A Whirlwind of Events: Churches, Museums, a Gay Pride Parade???

So far we have toured the Duomo and its plaza, the Galleria Viottorio Emmanuel, the luxurious two blocks containing the worlds most famous designer brands, and of course various museums of both classical and contemporary art. 

Sure, these places are AMAZING, BREATHTAKING, and contain sooo much HISTORY! BUT the best plans and places were those unscheduled..... 

After a group of us decided to explore Milan some more, Nancy and I decided to continue looking around a street that contained various shops. On our way back we decided to pass through the Duomo once more. As we approached the massive church, we noticed a large group of officers regulating the street in front of the holy building. Well it so happened we had run into Milan's annual Gay Pride Parade. Thousands of people lined the street and watched another large group march. 

It was an interesting sight! Everyone participating had a bumper-like sticker placed across their mouthes which had a large red "X." The theme had to do with silencing something....I guess maybe silencing racism towards the gay and transgender community? Anyway, I was very surprised that the city allowed the parade to start in front of the church. I took a picture of the parade with the Duomo in the background. To some it might be viewed as a great liberty towards freedom of expression, and to others more controversial or quite disrespectful? Either way, it is a quite striking image:

Nancy and I watched in awe. This is something neither one of us had experienced ever before. After a few minutes we decided to head back home, only to realize the parade had changed paths and ended up blocking the street across from us. So we basically said what the hell, lets join the parade haha. We were thrown a huge flag and got some stickers. We marched for about six blocks and then we decided to split. It was an interesting and quite fun experience. 

58 pounds!!!!! and an upgrade to First Class

I'M FINALLY IN MILANO!...and no the title has nothing to do with my weight haha. Instead, it has to do with an interesting story as I was departing for Milano.

So as I was checking into the McAllen International Airport and one of the Continental employees placed my luggage onto the scale to be weighed. It read 53 lbs. I assumed he would be nice and let the three pounds that were over the 50 pound limit slide, but that wasn't the case. He told me that I had to pay an extra $50. I said ok at first, but then thought I could just take out those three pounds and place those items on my carry on. So I asked the lady who was charging me if I could do so. She decided to weigh my luggage again and this time it read 58 lbs..."How the heck did that happen?????? " was what crossed my mind as I looked at the scale. Well she said it would not be possible to remove items from my bag, because it was far more than the three pounds I had originally stated. So I paid the $50 dollars.

So I said goodbye to my parents and loaded the plain. I was sitting next to this other guy about my age. Well about five minutes after I had settled down. Thad same lady at the check in desk gets on the plane and begins to walk towards me. She says hello but requests to speak to the guy next to me. Yes, as you were probably mislead by the title, the guy next to me was upgraded to first class, not me! haha. But the great thing about it is that the other seat was empty so I basically had three seats to myself :)...so my plane took off and I landed in Houston.