We got to Milan and were surprised- we had thought that Florence was a pretty big city....until we got to Milan! We had a couple of travel books on us which told us that the best way to get around Milan was the Metro, so we got tickets for that and checked to see where we should go. (btw- we were really proud of how travel savvy we were- navigating the metro pretty easily!) We decided to start with the Duomo.
The Duomo in Milan is SOOOOO much different from ours in Florence. First of all, it is WAY bigger- it's the fourth largest cathedral in all of Europe (following the Vatican, St. Paul's in London, and the Seville cathedral- yes, surprisingly, Notre Dame isn't on the list!), and is built to hold 40,000 worshippers. CRAZY. It's also a really Gothic-style cathedral, so the appearance is completely different. Soooooo beautiful!
Like the Duomo in Florence, this one was free to enter- as they all should be in my opinion, but that's beside the point. You also were not supposed to take pictures, but it was soooo beautiful, that I decided to do a few sneak attacks. (but then lots of people were taking pictures unashamedly, so the sneak attacks were unnecessary lol)
There are altars like this lining the entire perimeter of the church- beautiful!
The stain glass windows were so vivid that Marla didn't think they were real! and they were HUGE.
This cathedral is also home to a couple of really cool relics-
This one is the tesoro. or treasury. A few of the relics housed down there include thorns from Jesus' crown and the "tree of the Apostles" which is made from bones, hair, and fingernails from each of the twelve apostles- creepy, but kind of cool.
If you look up at the top of this picture, there is a little red light showing where one of the nails from Jesus' cross is kept.
After the Duomo, we checked out the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele- a four storied glass-domed arcade opening at the piazza del Duomo.
Some of the really big name designers have shops here, but then there was also a fancy McDonald's, so that was a little confusing. There is a spot on the floor where there is a picture of a bull- you are supposed to put your heel on it and then turn around 3 times, which means you will come back to Milan. There were a lot of people going to do so, so only Marla did it, and she only turned twice, so she's only got a 2 out of 3 chance of returning. :)
After the Galleria, we found a really chic cafe and grabbed a late lunch. A little note on the eating schedules of Italians- most restaurants are open for lunch close around 3 and then open up again around 7. We were looking for a place to eat around 5, which was a little tricky. Not to say that places weren't open, because a lot of them are open for things like coffee and pastries all day, but for real food, most places wouldn't have anything until later. We got lucky and found a place, granted only about half of the dinner menu was available (because the chef hadn't finished the rest of the dishes), but we were able to eat a good meal before heading to the hostel.
The original plan was for me to spend the day in Milan with Marla and Shannon and then take the train back to Florence later that evening, but we were having so much fun, that I decided to stay. So, without a pajamas, contact case/glasses, and change of clothes, I checked into the hostel with them. (Ended up not being a big deal- Shannon lent me a shirt to sleep in and I used my leggings that Marla had borrowed, and then I just washed stuff out in the sink and laid it on the heater to dry. The biggest problem was lack of makeup and other grooming devices. Oh well! Sunglasses hid my slightly scary unmade-up face! LOL)
Later that evening, we met up with a couple of people from Milan that we had met in Florence. They gave us directions to a a really chill, chic (yup, there's that word again) bar for apperitivo. In Florence, apperitivo is where the bar sets out little appetizers or finger foods for you to snack on while you have a drink. In Milan, they lay out a full-fledged meal! Which was nice, because for the price of our 7.50 euro glass of wine, we also got dinner!
We had a really great time hanging out with the group from Milan. They were very friendly and gave us a lot of good tips on places to visit in Milan and in all of Italy. They also asked a lot about our school and classes. Two of the girls were originally from Sicily, so I had a really cool talk with them about my mafia class.
We parted ways around 1 and took a cab back to the hostel. Exhausted, we went straight to bed.
The next day, we checked out of the hostel around 11 and hit a little cafe across the street for a quick cappucino and a croissant. The weather was absolutely perfect, so we sat at a table outside while we ate our breakfast.
We took the Metro back to the Duomo and went around to a couple places nearby. The Palazzo Reale, which has a lot of art exhibits, the Scala Opera House, and a couple other small places. We stopped to do a little shopping along the way. Then, we headed to a street called Via Monte Napoleone, which is the main strip of high-end shopping. All the big names were present and accounted for: Gucci, Prada, Dolce & Gabana, Giorgio Armani, Versace, Valentino, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Ferregamo- the gang was all there! We didn't actually go in anywhere, which seems to be the thing to do in Italy: window shopping is very big here, which is why the window displays are so awesome! They were incredible! We also didn't go in because of the upscale nature of the area- glass of champagne at the door, ivory carpet on the street in front of the REALLY nice stores. CRAZY.
After window shopping, we took the Metro over to the Castello Sforzesco- a fortress built in the 1300s which houses several art and history exhibits. We stopped for lunch at an outdoor cafe and enjoyed the beautiful weather and scenery- the castle was just right across the street! We met up with Rob, a guy from the Milan bunch, and he took us to the castle- he was a pretty good tour guide!
Funny story- the whole time we were hanging out with Rob, he kept telling us to slow down! "If you walk that quickly, we'll be done with the whole castle in about 2 minutes!" We have noticed that Italians walk MUCH slower than we do, so we slowed down and took a lovely stroll around the castle and then through the park behind it.
Afterwards, Rob took us to get a snack before we headed back to the train station. We made our way through the massive crowd of people near the Duomo (apparently Carnevale is NOT over.....we just don't understand Carnevale, haha). Rob took us to a little shop where they served panzerotti- which turned out to be the sandwiches that Shannon had been talking about the day before. :) It's like a mini calzone made on this ridiculously soft fried dough crust, and then it has different toppings inside. The texture is somewhere between a fresh doughnut and a hot roll. YUM.
We said goodbye to Rob and went back to the train station. We were all so tired that we slept nearly the whole way home.
I have WAY more pictures from Milan on my Picasa album, so check them out!
Ciao!
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