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Published: September 16th 2012
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Buongiorno Inghilterra,
As promised here's my review of Milan, to be honest one day was definitely enough to see it all and even had time to do some shopping as well.
Got up crazily early on the Sunday morning to get a lift from the dad, on the way we were talking and he told me that the girls are all really sad I'm leaving and see me as a big sister. He also said if I want to come back in February to see the Orange throwing festival that I can stay with them, which was nice.
As soon as I got to Milan the first thing I did was to buy a one day metro pass, as I learnt from my experiences in Rome it is the cheapest and easiest way to get around when site seeing and for the bargain price of 4 euros and 50 cents can save you hours of precious time which would otherwise be spent on getting lost. All day long I jumped straight on and off the metro to flit between different things I wanted to see, as most of the major
sites are right next to a metro station.
I went straight to Milan Central station to book my ticket for Feltre and then thought I'd treat myself to a cheeky Burger King. The station was overrun with nuns, it was crazy and there was even one in front of me in the que for Burger King!
After that I jumped on a train and headed straight for the Duomo which is a massive Cathedral, as soon as you come up the steps at the station you can see it and it is absolutely breathtaking. Inside you can find many beautiful stained glass windows also. Next to the Duomo is a walk-through gallery where there is a 'lucky' mosaic, you have to put your heel in the middle and spin around. If you can do so without falling over, then your wish will come true, I did it so let's see what happens!
After this I managed to get in a bit of cheeky shopping, found a Decathlon store so stocked up on cheap exercise clothes and then I went to check out another church called San Lorenzo Maggiore. Just to warn you guys make sure you take
something with you to cover your shoulders, because even when its 30+ degrees outside they're still pretty strict about this.
Then it was time for lunch, which I decided to take al fresco, as it was such a beautiful day. After refueling with a plate of pasta and a glass of coke it was time to head over to see the Teatro alla Scala. If you want to look inside you can, put of course you have to pay to do so. I couldn't be bothered so instead jumped back on the metro to try a bit of shopping in a different part of Milan. Then it was gelato time, I had peach and mixed berry flavours and I tell you what I much prefer the gelato in Ivrea, cheaper and tastier.
Getting towards the end of the day I jumped back on the Metro and headed over to Castello Sforzesco for a quick walk around the grounds, again if you want to pay to go in you can, but I wanted to head over to my last stop of the day Da Vinci's Last Supper. If you want to do this then make sure you book in
advance, I found it difficult to get a last minute ticket 4 days before I went and was lucky to find this website http://www.museumticketreservations.com.
It's so strange when you go to see The Last supper as it's not in a gallery, but painted on the wall of a little house Da Vinci constructed. Before you can see it you have to go into all these different rooms controlled by electronic doors that only open once the previous doors have closed behind you. Once in you have only 15 minutes with the picture and it is pretty amazing to see in the flesh. So far I have seen The Mona Lisa and now The Last Supper, so looking forward to seeing The Vitruvian Man once I move to Venice and then my tour of The Da Vinci Code is complete.
After that I had a mad dash back to the metro to catch my train back to Ivrea, however I got off at the wrong stop so missed my train by 30 seconds and had to wait and hour for the next one. Very kindly the dad came to collect me from Ivrea station and they had saved me
some dinner, as it was 10pm when I got back.
All in all I'd say my favourite things in Milan were definitely the Duomo and The Last Supper, but otherwise unless you want to go there to shop it's nothing special to be honest. One thing that's pretty cool in Milan is that all the metro escalators are motion sensored so they only work when someone is near them, saving on electricity, which in turn helps to save the planet.
In other news this week, I've befriended the housekeeper who comes in the mornings. One afternoon after she finished work we went for a gelato and another time we went to Mc Donald's and then shopping. She's actually quite sweet although I thought she hated me when I first started and is from Romania. She's really keen to learn English, but I also get to practise my Italian when I speak with her because she is fluent. I gave her some old clothes and bits I don't want to take with me when I move and she was really grateful for them.
This time in 2 weeks, I'll be on the epic 6 hour train journey to
Feltre so starting to get bits sorted now. The kids went back to school on Wednesday so finding it hard to adapt to a new routing of getting up early and doing loads of running around with their after school activities.
Hope you like my Milan pictures, now for my lazy Sunday plans of Sister Act 2 and a Snickers.
More next week,
Soph
XxX
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