Expo Milan 2015

This is my second run at a world expo. This one was quite different than the one in Shanghai. The pavilions were smaller and a little less elaborate, but much more orderly and on theme. The theme this round was "feeding the planet, energy for life". Most countries did a really nice job of showing off and showcasing how they deal with national and international food issues. Every country had a (very expensive) restaurant and bar attached to their pavilion, with some of the poorer countries just having a sort of "souvenir" shop, simple restaurant, and no real pavilion. It was more than a little ironic that we could eat or afford almost zero of food at a food related expo. We ended up buying super cheap eats and beers at the "supermarket of the future" that was amazing. A working prototype, you touch a product and a giant screen tells you: price, place of origin, carbon footprint, nutrition facts, and recommends other foods/ drinks to pair it with. All of this was built around xbox's, and all of it worked flawlessly.  

some highlights/ amusing things:

• S. Korea had dancing robot screens, and THREE high tech exhibits on kimchi.
• Obama addressed the crowed via prerecorded video screen at the USA pavilion and people were taking selfies with his image. Our pavilion was actually pretty honest. Much less propaganda than I imagined. 
• Thailand on the other hand made you watch an entire video on how great their king was.
• Israel took the cake for propaganda. Their entire pavilion might as well have said "thank us for how great we are". Uggg. No mention of Palestine either, lol. Almost walked out.
• Germany was worth the admission alone. They created a high tech/interactive museum + an interactive live music performance and their restaurant actually used the food they grew on sight.
• Estonia had a small orchestra playing inside!

So many other cool things... We spent 12 hours there. Sunni loved it too, I was worried she wouldn't be into it, but as soon as we walked into the first pavilion her face lit up. Next major EXPO is in Dubai in 2020... I better start saving, cuz that place is expensive.

Random cool pictures:

Brazil made you climb this huge rope leaf to get in. That's me on top.

I'm a carrot

I think Sunni was a potato?

China used a 3d scanner to check your BMI. I am normal according to China's standards. The ahead of was too far. It told him to eat more vegetables. lol 

A lot of the pavilions made fun of fat people.

Poland gave out cotton candy.