Buongiorno Sweet Friends!

Today I returned from three wonderful days in Milano Italy! I have been unable to post anything until today due to intermittent internet connections and extremely slow uploads; so today’s posts (Part 1 and Part 2) cover the last several days in Italy. Be sure to click on the Photos link above to see all the pictures from my trip.

This was my second “blind booking” on German Wings and other than not being able to pick your flight times, I love it! I don’t have to ponder and overthink where I want to go, I just pick a theme, i.e. sun/beach, culture, party, family, nature, etc., pay for the flight, and then German Wings chooses a city from your selected theme. Last time I won Corsica (sun/beach theme) and this time I won Milano (culture theme). Like I said, aside from getting the flight times that no one else is booking (early morning/late evening), it’s a great deal at only 33 euros each way – woohoo!

I booked the flight Sunday evening and left on Tuesday late afternoon, so I had just two days to research my hotel, learn everything about the city and plan my visit. No problemo! I clicked on www.visitacity.com to plan my trip. This is an awesome website where you can choose a city from their list and learn everything “touristy” there is to know about the city. It has many pre-built itineraries, but then you can manipulate their itin’s and make them your own. The only junk thing is that the list of cities is short and mainly large metropolitan cities. Luckily Milan is on their list! I was very quickly able to learn about the many historical and sacred places to see in Milan and then print a PDF of my two-day itinerary.

I use booking.com for hotels in Europe. It’s a great website and so far they have offered the best prices on the web. Once booked, the hotel usually sends a confirmation email so that you have direct contact with the hotel management. After reading many reviews on Trip Advisor, I selected the Eurohotel. Milan is very compact and has a great metro/bus/tram system so staying anywhere in the city is manageable. Booking.com and Trip Advisor also offer directions from the major train stations via the metro and that is definitely helpful. One review on Trip Advisor stated that the Eurohotel is behind the Sheraton Hotel. Thank goodness for this tip or I might never have found the hotel as it is indeed behind the Sheraton on a small side street off the main drag. When you come up from the metro, it’s always a little disorienting anyway, plus it was late evening in a new city – Jeez! I would never have found it. Thank you Trip Advisor reviewer!

By looking at the Milano airport website, I learned the easiest way from the airport to the central train station is via the Malpensa Express (about 30 mins) for 12 euros.  Once at the train station, the hotel is easily reached by metro for 1.50 euro. Done!

Unfortunately my flight was delayed out of Cologne so instead of arriving at 7:30 PM, I didn’t get there until almost 8:45 PM and then had to get to the hotel. Needless to say, I just crashed at the hotel after arriving and unpacking. Better to get an early start the next morning. So, other than using the bidet, my first night in Milano was uneventful! 🙂

The next morning after breakfast at the hotel I launched towards Piazza del Duomo to begin my Day 1 itinerary. Armed with maps, my itinerary and a pocket full of euros for the subway, I was ready to face the day. A note on breakfast in Europe. It’s largely grains, i.e. croissants, rolls, baguettes, cereals & muesli, cookies and cake as well as cheeses, jams, deli meats, and fruit. Sometimes there are beans and franks (yeah I know) and boiled eggs too. So not much for me to eat. I usually get by with dry muesli (mostly oats, seeds, nuts and dried berries), fresh fruit and coffee. Lucky for me I always carry my own trail mix and Lara bars as well as fruit and almond butter.

Milan’s cathedral or the Duomo is Europe’s third largest gothic cathedral. Construction began in 1386 and continued for the next 600 years! Finishing touches were being added up until 1965!! Today, the work is largely maintenance and repairs to the structure. Like the Dom here in Cologne, there is almost always scaffolding around the exterior where repairs are being made. Hey, it happens to the best of us! Getting old is hell! I’m just happy I’m not old yet! 🙂

The Duomo is magnificent!! The Dom in Cologne is very dark, almost black on its exterior. The Duomo is a brilliant white. It is dazzling in the sunlight. It can hold up to 40,000 people inside and its interior is lined with gorgeous stained glass windows. The holy relic is a nail from the crucifix that is housed high in the ceiling in a glass cross that hangs above the pulpit. The exterior has 135 spires and over 3,000 statues!! It’s amazing.

