You can follow Fabienne’s «round-the-world trip» on this map (please click to enlarge).
There is probably no other issue that affects and troubles all people, irrespective of their cultural background, as much as food. The knowledge that resources are dwindling and unevenly distributed makes the subject supremely relevant and it seems patently obvious that sustainable strategies can only be developed through international cooperation. The notion that the Expo 2015 could be some kind of opportunity to bring together the latest ideas and approaches of all manner of different countries on the issue of sustainable farming and fairer resource distribution is therefore a promising one. A good number of visitors seemed to have set off for Milan with this idea, myself included.
Rho Fiera Station.
A station was built especially for the Expo a few minutes away from the city centre by train, where long-distance trains from Switzerland, including various special event trains, stop during the exhibition. It really is better to head for the special station instead of travelling to the event from the city centre by metro because this option is much more inconvenient and takes a lot longer. If you are only visiting Milan for the Expo, it’s also a good idea to find a hotel nearby because it takes quite a while just to get onto the actual site through all the security checks, over bridges and up steps. The site is truly vast and you can easily spend two days there without seeing everything. Two days is therefore the minimum length of stay that I would recommend. If you also want to see a bit of Italy on the way, it’s a bad idea to just visit the Expo. To see a few sights, it’s worth making an excursion or even planning a whole day in the city centre.
Once you’ve beaten the security gates, you will find yourself before a whole host of options which all look extremely inviting, even before you’ve got inside. At the other end of the exhibition, after walking straight on for a good 20 minutes, the outsides of the different pavilions already provide an impressive view.
Decumano.
It’s worth finding out about what’s inside the various pavilions in advance so you can visit countries according to what interests you, especially as not all visitors find every part of the exhibition equally attractive by any means and the contents of the pavilions do not always live up to their outward appearance. Of course, ambling around the site is not to be dismissed out of hand either, especially if you want to avoid queuing outside pavilions and would prefer to have more flexibility to adapt your visit to the weather. In both cases, I recommend making the most of less busy periods, straight after the site opens in the morning and shortly before it closes in the evening, when the crowds are manageable and waiting times are shorter.
The pavilions address the issue of feeding the world with extremely different approaches and focuses in terms of content: from pavilions with themes that can only be guessed at, exhibitors who mainly concentrate on gimmicks and showcasing themselves with what is clearly an enormous budget and carefully presented exhibits with sophisticated content that are sometimes almost overwhelming due to the flood of information right through to the houses which impress with their short but incisively presented ideas for reflection and/or creativity. The various clusters, groups of smaller countries with smaller budgets who are all exhibiting on a certain topic (e.g. coffee, cocoa, rice, spices, Mediterranean plants, etc.) would also make for a fascinating visit. Unfortunately, many of them had not yet been finished by the first weekend of the exhibition.
United Kingdom.
Switzerland.
If you like to see complex issues presented clearly and attractively, head for the UK or Swiss pavilions. The UK has dedicated all of its space to bees and has thus created a meadow climate, a small oasis whose simple perfection suggests what is going wrong the world over. In its pavilion, Switzerland shows exactly what happens when resources are used up without thinking about the future. In four towers, visitors who wish to do so are free to take as much salt, water, coffee and apple rings as they like and are able to carry. No one is prevented from hoarding here. When the supplies which were stacked up at the start of the exhibition, are used up, they will not be replenished and it remains to be seen what, if anything, will be left for the final Expo visitors. This is fascinating, beautifully presented food for thought on the subject of sustainability, waste and fair resource distribution.
The pavilions of Germany (first part), Uruguay, South Korea, Belgium and France and Pavilion Zero provide slightly more information, but are also critical, stimulating and extremely artistic and all, but particularly the French one, feature impressively sophisticated content and design.
France.
Of course, I have not even begun to list all of the highlights, and some interesting takes can be found in most of the pavilions, quite apart from the fact that such an impressive range of buildings and interior designs has been created.
What almost all of the pavilions offer, which is another highlight in itself, is the traditional food and drink from each country and the associated smells and flavours. It is rarely so easy to eat your way around the world in a few days.
So a visit to the Expo is well worth it for culinary reasons, as well as for the informative, thought-provoking aspect and to feed your wanderlust. In the end, the question of whether these aspects outweigh the critical ones, the astronomical amounts of money spent, the involvement of big businesses with not entirely spotless track records and the questionable treatment of the exhibitors with less money needs to be answered by each visitor for themselves.
Discoveries, personal highlights and recommendations.
- Lie in the huge Brazilian net and watch adults turning into children again and children experimenting clumsily on the wobbly surface and enjoy being shaken around while you do it.
- Grab a beer with Sicilian oranges from the Birra Moretti stand, find a suitable bench and watch the streams of people flow by.
- Wherever large multimedia shows are advertised, walk the other way, because these kind of announcements usually end in having to witness a self-congratulatory, overlong and excessively patriotic display in a cramped space with too many people. There are some exceptions.
- The Dutch have the most pleasant and relaxed pavilion. Here you can sit outside in rubber tyres, get food at small stands made out of vehicles and be entertained with carefully chosen, tasteful live music.
- Roll right across the square with giant bubble-blowing flowers in round, revolving chairs.
- Wherever you see a roof terrace, it’s worth the climb, even if the pavilion it’s on isn’t very interesting. The view over the exhibition is impressive from every angle.
- Lie on the floor in Pavilion Zero and be amazed, under the bookcase, in the dark room and with the white animals. Then do it all over again.
Pavillon Zero.
Albero della Vita (Tree of Life).
Brasil.
Corea.
Belgium.
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