Milan

In retrospect we possibly could have shortened our trip to Milan by one day, but there is a large shopping area that we have barely touched so we will probably do that tomorrow.

 We started our visit with the most obvious spot, the Cathedral.

Located in a large Piazza it must’ve one of the largest in Italy, if not Europe. We restricted our visit to the main body of the building and the archeology site in the basement ,the actual museum being closed on the day of our visit. They did offer an elevator ride or stair climb to the rooftop. However wehave seen more than enough panoramic views of many European cities. How different could this one be. 

 During the next 3 days we covered a variety of sights including Storza Castle with its sweeping gardens and three floors of very impressive museums.

 A visit to the Museum of Science and Technology gave us a view of several models of Leonardo da Vinci models based on his actual plans. It also featured a large collection of artwork as well as exhibits on Space and Telecommunications.One building even included the actual bridge and ballroom of a transatlantic liner. The massive display was apparently shipped to the site in two separate pieces, then the building constructed around it.

   Over the course of our 3 days we visited a number of churches in different areas of the city. Travel was fairly simple using buses and trams. In fact we covered most of our visits with just 2 bus routes, so we rarely got lost.

 Today (Friday) we spent several hours exploring the area around the city’s canal, originally used for transporting goods. But now mostly a tourist draw with shops and restaurants lining both sides and small boats offering short rides along the waterway.

 Lunch was veal shank (OssoBucco) and saffron infused risotto for Susanna and a tagliatelle with octopus for myself. Perhaps the best meal we have enjoyed on the entire trip, it was just over 25€ including drinks. It seems that every lunch we have eaten on the trip has been in that range. Interestingly there is an article going the rounds about a couple of Japanese tourists being dinged for 470€ for a seafood lunch in Rome.

  Having eaten virtually nothing but seafood since last Friday I should be having a craving for a steak or something similar, but I really don’t. The one thing that seems to be lacking is a decent serving of vegetables. Other than salad most restaurants offer little in the way of cooked vegetables. That is rather surprising when one sees the variety of produce in the local markets.

 With just a couple of days left before we fly home, I’ll be making this my final post before offering a quick wrap up once we arrive home.
While I had planned to visit a number of the adjacent towns like Bergamo and Turin, the thought of spending 3 to 5 hours riding buses and trains did not really thrill us with excitement. We will definitely be back to Italy in the next couple of years so we’ll save those places for another time, perhaps being brave enough to rent a car to speed up the journey.