City of fashion! I really enjoyed Milan. It was beautiful to look at and relatively easy to navigate with an extensive subway infrastructure and plenty of buses.
Upon our arrival, quite late, we had to hop a Metro across town to our hostel/apartment. Our host was less than thrilled with our midnight arrival, but he took it in stride and settled us in quickly.
Much of my initial weeks in Italy were breakneck pace keeping up with Joanne. This got me to thinking about how some people travel. There are two seeming phases of traveling abroad: consumption and maintenance. When you are traveling for a short period, you can spend the entire vacation in consumption mode; eating up the sights, cities, and fare, only to collapse and go into maintenance when you return back home.
Consumption is easy to do in the short term. One can simply be propelled forward through the days with novelty. New sights, people, languages, landmarks all fueling the desire to keep going. Deadlines, like a return flight home can truly make a person push their normal limits with the perceived need to squeeze everything in. It’s just the way things work.
On the other hand, after you have been traveling for a while, novelty takes a back seat to comfort, health, laundry; maintenance. Clothes need to be cleaned, sleep is a real currency that you cannot eternally shortchange yourself on, relationships need to be maintained and fostered. For someone like me who travels with a healthy maintenance phase, living in full bore consumption phase can be trying. Luckily, I had a travel partner who understood these things and Joanne really did her best to take it easy on me, despite her desire to simply take Italy like the Tasmanian Devil.
Milan has some great things to check out. One of them is the painting of “The Last Supper.” I never got to see it, but that is because you need to reserve a ticket some days in advance. Some things need to be planned.
The Duomo, happily, is not.
The Duomo in Milan is possibly the most aesthetically pleasing building I have seen in my adult life. In fact, the only way it could be better is if it smelled like Christmas and was covered in candy. The pictures speak for themselves, I hope.
Milan is a city of superlative quality. The buildings are magnificent. The police are always patrolling. The fashion is top notch. The city made me think of a slightly improved version of New York. If you are into doing Milan on the cheap, you could spend a well deserved day of lounging in the park at the old castle in the center of town. It will make you want to do cartwheels, then pass out on the grass.
Milan is a train ride away from Genoa, which is a ride away from the 5 cities of Cinque Terre. While Genoa gave birth to Christopher Columbus, who is not American, it wasn’t enough to necessitate a stop there to see the city on the way to Cinque Terre.
Wrap Up:
Use Mass Transit. You can buy tickets from metro and bus at any of the local tabacherie or from the ticket machines in the metro stations.
See the Duomo. On the left side is a neverending staircase that will take you up to the roof to get a better look at all the amazing architecture and some of the surrounding city.
Buy some clothes. This city really has it going on. Take a look around and pick up something new to show off when you return home.