completed in the 19 th centuries after 500 years of hard labor. As I was going down the Cathedral, I heard American jazz songs being blasted in the square. It turned out one of Italy’s candidates was hosting a rally in the plaza. Some of us even pretended to be Italian and scored free t-shirt and balloons. After each of us pretended to be Italian for couple of minutes, we headed to tonight’s hotel, the Ripamonti Residence.

As always, we would begin our day with a complimentary continental breakfast thanks to ICAA. It wasn’t long until we were off and headed to Verona, the setting of the legendary Shakespearian play, Romeo and Juliet. Despite the animated description of Verona written in Romeo and Juliet, Verona was more of a relaxing, but hot tour spot. Besides the shopping streets and Juliet’s supposedly balcony, the residents and lifestyle in Verona was peaceful and slow-going. The most highlighted part of our day, however, was our next destination, Venice. Not everyone in Italy has the opportunity to lay their eyes on such architecture and history, mind you. Each bus must pay a fee of four-hundred Euros just to enter the city. In fact, nearly every major city in Italy require tour busses to pay a checkpoint fee that could range anywhere from 100 Euros to 400 Euros. Though the price may seem outrageous, keep in mind that you’re paying money to get a once in a life time experience.

Today we were given another chance to roam around by ourselves, not without a group picture, of course. Once we got that over with, everyone roamed around St. Marc’s square snapping pictures of the clock tower and the St. Marco Basilica. Even though Venice is rich with history and architecture, everyone’s most anticipated event was the gondolas. Though the gondola ride in Vegas doesn’t require you to pay extra for the guy to sing, the scenery was nothing compared to the real deal. Though our ride wasn’t accompanied with music, it was no problem because Dr. Irawan and Mr. Soto were more than happy to sing in place of the driver. After visiting a nearby Murano glass-blowing factory, we were all given time to roam around St. Marco’s square once again. This time, I spent my time more hedonistically. I spent 3 Euros for a scoop of gelato and found some corn to feed the pigeons in the square. The day was about to end, but we were given a complimentary dinner from ICAA before we head back to the mainland. It was pretty amazing that we actually found a Chinese restaurant in Italy, but of course it was no match compared to Monterey Park or Chinatown. Finally, we were able to rest our aching feet and headed to the Sheraton Pavoda to end our day.