This May I took my children (aged 10, 7 & 4) out of school to have a glimpse of the Expo Milano. On a pretty hot day we arrived at the world trade show, filled with anticipation at what we were going to see. Oscar, the youngest, first had to overcome the shock that he had to leave his bike at the entrance security though…
The whole fair area is 1.1 million square meters – huge – hosting 145 countries, of which 53 had constructed their own pavilion, 16 international organisations & associations plus some multinational food companies, all linked around the major theme, “How to feed the growing world population today and in the future”. As there are many kilometres to walk to grasp all the impressions from around the globe, we had to make a choice for the limited time we had.
On the first day we entered the pavilions from the west side and simply explored what we came across. The kids particularly enjoyed the “Kinder”-sports track, and the expo children’s parcours, with 6 experience stages linked to the theme of growing food and producing alternative energy. All of the stages were accompanied by motivated young coaches. Another highlight was the Brazilian pavilion, which consisted of a huge climbing rope net that permitted access across a jungle-scape. Not only did we get a glimpse into the life of 5 different continents, often being stunned by the amazing visual technologies used for transporting the spectator to other realities, but we were also spectators of musical and dance performances from around the world, like the not-to-be-missed percussion concert in the Argentinean pavilion.
On the following morning – after recommendations – we headed immediately to the German pavilion where, with the help of cartoon iPads, the visitor could navigate his way through the options he wanted to obtain information about sustainable food production. Oman and Qatar provided us the opportunity to dive into lives so different from ours. In Guatemala the kids were given gifts of little puppets to tell one’s worries to, which would be taken away while sleeping. Moreover we were hidden spectators of the “Cirque de Soleil” rehearsals.
All in all we passed 2 exciting days filled with a kaleidoscope of impressions, covered miles on foot and ate great food. Due to long waiting lines and tired children we had to skip even more pavilions, like, sadly, the tremendous-looking Italian one. As the Expo is on every day from 10am – 11pm until the end of October, there will be definitely other occasions to visit. For more information go to the Expo Milano website, here: www.expo2015.org.