A week in Italy: Milan

If the definition of "backpacking through Europe" involves fitting everything you need in just a backpack (no bigger than 42x32x25cm according to Wizz Air policy) and trekking around without knowing where you'll sleep that night, then I can cross that off my bucket list now. Okay so it wasn't all of Europe; it was just Italy. Still counts, right?

One of the great things about living in Poland is that Alex got an entire week off of school for Easter! We decided we had to take advantage of living in Europe and go explore Italy. Our little adventure started with catching the train from Lublin to Warsaw. This was a first for both of us. I was giddy with relating everything to the Hogwarts Express. And then a man came by to see if we wanted to buy goodies from his cart. ("Anything off the trolley, dears?") Such a happy moment fulfilling my childhood dreams!

With seven of our nine flights in the past three years being incredibly long international flights, we were thrilled to fly to Milan in just over two hours. But we were quickly brought back to earth when we realized that we had booked our hotel for the first night only fifteen minutes from the wrong airport. Apparently Milan has three airports...

That was our one major mistake from this vacation. And it cost us dearly. (€8 each for the hour shuttle to Milan Central Station. Then €5 each for another hour to the airport on the opposite side of Milan... Then €15 for the taxi to our hotel, €10 for the shuttle back to the airport the next morning, and another €5 each for the shuttle back to Milan the next morning.) That's a grand total of sixty-nine US dollars! Yikes, I know.

Fortunately, the rest of our vacation didn't follow this same trend. In fact it was all amazing, starting with our first stop: the Duomo.

Coming out of the underground metro, the Duomo wasn't hard to miss as it towers over the square

As we walked out onto the square, we saw small groups of men interacting with the tourists. I recognized these guys as what I called the "string men" when I went to Europe seven years ago. And one of them even offered me some bird food as I passed, which I declined. But I didn't actually say anything out loud to Alex. Well, Alex asked me to take a picture of him in front of the Duomo. I was aiming to take the shot when next thing I know, from behind the lens I see one of these men descend upon Alex and hold Alex's hand out next to him. They caught him! Then another "string man" descends on me and offers to take the pictures so I can feed the pigeons too. By then I knew we'd already have to pay them for this service, so I consented; and trust me, I kept my eyes on that man holding my camera. After the pigeons, they managed to tie little string bracelets "made in Africa" on our wrists. What I didn't expect was that they would want to be paid for each service and trinket! But Alex only had two Euros on him, so they had to split it. I doubt the four of them were very pleased about that.

I love Alex's face in the first one: "Why is this dude holding my hand?"

Here they all come!

Of course, the point of going to the Duomo isn't just to see the pigeons. We could do that in Poland. We didn't get any pictures inside the cathedral because we decided to be frugal on that and take the worshipers line rather than the tourist one, which meant we weren't permitted to take photos. But Alex almost got absolved of his sins. He wanted to go confess to a priest...I wouldn't let him.

(Someone please teach me to open my eyes during photos)

The best part of the Duomo is the terrace. We climbed all 250 steps to the top for a gorgeous view of Milan and a quiet rest among the white spires.

Duomo architecture

Happy tourists

The public square below the Duomo

Being married to a Brazilian soccer player means we absolutely had to stop at San Siro, the home of two of the greatest soccer teams in the world. The tour and museum were already closed when we got there, but there were large windows in the gift shop that gave a great ground-level view of the field.

Alex showing me how excited he is to be at San Siro

We spent probably an hour there... reminiscing about the great soccer players and feeling the spirit of San Siro. haha

San Siro Stadium

If this isn't obsession I don't know what is...

One of the players

Dinner that night consisted of Milan's famous happy hour deal called aperitivo, or appetizer, which is basically a pre-dinner drink with some snacks to tide you over until the real dinner. All you need to do is go to any bar between 6-9  (I wonder when they eat their real dinner...) and buy a drink for about €8 and the entire buffet of "appetizers" comes with it. Sure, the plates are appetizer sized, but you can go back as many times as you want, and we made it pretty clear we were hungry Americans there just for the food. The waiters mixed us up some amazing analcolico drinks: some sort of raspberry and maracuja.

Aperitivo in Milan

We finished off our evening with a walk through Sforza Castle and the beautiful Sempione Park beyond. The arch in these pictures is the Arch of Peace (originally the Arch of Victory,) started in 1807 to celebrate Napoleon's victories.

A walk through Sempione Park

The next day we spent our final hours in Milan at the Villa Belgiojoso Bonaparte. Napoleon Bonaparte and Empress Josephine lived here for a time after receiving the villa as a gift from the Italian Republic in 1802. Today the interior of the villa contains the Museo dell'Ottocento that I am super bummed we didn't actually get to see.

Courtyard of the Villa Belgiojoso Bonaparte

Beautiful statues at the entrance of the Museo dell'Ottocento

Despite our initial disappointment that we wouldn't have time to visit the museum, we loved the villa's gardens, including bridges, gazebos, waterfall, and castle tower and it was a great conclusion to Milan.

Someday when I'm rich...