The Milan Cathedral

One of the first stops on our trip was the Duomo di Milano, the Milan Cathedral. This cathedral’s construction was started in 1386 and didn’t finish until 600 years later in 1965. It is an incredible work of art, and even for non-religious visitors, it’s a must see just for the history and design.

We arrived early morning when it was sunny and warm, and the sun shined through the colorful stained glass windows. There were many intricate carvings and statues. The entire cathedral was filled with tourists all marveling at the intricate design.

The cathedral is supported by giant columns holding up an ornately carved ceiling. Some parts of the ceiling appear older and rustic, while others are covered in carved design. The floors are even beautifully colored with different marble shades creating a pattern throughout the cathedral.

I’ve also never realized how many colors there are to marble. We saw so many incredible statue displays all carved from marble with different saints and figures. Each of them mixed marble colors and gold to form the perfect display, and each told their own story.

One impressive view was the organ. This was a floor to ceiling masterpiece. There’s an area that can be entered, but it was sealed off to tourists.

The morning light was absolutely perfect for the stained glass. The colors were bright and vibrant as they flooded the halls of the cathedral through these massive windows. The level of detail in these windows was impressive. There were tons of little panels, and each panel was a different image with tons of color.

There are few things to keep in mind. There is a dress code to enter. For women, you cannot wear anything that shows your shoulders. You also cannot wear dresses or shorts showing the knees. If you don’t fit the dress code, you’ll need to purchase a white cover to wear over your clothes for modesty purposes. I did not fit the dress code, so you’ll notice me modeling this lovely fashion in the photo of the organ above. It does appear that different guards enforce the rules differently, however, as after the guard change, we noticed no one else was being asked to cover up.

Despite the wardrobe requirements, this was definitely worth the visit. If you’re a fan of art or architecture, check it out on your next visit to Milan!

Digital Art Museum - TeamLab Borderless Odaiba, Tokyo, Japan

One of my absolute favorite places that we visited while in Japan was the digital art museum in Odaiba called TeamLab Borderless. This is not just a museum… it is a fully immersive and interactive experience. You are part of the art, explore the art, become the art. It’s like a whole playground for all ages filled with the most beautiful designs that you are fully experiencing.

The entire building has an open room to room flow. You just walk around and end up in different areas, part of different experiences. One area was all flowers that popped when you touch them. Another area was a strange climbing experience. There was a field of what I can only describe as lily pads with digital projections flowing across them as you walk among them. You can touch everything and everything reacts to motion and touch in the digital artwork.

One of the coolest exhibits was the tea house. You can go and choose from several types of tea. They will create it for you and bring it out to you, setting it on the table in this dark room. Then, the tea comes to life. smart projections from above you make floral designs in your tea bowl. The flowers bloom as your tea sits still, but when you lift the tea, the blooms fall apart. No matter where you move the bowl, the blossoms find your drink.

Another amazing experience was a totally dark room with a net that suspends you high above a mirrored floor. You lay in the middle of this net, almost as if it was a birds nest, and thousands of projections fly by you on the walls and ceiling. It feels like you’re watching the night sky come alive while suspended in mid air.

Of course, there are the very popular giant illuminated balloons. They change color and bounce slowly. There are also various kid-friendly (or adult-friendly) play areas. We climbed on some uneven suspended planks in a neon glow area. We even went down a big slide that had fruit projected onto it. When you slide down, the fruits are disturbed and bounce all over the place.

There really is so much to see here. So much, that I can’t even cover all of it. Finally, one more mention… The lantern room. A room filled with color changing lanterns and mirrors. This entire place feels like some out of body experience. If you get to visit, I definitely suggest it. Also, check out the many other TeamLab exhibits across Japan and the rest of the world. I’m sure you’ll find something that will blow your mind!

Hakone Crafthouse - Glass Bead Art

Thanks for checking in on part 3 of my series about Hakone Gora Park. If you haven’t checked it out yet, check out my post about Hakone Gora Park overall and also my post about Glass Blowing.

Today, we are going to talk about another craft workshop to experience at Hakone Gora Park… Glass bead-making at Hakone Crafthouse! This was especially exciting because you can incorporate your glass bead into tons of items at the end of this process… a necklace, key chain, bracelet, charm, hair accessory, etc. Hakone Crafthouse is a craft workshop experience inside of Hakone Gora Park that offers activities such as glass blowing, pottery, glass etching, and of course today’s topic, glass bead making.

First, you’ll select your glass color and what type of pattern you’d like to make on the glass bead. The first time I visited, I made a turquoise glass bead with gold accents. The second time, I chose pink with polka dots and gold. They have tons of color and pattern options. Then, you sit down with your instructor one-on-one. They put safety gear on you and set you up in front of a blow torch and some supplies and walk you through the entire process.

First, you begin by heating a metal rod that you will wrap molten glass around to create your bead shape. Then, you begin to heat long colorful sticks of glass over the flame. As the glass begins to melt, you’ll slowly allow it to drip onto the metal rod, as you rotate the rod. This will start to create a ball shape around the end of the metal rod. You’ll keep adding layers and layers of the hot liquid glass over the flame, making sure to shape the bead with gravity as you go.

Then, you’ll roll the molten bead through gold leaf and heat it in the flame again. If you’re adding polka dots, you’ll lay out tiny little glass pieces of different colors and roll them onto the bead you’re creating. At the end, you’ll heat it all up nicely in the flame and rotate it evenly, so that you have a nice round bead. Then, it needs to cool. While it cooled, we took a break, grabbed a snack, and explored the park a bit.

Finally, it was time to turn our bead into an accessory! As the staff preps your bead, you’ll pick your accent beads or charms to add to your accessory. For my necklace, I picked some lovely gold and turquoise accent beads to complement the hand-crafted bead. For the key chain, I stuck with the pink and gold theme and picked cute golden charms and pink beads to match the lovely gold key chain.

Then, you get to assemble the bead and your accents all onto the accessory. In the end, I had a lovely, handmade souvenir that I was really proud of. It’s definitely a conversation starter, and you can honestly say you crafted it yourself in Japan!

This is such a fulfilling experience. Both men and women were doing this activity, especially since they had other unisex items like key chains that even the men could enjoy crafting.

If you enjoyed this post, please check out my other posts about the activities at Hakone Gora Park, including glass blowing. This entire park was a whole day experience that I will never forget. If you’re going to Hakone, this park is a must-see attraction.