Milano!
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| "I'm flying, Jack!" |
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| EasyJet lovin' |
As
I mentioned in my introductory post this is part of
a series of posts all about my wonderful summer trip abroad. This is the first
of the series so where's better to start than the first city in Italy that I
visited? After a slightly rocky flight, two pale and very excited English girls
emerged into the Italian sunshine on August 11th in the rich and commercial
city of Milano.
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| Excited! |
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| Anxious Louise doesn't like flying! |
Like the tourists that we were, we had printed
off sheets and sheets from the hostel which gave some very unhelpful directions
to the hotel. It states that when we arrived, we had to find a bus that would
take us from the airport to the hotel which in itself was harder than it
sounds! Once we were on an extremely sweaty bus that looked like it might take
us in the right direction, I managed to find myself a nice spot to stand in
with my two huge suitcases. Unfortunately, that spot happened to be the dodgy
floor bit that moved every time the bus turned, and I ended up falling into
many grumpy Italians who were not having any of it!
Once
out of that nightmare bus episode, my friend and travelling companion Louise
and I were stood like too little lost puppies on the edge of a very busy main
road. There was only one thing for it: spending £££ on 3G to find the hotel,
which turned out to be right round
the corner but took us about an hour and a half to find in the midday heat. One
word: sweaty.
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| Beautiful Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II |
Our
hotel, appropriately named RossoVino, was
very similar to a hostel, but it had private rooms. It was very reasonably
priced and it provided a good base for us to explore the city. Each day we got
the bus into the centre of Milan where you can find many beautiful sights to
see, shops to cry in because you can't afford anything and possibly the best
ice cream of your life (that is, until you go to Florence...). Now, I'm no historian,
but anyone can appreciate the beauty of the many stunning pieces of
architecture on display all around the city- my favourite was the Galleria Vittorio
Emanuele II as well as the mind-blowing Duomo.
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| Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II |
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| Amazing floor in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II |
Unfortunately
we didn't get to go inside the Duomo because firstly, it meant waiting outside
in the scorching sunshine in the main piazza, and secondly because I had
nothing to cover my bare legs and shoulders to be respectable enough to enter
God's house. We saw plenty of other churches on the trip that almost made up
for it though, I think....
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| Duomo |
Aside
from historical sights to see, we did enjoy many other sights. These mostly
consisted of: the beautiful Abercrombie models who stand in the doorway of the
shop; the best pistachio ice cream of my life, free red wine in a soup bowl,
and more Abercrombie models. The ice cream was from a little shop in the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele II and I highly recommend it if you
are ever passing by! One evening, Louise and I paid a little visit to ice cream
heaven, then took a stroll through the Galleria out to the piazza of the Duomo.
Some men were busking so beautifully and romantically that I remember thinking
to myself "if I die in this moment, with this ice cream and this sound of
the music and this beautiful view... I'll be happy." That's how damn good it was.
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| This dude was awesome. |
And then there's the Abercrombie models, whose golden torsos
I longed to stroke SO BADLY but Louise wouldn't let me because it's "not
politically correct". Thanks for that, Lou.. The free wine came about because a
restaurant we ate at gave us a voucher for free wine so we went back the next
night! It was quite a treat, to not spend money on something in such an
expensive city. And also, because it was served in a bowl!!?
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| Best pistachio ice cream ever |
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| Louise and her yummy vino e pane |
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| Fizzy vino in a bowl |
We spent the rest of the time exploring back streets, pizzerias, eating some questionable picnics on our hotel room bed, getting very lost and attempting to flirt with the cute receptionist. Thinking about it now, we definitely did not make the most of Milan. It rained for one or two days which put a stop to some of our plans which was a shame. We also wanted to check out the nightlife but were a little worried for our safety so we didn't attempt it! However, it was a nice place to visit to start off our trip and we managed to tick off some vital sights from our list.
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| Yes. Yes that is a whole cooked chicken. #picnic |
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| YUM! |
I
must admit, when in Milan, I didn't really get the warm fuzzy feeling that I am
used to getting when I visit Italy, and I reckon it's because I just loooove
the countryside and rustic Italy so much. I hope that I can return to Milan and
find some nice rustic areas a bit further outside perhaps, so that it isn't a
no-go for the future! I'm sure there are some of these said areas; if you know
of any then please let me know! Also
make sure to follow me on Bloglovin for updates- the link is in the side bar :)
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| Pizza for breakfast |
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| Cheeky |
I
hope you enjoyed reading about my short stay in Milano. Keep your eyes peeled
for my next post, in which I will tell you all about my trip to Cinque Terre
which I promise you I am much more enthusiastic about because it was such an
amazing place!
A
presto!
Olivia
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