Milan: An Intro to Italy

Italy = Picture Overload.

Elizabeth spent the first night/morning of Italy doing laundry. From the hours of 1-3 AM, the time right after we arrived by taxi to Milan, she was up and cleaning clothes that had not been washed for around two months.  We were both very excited about this development.

So to celebrate, we slept in and arrived at our 10 AM walking tour at 9:55. Upon arriving in the correct location and early, we are made aware that our reservation was not in fact a reservation. It was more of a head count type thing. The tour was now full and we were SOL.

I had been standing a distance away from this, taking pictures, but caught enough to figure it out. Elizabeth was devastated. We had reconfigured the morning to get a few extra hours of sleep, per my request, and it had bit us in the ass.

I told her we should stay with the tour anyway. Who cares if it’s full, they couldn’t stop us from walking with them if we want. But she is too angry, too upset to give the tour the satisfaction.

Instead, we walk to the other side of the piazza to figure out what to do. This has been our first tour that didn’t work out. Everything we had booked on the trip this far had gone off without a hitch. Not everything was great, but at least it happened. Our daily schedules were built around tours like this.

As Elizabeth began to tear up, I ran off to the nearest hotel in hopes of finding us another tour. Turns out every Milan walking tour for the next two days was booked solid. 

At this point, we would normally get into an argument. We both struggle with an inability to be decisive, me more so than Elizabeth. With our tour canceled and the rest of the day also unplanned, we have 8-10 hours with nothing to do. In the past, this empty space would have been crippling to us. Ideas would have been floated up, shot down, and we would have stood there for 30 minutes to an hour before arguing and going our separate ways.

Instead, Elizabeth made a decision, I immediately acquiesced, and we headed over to visit the Duomo of Milan. I changed my mind once we saw the line. Thankfully, Elizabeth was steadfast. She said she would wait, and I could go take pictures around the city. It provided both of us time to grieve about the tour trying to ruin our day.

Once inside the Duomo, it was boring. Another church, lots of columns, stained glass, high roof, quite a bit of beauty, but not particularly original. It was great to not have to look at another moqsue and minaret, but if the only other option was back to churches, I think I’d just stay in the apartment eating prosciutto and drinking prosecco.

The Duomo

David and Golaith

Beautiful Doors

Interior

Interior

Exterior

Exterior

Interior

Interior

Underneath the church is a the ruins from the previous churches that once stood where the Duomo is today. In the 70’s the whole plaza in front of the church was removed and they excavated the area. We thought scaffolding was bad. Can you even imagine showing up and the whole plaza looks like a construction zone?

Previous city church

However, the big thing to do at this church is head to the rooftop. It seems that the roof was built with paths for people to walk around and not just for roofers.

The views were awesome. Milan is no not known for great weather. Typically it is foggy and hazy. The day we ascended the stairs to get views of the city was not indicative of Milan weather we were told.  

You could clearly see the Alps. You could see for miles. As a Gothic cathedral, there were wonderful design elements everywhere. It was difficult to stop taking pictures. The wait was worth it. I should listen to my wife more I suppose.

We left on a high note to go strolling in the city, looking for lunch. I didn’t want our first meal in Italy to be a disappointment, but it was a Sunday at lunch. Not the best time to find nice places open. But I managed to find just such a place. The best dish we had was one of two of the most famous dishes of Milan, risotto Milanese.

It was one of the best risottos we have consumed. A great way to start our food adventure of Italy, but also nerve-wracking since our meals would now be compared to this dish.

With no plans other than finding mass, we strolled around parks and lanes, finding a festival for dogs and also a festival touting individual regions of Italy. These regions were not only for the big areas you know, it was really more for the smaller places to have a venue to brag about their culinary delights, all within a castle from the 1400’s. After buying some Lambrusco, we stopped by a cheap food stand to experience our first Italian gelato.

This first gelato would be the beginning of our gelato challenge. Never one to shirk from an opportunity to go overboard, I told Elizabeth we would be eating gelato every day we were in Italy, twenty eight days in a row. We would see how long we could last.  One week? Two? Could we go four weeks straight, eating at least one scoop of gelato every day?  I didn’t think we could, but I wanted to push us to the brink to see how far we could last.

Day 1 gelato finished, we arrived at mass looking out of place. We were among the few pale faces in the crowd.  The mass was supposed to be in English, but after looking around we were unsure. The crowd was predominantly Asian and based on my limited knowledge, looked to be more from the islands south east of Asia as opposed to the continent itself.

It all became clear when the projector screen showed the mass was to take place in two languages, English and Tagalong, the native language of the Philippines. We understood all of the English parts and none of the other, but it was fun to sing in Tagalong and the youth choir had some great voices to accompany the congregation.

Dinner was another traditional dish, osso buco, at a very traditional restaurant. I had been excited to try the dish in Milan and was able to order it. I will need to revisit Milan though in hopes of having a good version next time. We were later told it was a little silly for us to order it as it is typically a winter dish.

With nothing planned for the next morning (we botched getting tickets for The Last Supper while on the Camino so we had extra free time in Milan), I decided I would make up the tour we were pushed out of the day before.  I found the list of places the tour visited and off we went.

Views from the Arcade

Story is if you spin on your heel on the bull’s testicles you’ll have good luck. People really enjoyed doing this and the mosaic pieces were worn to nothing.

We want all the fancy umbrellas

We visited old building, churches, and Milan University, at one time the most modern hospital in the world during the 1400-1500’s. We spent a fair amount of time walking around the campus, with its history and whatnot. Sadly, with all that walking, we never found a student store peddling team apparel. I knew colleges around the world don’t do sports teams, but I though we could find a sweatshirt with something on it. Nope.

Views of Milan

Views of Milan

Views of Milan

Views of Milan

Views of Milan

Instead, we celebrated our successful morning with lunch at Luini. The most famous cheap eats in Milan, they sell the equivalent of miniature calzones. Adorable, fluffy, delicious little savory (or sweet) turnovers filled with many different things. It was great to not have to alternate between a tajine or couscous.

We were starting to love Milan, an expression that few share due to its focus on business, finance, and normally terrible weather. Our appreciation only grew after our craftsman tour. We took so many pictures and had such a good experience that it deserves it’s own blog post. Stay tuned. Ciao for now.