Rosona'sTravelogue: Milan

Milan was hosting its first event in a dance genre I like, during my birthday weekend, seemed like a perfect fit. The forecast was rain with some more rain, so I checked out a few rainy day lists of Milan (e.g. this one) while planning.

Just the pictures, if you have no patience for reading :)

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FRIDAY, 08. September: getting in, cocktail contest, fancy storefronts and gelato

I flew into Milan Linate airport (LIN), the closest of the 2-3 options you have (the other "Bergamo" is quite far away), maybe 7km from the city center. There are 3-5 various shuttle services to the main train station in the city. Only one has set up shop by the baggage carousel, so I bought my ticket from them, but clearly they are designed to be staggered so that you can always grab one whenever you need. From the bus, it reminded me of Barcelona. Walking around, a mix of that and Paris.

Once at the main train station, you should enjoy the architecture

then buy yourself a day ticket for the metro maybe (worth it if you are going to travel at least 3 times in 24 hrs -- unlike Germany, the day pass is good for exactly 24 hours from the first time you use it, and will cost about 4.50 EUR) from one of the tabacco stores in the station for the metro, given the professional beggars seem to hang around the ticket machines trying to "help" confused tourists (for a fee of course).

I took the metro to my lodgings, about 2 stops away near the Porto Garibaldi. This was the first scene to meet my eyes, and belied a sort of (astonishing to me) trend in Milan I saw -- of people having full grown trees, almost mini-forests, on their balconies.

Forest-balconies near the train station

Once I got in, I got the keys for my swank apartment-lodgings (not airbnb, booking dot com, but clearly an apartment no one has ever lived in (no knives!)):

I popped around the corner to ESSELUNGA, a fancy-to-me but reasonably-priced grocery store, where, among other things, I bought an amazing salad for less than 3 EUR (chicken breast meat, some interesting greens, fresh tomatoes).

I then set out to augment my dinner with some gelato and exploration, given that Milan is a town known for fashion, in a country that is king of gelato-flavors, imo.

First Gelato location. I'm sorry I didn't take a picture of the insides. It's a chocolate shop cum retro copper/brassy bar. Delighful. I forget the flavors (it's been a few weeks now...), but they were incredible.

om nom nom

A++ would eat there again. Every day. :)

Walking down corso cuomo (fancy shopping street with also lots of restaurants, it passes through/by this lovely arch.

to the left of it is EATALY, cooking-school cum fancy restaurant

I stopped in for EATALY's cocktail competition (rained out the next day, otherwise would have gone back)

menu of interesting cocktails to be vo

I had a bizarro margarita. Server on the left, margarita middle, trendy crowd to the right:

I asked another guy nearby if it's legal to just drink while walking around (note: not legal in Romania, but fine in Germany, so figured worth checking). Dude said yes, definitely, and winked at me.

I walked, drinking, and had another gelato.

om nom

My walk, down corso cuomo/what it becomes was along a lot of darkened storefronts. Very trendy and well put-together.

winter is coming, eh?

Intermingled with this was a variety of graffiti.

I really liked this kitchen:

Returning northwards along the street, through the gate/arch:

PRO-TIP: Italians, like French and Spaniards, start dinner around 9pm. An affordable, earlier option is to buy an apertif-plus-buffet (around 7-12 Euros), tends to run 5/6pm to 9pm.

Sign advertising Apertif + buffet for 7 Euros

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SATURDAY, 09. September: 10 corso cuomo, castle, Canal district. __________

I'd read that the b&b/café/store 10 corso como (that's the address) was a must-see, so popped in en-route to the castle.

Went to and through the courtyard of the Castle Sforzeco. Didn't go up on the ramparts or anything.

Lunch was nearby at a place that served an inside-out salmon salad. The food was ok.

Was impressed by a pharmacy with a vending machine. Tampons, bandaids, anti-blister care, condoms and pregnancy tests. They had everything!

After lunch and gelato, there was wondering down to the uni area, then the Navigli Canal district, which is pretty hip.

Stopped for another snack at an amazing bakery (Il Forno dei Navigli):

those are canneloni with pistachios in the background

As the rain started, but before it turned to pouring, found a prosciuteria (La Prosciutteria Navigli)

interior

that had an amazing "gourmet board" we split along with some wine. Great dinner, great view.

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SUNDAY, 10. September: the Duomo

Voila

Bought tickets online beforehand (PRO TIP, great idea, you also get a "skip the line" option).

The most interesting part of the church (included in our deluxe skip-the-line tickets) was by far the archeological area. There was a baptistry built in 370 or so, torn down a thousand years later to build the church. The remnants of the floor of the baptistry and its pool are on display. Pretty cool.

The church ticket includes entry to the Church Museum, which is stuff they've had to take down for preservation reasons. Interesting to get up close and personal with stuff you're supposed to see from afar.

St. Agnes had some weird hands and feet:

They also had a nice wooden model of the dome, showing you where the various statues are:

like this dude

Near the dome is a super-fancy shopping mall area.

After the church and museum, wanted food and warmth and asked Yelp for a nearby resto reccommendation. Was not disappointed. Ended up at Salsamenteria di Parma. They are a bit quirky, serving (sparkling red) wine in bowls (like our forefathers!) which we had, as well as a nice platter.

After lunch, hiding from the rain, found a weird dimly-lit side corridor that clearly used to abut something, since lots of famous people signed the concrete there: