Milan, Italy & Expo 2015 July 3, 2015

Milan, Italy Expo 2015 July 3, 2015

The Milan Expo Logo

I have wanted to go to the Milan Expo 2015 since I heard about it shortly after arriving in Europe! And as I made arrangements to go to Milan, it was first on my list of things to do! I set out a whole day to take it in.

I arranged to take the early shuttle to the Expo as it would be cooler and I figured the crowds would come later. I am so glad that I did!

When I arrived to the park, it was just opening. They had a bag security check at the entrance gates then we all entered the park. It was already a warm day when we arrived at the park and it felt good to go into the pavilions to get out of the heat.

The first pavilion inside the gate was about "going green" as the theme of Expo 2015 was feeding the world and going green.

When I saw the "planted wall" (my term) I had to stop and check it out. It is some kind of material that they hung vertically and made pockets on the outside of it. In the pockets they put soil, then plants. Then strung up a drip watering system that ran vertically down the planted wall. Very clever. I found out later that the wall can also be moved away from the outside of the building for ventilation. The wall can also be used to cool the building and, the plants hardly take up any space. 

 

The next pavilion that I entered was Oman. I knew very little about this country before this exhibit.

My guide, Andrea Chiesi, explained to me about what the major foods are that are produced in Oman, a lot of varieties of fish and dates, and about how Oman is very progressive - trying to capitalize on what natural resources it has to prosper.

One thing they have had for over 2,000 years in Oman is aqueducts. They are a very arid climate so they have been using a system to bring water to their cities and fields for a long time.

But recently, they also invented a new system to get water to their country.  They have a lot of fog and so they devised a method of collecting the fog! Isn't that ingenious!

Next I went to Russia (well, their pavilion).

 

In the beginning of their pavilion they showed what crops were grown there.

They have a demonstration and samples of their micro-brewery. That demonstration wasn't running when I went through their pavilion.

They had a giant wall of pictures that displayed region foods.

They had a display of regional goods. Then, they had a gift shop and restaurant. I looked at the menu but it wasn't quite lunchtime so I moved on.

The next pavilion that I went to was Estonia. I wasn't familiar with this country at all before the Expo. I guess it is just north of Norway. I actually was very impressed. They had someone playing classical music at a baby grand piano upstairs in their pavilion.

They had wooden swings every so often in the side walls of their pavilion.  They gave a description of how swinging is beneficial to your health. 

Also, the walls of the pavilion are made of wood that is natural to their country. 

They also had a photo display of countries that are participating in a cleanup of their country's beaches and waterways.

Bangladesh

The Ukraine

Latvia

Slovenia had 280,000 people come to help with their cleanup "Let's Do It!" in 2012.

Nigeria had a partner from Church of Latter Day Saints who did the cleanup work for a drainage system that was blocked causing a major problem for this area.

Hong Kong








Here are some of the countries that have participated. As you can see, there is a printed description of when they had the event and how many people participated and some pictures of the actual event.  I was very impressed that one country actually had around 250,000 people participate and that was 17% of their population!

 

I looked around at several more smaller pavilions and the Indonesia pavilion caught my eye. They have a metal sculpture of a rhinoceros in front of a bamboo pavilion
with  grass and flowers in front and, I think, music playing. I was enticed into that environment.

Inside they had displays of what foods were produced there by wooden bowls in the shapes of those countries - like Java with the foods that they produced inside the bowls and a map of Indonesia on the floor underneath the bowls. 

Also there was beautiful hand made wooden furniture on display there.

Here is a hand wolven traditional fish trap. The fish go in

and can't figure out how to get out.

At the back of the pavilion was a buffet lunch. It looked good but I still wanted to see more before I stopped for lunch.

Looking to my left was several building - like a community of wood buildings and looking to my right was the major walkway of the Expo so I chose to turn right. I meandered down the major corridor and saw many wonderful sights.

 

I went into the Turkmenistan pavilion. This was very unique to me. They produce oil and gas. Also, here are some traditional dolls and plates.

I was also fascinated by the clothing and the hats that they wore there.

 

 

Here are photos of jewelry and, I think, armor.

Here is a photo of the political leader with his horse by a book entitled "Gonurdepe, Turkmenistan, City of Kings"

I also went to another pavilion for the country of Qatar. I don't know this country either. There was a beautiful entry into this pavilion.

They had incredible lazar light presentation here.

I went to another pavilion for the country of Morocco.

I loved the pictures of the native dress of the people. The photos were high up so they come up a little distorted when I took photos of them.

So, now I am getting a bit ready for a rest and lunch so I went back to Indonesia for lunch. They had a buffet and here is what I got. Everything was delicious! There was chicken and beef and a mong bean dessert.


So, looking down the major corridor and looking at what time it was and how much more there is to see I could tell that I couldn't possibly cover the whole Expo in 1 day so I decided to go to the opposite end of the Expo and glance at everything on my way down to the end and then work my way back to the beginning. My bus would pick me up at 5:30.

I saw many pavilions that looked very popular and lines waiting to get in. I stopped at the official Expo gift shop - at the far end - and decided to look around. As souvenirs I bought, of course, a magnet and I ended up getting a pair of official, limited edition, Expo Converse tennis shoes. They are black with paint splattered on them. Funny! All the kids that worked there were wearing them.

Then I headed back down the main corridor back towards the entrance.

In the middle of the main corridor there were several displays. One of them was a display of grains.

Another was a display of fruits and vegetables.

There was a parade of cartoon like characters down the main corridor.

One company, Fiat, provided a type of lounge chairs for visitors to rest on. Some were taking naps. As I said, it was a very hot day and I found myself drinking at least 3 water bottles that day.

There was an interesting building in the shape of a white dome and as I drew near I saw it was for the country of Corea (Korea in English). I went through that one.

I walked by the pavilion for Holland. Didn't get in though.

Not enough time.

I also saw the pavilion for Turkey.

Didn't get into that one either.

Or, Japan. A long waiting line.

I got into this one. It was for the country of Kawait.  The line was relatively short and moving fast so I jumped in line.  I met an Italian couple who were in line right behind me. The husband asked me, in English, how long the wait was. I didn't know but we struck up a conversation and had a nice visit. He had business that took him to America from time to time so he spoke good English. He said he and his wife have 2 kids and that they had been here before but that this time it was just the 2 of them running around the park and having fun. The husband suggested another pavilion that had good "special effects" so I went there after this one.

This country is (I think) Iran. And the husband was right! It was very cool!

Believe it or not, we are standing in a dark room and

they are producing the storm on the ceiling.

There were water effects around you as you went into the pavilion and one of the rooms produced a storm and I was at the end where the water was falling and I splashed a tiny bit on the people next to me and they were very surprised.

So, I am running out of time and heading back to the bus. I was so glad that I came early because by the afternoon the place was packed with people and the hottest time of the day! The bus driver had an ice cold bottle of water for me when I got back to the bus and we had the nicest visit. That is one of the most delightful experiences of this journey is the people that I have had a chance to visit with, from the taxi drivers, to my neighbors in Paris, to the husband and wife waiting in line at the Expo, to fellow single travelers.

It has been wonderful to connect with others and share our experiences on this journey of life!


A footnote:

Here is what I saw them painting on the side of a wall as I was exiting the Expo

It says

 

"As long as there is life, there is hope!"