We landed in Milan on Tuesday at Milanespa Airport. If you ever happen to fly into this airport, be aware that the arrows on the floor are there to help you figure out how to get a connecting flight, not a directional tool if it is your final destination. Paul and I had our carry-ons and walked through the arrivals hall, right past baggage claim (unbeknownst to us at the time), through the "nothing to declare" side of customs and right out the door thinking we'd pick up our bags on the other side. We literally followed a herd of people (who all, I may add, had a roller bag in hand from bringing it on board) like cattle straight out into the ground transportation part and realized we had exited a door where you could not gain re-entry. I blame the walk-bus-train-metro-airport for 4 hours-plane song and dance we had began at 7 am and hadn't stopped yet. So needless to say, we panicked, found a employee (not an airport personnel employee, they were't anywhere to be found) at a connection bus ticket kiosk who told us to go to lost and found and ring the bell. After a few minutes, this nice man came and laughed at our stupidity (he had full right to...)had us walk through a metal detector, and opened a side door which allowed us to go to the baggage carousel and claim the last 2 remaining bags like idiots. Thank god.
We headed to the connection bus (we felt we owed the girl at least some business for helping us out) and made our way to the central station where we got on yet another bus and made our way to Chesa and Eros, our airbnb hosts' apartment. One thing that I guess is common in Milan is graffiti everywhere, so at night we thought we were in the middle of the 'hood, but once the sun came up we saw that we are situated in a very friendly, bustling, diverse neighborhood just outside of the city center. It was perfect, with a laundromat nearby... The laundromat was where we spent our first full morning in Milan. It got much better after that. We did meet a super nice Australian girl in the laundromat, though, which helped pass the time and find out some cool places to visit in Milan and elsewhere in Europe.
After our clothes were finally clean and dry, we started exploring, went to a grocery store and got some stuff for lunch. On our way down to the city center we found nice, big park and had our lunch al fresco, which is a very Italian thing. Walking around we saw tons of cafes where people were sitting under heat lamps eating their lunch or having a coffee, etc. so we figured we would do the same. I was just glad it was warm enough that I didnt have on 3 layers, gloves, and a scarf like I did in Bruges. After lunch we walked down to the Duomo and saw this really cool cathedral.
I could go on and on about the architecture here, it is all really amazing. Pretty much everywhere you look the buildings are ornate and the colors of the stone vary from white, grayish, to pink. They looked really pretty in the sun, too.
We were very glad to see sun and blue sky! We walked around the streets near the Duomo for a few hours and then headed back to the apartment for a much needed nap and to figure out what we should do for dinner. Then we learned about "apertivo" or "happy hour", but it's wayyy better than any happy hour back home!
Chesa told us about a neighborhood in the south of MIlan where there is cafe after cafe offering this happy hour, which lasts for about 4 hours every night of the week. The greatest thing about this happy hour is you order a drink (alcoholic or not) and you get an endless supply of food from a buffet, for just around 9 euros, sometimes less depending on the location. When you are on a budget, this is amazing. And the food was soooo good. We went to this place called Momo's and they had tons of veggie dishes, salads, pasta, meats, fruit, and desserts. The plates were cocktail sized, so it's not like the buffets back home where you get a flying saucer as a plate and then put Mt. Everest on it. Everything over here in Europe is common sense portions, which is nice. You could eat your face off here if you wanted to, though. Apertivo is basically a way for Italian students to live (or travelers) and is also where friends meet up after work to have a drink and some food for a super reasonable price. I took a photo of my plate and the spread that was there.. They kept putting more and more on and lots of different stuff kept coming out too... I managed to eat quite a bit and wished I had room for some more! It was a ery satisfying meal for sure.
We ended the last full day in Milan by sharing a meal with Chesa and Eros at their house. It was a delcious cauliflower, pine nut, sultanas and pasta dish and it was yummmm. We are very lucky to have had such great hosts to make our time here amazing.. After dinner we joined them for a Dance Meet, which is a clandestine Facebook group that meets up around the city and dance a all night, sometimes until 8am. It was a dance group passionate about southern French music and dancing (think music from Amelie', if you've seen that movie) and they really had some good moves. I, on the other hand, did not. The men there were all very nice and tried to teach me the dance, the mandorca. It was a lot harder than it looks, and I'm sure I looked like a fool trying to dance with these Italian gentlemen but it was fun nonetheless. We had a great time, and it was like nothing I've ever done before. These people were so passionate about dancing and seemed like they were tight-knit and really enjoyed each others company.. Apparently it's a weekly event, and based upon the way they danced, I could tell they danced a lot. My two left feet had no place there, but they accepted me anyways. Great night with cool people, indeed.
We walked all the way back to the apartment, which was a nice long walk. We got to see the cathedral in the nighttime and saw these cool Roman columns.
Yesterday was another long and adventurous day. We got up early and went for a run. Milan is not very runner friendly, so we found a park nearby that was HUGE and provided a great place to run, with stairs and all. It was a good way to start the morning, and from what I could tell, the people here use the parks more than the sidewalks... I felt like I was going to run into someone or get hit by a fiat speeding down the side road. Parks are the way to go, if you decide to run here.
Then we got ready and per Chesa's recommendation, we went to a pizza place down the street. I am not a huge pizza fan, but, I felt I should probably try at least some pizza from each city we go to, so I can see the differenes between the regions. Chesa said to try pizza, pasta, and gelato everywhere because it is all done so differently. Milenese pizza is very thick, kind of like Chicago deep dish. The place we went prices the pizza by weight, and the pieces were HUGE! We split a "small" and it was the size of the plate. I saw these tiny older women chowing down, eating the whole piece to themselves... There was no way I could have managed that. Props to them. The sauce was good and fresh, and you could tell everything was homemade. Yum. I'll be looking forward to trying a more tuscan style, with ollive oil and tomatoes or something. All that cheese doesn't agree with me!
So after that huge pizza lunch we walked back down toward the Duomo and made our way to the DaVinvi museum, which had exhibits that showed the original manuscripts for all of his inventions. It was very interesting and interactive, with screens you could go through and learn about his invention, how it would have worked, what it would have been used for, etc. Turns out he invented way more than I ever knew, like a robot lion that was presented to the king of France that had flowers come out its chest. Or a robot soldier, that was a system of wood, pulleys, and armor. Other inventions that were there included the robot automobile, a plane contraption that made man look like a bird, and a helicopter that never flew. It said he invented so many things it would take many lifetimes for all of his ideas to come to life... He was a pretty smart guy.
This morning I added Milan to my yoga mat (I've been writing every city I practice in on it) despite going to bed laaaate last night..Now we are sitting in the Milano Centrale station waiting to board a super fast train to Verona and using the free wifi. The Italian trains look like bullet trains.. We will be seeing a lot of them over the next few days. We are excited to see my old roommate, Maja and her hubby Carlo.. And see the home of Romeo and Juliet (which apparently people try to say a specific home is Juliet's, but it's a load of bull! So don't believe people that try and take you to it..haha). Until next time, ciao!
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