Italy: Milan

While I was staying in Switzerland I realised something totally amazing; I was really close to five different countries. As an Australian this bordered on the surreal. The next thing I realised was that I had friends I had met friends in EF in nearly all of them. I quickly jumped on a map to see who was closest to Winterthur and BAM I ended up in Milan visiting Paola.

I had no pictures of Paola in her native habitat, but I found a picture of her from the EF Malta activities office (she's the blonde one, the other EF leader is clearly Maltese).

I stayed in Milan for four or five days and Paola showed around all the local sites. We visited the Duomo of Milan which rivaled the massive Russian cathedrals in sheer massiveness. The artworks inside I am sure are also very impressive but I do not know too much about art to be able to truly appreciate their historical significance (sorry art buffs) but I particularly liked a statue of an emaciated man, which after visiting another blog I have found is called the St Bartholomew statue. There was also sarcophagi of multiple archbishops scattered inside. The decor, both outside and inside is extremely complex and there are not enough words residing inside my head to be able to do it justice, so you'll just have to visit it for yourself...

Milan Duomo. I had to stand waaaaay back just to fit it in.

We visited her boyfriends house and he kindly cooked me pasta. I was pretty excited about my first Italian prepared  pasta meal. I told him this and I think it made him slightly self conscious and he complained bitterly that it had been overcooked. This was fine as he is not a chef. He also made up for it by taking us to a restaurant that served the BEST pizza ever. We visited the San Bernardino alle Ossa, a nearby church with a famous ossuary that what pretty much full of human skulls. This was about the time Paola regaled us with her ghost stories of the area.

Its okay, I took photos of the ghosts' bodies to steal their souls. This is the ossuary in San Bernardino alle Ossa, ij case you were wondering.

Next up I convinced her to take me around the castle Sforza. Most importantly it had a working fountain (which, if you have read my previous posts will realise that after seeing so many fountains turned off for winter I am now excited every time I see one spurting out water) and a magnificent park out the back.

The fountain (and some castle if you think that is important).

Other than that Paolo took me to the local restaurants and eateries as well as a tour of the fashion district, you know; Armani, Prada, Dolce and Gabbana, etc. The eateries were actually quite cool; if you rock up during happy hour you get a table and as long as you are buying drinks you get to help yourself to a buffet that included all the Italian favourites; bread, cured meats, pizza, etc. Fashion I don't quite get but its good to know where I will be shopping once I have earned my millions.

Baiky in Sempione Park (near the castle).

I spent one day by myself, so I took a tour of the San Siro stadium, home to AC Milan and Inter Milan football clubs. As I'm not really a soccer fan I wasn't blown away by the being in the dressing rooms but the stadium was pretty advanced. There were TVs in the backs of the seats for those with the dosh to fork out for the expensive area, you know, just in case watching the game live is not quite your thing. I wandered through the sports museum there. It had the history of soccer in the area and various pieces of apparel worn by famous players but nothing I really recognized. That evening I stressed out a local restaurant trying to order food even though there was a slight communication barrier (I love ordering food when no one shares a common language).

Baiky enjoys the good seats at San Siro stadium.

All too soon it was time to head back to sunny Switzerland (Milan was overcast the whole time, although I insisted on wearing my sunglasses anyway). I found my way back to the Central train station (Milano Centrale, which in itself is an architectural masterpiece) for the long trip back through the Swiss mountains. One thing I regret was not being able to see the Last Supper by Da Vinci, the waiting list to see that artwork as longer than visiting Chernobyl so I guess I'll have to postpone that until my next visit!

The biggest foosball table I have ever seen; just outside Milano Centrale. Milano, what a place!