SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 25
Either we were tired, or just ready to be grumpy? It was an emotional rollercoaster of a day.
A TACKY ITALIAN DESIGN MUSEUM?
The lineup at the Duomo was so long we decided not to go inside. The Piazza de la Duomo buzzed with shoulder to shoulder Black Friday shoppers. But it was an Italian crowd, not tourists who were swarming the Piazza and the shopping street nearby. Too busy for us, we headed to the park behind the Sfroza Castle, and to the Museo del Design Italiano. No way we could go wrong with an Italian design museum; we all know how beautiful Italian design is, right?
Wrong. The museum was shockingly tacky. The permanent display was arranged more like a children’s museum than a sophisticated design museum. Wavy foil mirrors covered the walls, displays were oddly elevated and arranged. The designs were uninspiring. It didn’t help either of our moods.
We crossed to the other side of the vast, grand entrance hall to see special exhibition, a photo show sponsored by the Albanian government. Equally bizarre. The black and white photographs were of Albanian villagers, undated, no credits, and no descriptions. People in the photographs generally looked deranged. A series of men’s mug shots looked like prisoners’ photos. Maybe they were? One particularly haunting image showed a little girl in a white dress, hands together in prayer position, looking at the camera, and on the edge of the frame, very near, were men hanging out in a large group, leering at her.
Nothing like throwing away €16. The restaurant inside the museum may be its best feature.
SHOPPING AS A MOOD CHANGER
We left, argued, slumped onto a bench in tense silence. Narrow streets with lovely, small shops and restaurants guided us back toward the Duomo. We stopped at a small local restaurant, alive with friendly people from the neighborhood who chatted with each other and the bartender. I had a Prosecco. That was fun!
Then we joined the masses, hundreds, maybe thousands, on the main shopping streets fanning out from the Duomo. It felt festive. A group of musicians performed from inside a VW van, hilariously retro. Buskers lined the wide pedestrian walkways. We entered shops we would never visit because they are prohibitively expensive – United Colors of Benetton, some fancy boutique called Sonia Hengle, and even Max Mara. As much as we wanted buy -something for 40% off, we weren’t successful. But it changed our mood.
Back to the apartment to pack and to bed. Leaving the next day for Genoa.