I bought a ticket for the audio guide, the stairs to the top and a tour of the museum next door. The audio guide was informative and offered much of the cathedrals history and secrets. The 220 stairs to the top were easy enough and the view was well worth the climb. You can stroll around the roof top of the entire cathedral to get a 360 degree view of the city.

I spent several hours in the cathedral, so when I returned to the Piazza it was nearly lunch time. My Happy Cow app directed me to a nearby, hard to find, vegan and microbiotic restaurant. It was indeed difficult to find with no sign whatsoever and inside a non-descript building on the first floor. But, find it I did and enjoyed a set menu of couscous, chickpeas and lentil soup with bread and tea. Nothing extravagant but warm and filling and inexpensive, and the owner was a lovely, sweet woman.

I returned to the Piazza and toured the Duomo Museum that is filled with statues that have been removed due to deterioration, along with many relics, icons and paintings. I walked through the Royal Palace of Milan and toured the museum there. While it houses amazing art work, it is the rooms that I find fascinating. I love the frescos, the gold leaf, the architecture and fixtures. After the Palace, I walked through the Galleria. Think of a very high-end mall inside a magnificent palace-like structure. Walk through the Arch on the Piazza del Duomo and enter into the cross shaped arcades designed by Guiseppe Mengoni in 1877. I was not at all fascinated by all the expensive stores and restaurants as it just reminded me of Waikiki, but the building is amazing.

When you exit the other side, you are standing in front of a large statue of Leonardo da Vinci in the Piazza la Scalla. Adjacent to this is the Leonard 3 exhibit. It is a wondrous, interactive, digital, 3D  exhibit devoted to the many inventions and works of art by da Vinci. It was getting close to dinner time, so I decided to find a place to eat and then tour the Leonardo3 exhibit since it was open until 11 PM. The vegetarian restaurant was closed by the time I found it, so I opted for Princi bakery instead. I happened on it by accident but when I saw their sign for fresh vegetable juices I was thrilled! Turns out it was happy hour, so for 7 euros I got my fresh veggie juice and all the tapas I could eat. They offered a black rice salad with veggies, chick pea salad and a marinated tomato/garlic bruchetta. It was yummy!! I also bought these thick bread sticks with heaps of fresh green olives baked in. OMG!! They are addictive! I bought two. No cheese, no eggs, no dairy, just green olives. YUMMY!

I returned to the Leonardo3 exhibit and I was blown away at his genius. I had of course heard of da Vinci’s codex or codices with his drawings, sketches, doodles, thoughts and calculations for all his inventions, but I had no idea at the magnitude of his work. Thousands of pages and volumes have been found and reconstructed and digitized so that the viewer can see  clear 3D images of his actual work. Additionally, the institute that is devoted to da Vinci’s work, has painstakingly created 3D models of da Vinci’s inventions. They have brought to life what until now was only on paper in his codices. da Vinci invented early forms of what we now know as the submarine, helicopter, airplane, perpetual clock, air balloon, flight suit, robots and toll bridges – all in the 1500’s! His calculations were precise and he listed the materials that should be used. The D3 institute had created working 3D models of many of his creations. They have also digitized The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa to show what it would have looked like when originally painted. Each painting is historically correct and uses state of the art technology and media production. It’s an amazing exhibit and I learned so very much. I practically closed the place down at 10:30 PM and headed back to the hotel. If you’d like to learn more, go to https://www.leonardo3.net/index.html.

It was a long and gorgeous day, and I was exhausted. I climbed into my bed with my remaining bread stick thanking the Universe again for the opportunity to see such grandeur and experience such history, not to mention green olive bread sticks!!

Stay tuned for Milano – Part 2!! Ciao baby!