Matt and Lisa's Adventures

4 January 2023

Our first train was French and was as rubbish as the one we had taken to Nice. It was clearly the local commuter train from Nice to Monaco and it was packed. I got stuck standing on the stairs between levels which wasn’t comfortable, although the locals seemed fine. The woman next to me was even reading her book. Thankfully nearly everyone got off the train in Montecarlo but by that point we were over halfway through the trip. We changed trains in Ventimiglia and the Italian train was a huge improvement. 

The train from Ventimilagia to Milan was long (nearly four hours) and had a lot of stops but overall it was a good trip. The train was quite nice and I was able to watch four episodes of Bear which was an entertaining show. Lisa was able to get us a hot chocolate and pastry before we boarded which helped as well. 

When we arrived in Milan we grabbed lunch at the train station. It was expensive but that first taste of pizza in Italy made it well worth it. We met the guy at our accommodation, which is an apartment so more Air BnB styles rather than a traditional hotel. The apartment is nice and has a washing machine which is a major win. 

We then headed off to the Milan cathedral. The building was very impressive from the outside and certainly massive. More amazing is the giant square that the cathedral borders with so many people out and about. We bought tickets and went inside the cathedral. It was just as impressive from the inside – it should be considering it took about 600 years to complete! The stained glass windows were particularly colourful. After the cathedral we walked through the arch into a very fancy high end shopping area. 

After much discussion we decided to do a hop on hop off bus trip to see some of the city. We had planned to get a 24 hour pass so that we could continue with the tour the following day but after a mix up we only got a single loop. We had also intended to do the historical tour, but somehow ended up on the modern loop – the whole thing was not a win. We sat on the top of the bus but it was pretty cold up there.  The tour was quite good and focused on the more modern Milan rather than the historical sites. We saw some interesting new buildings and got a feel for the key areas of the city. 

After the bus we decided to look for somewhere for a pre dinner beer. However, we quickly ran into a Uniqlo which led to a Lisa diversion there. Unfortunately we couldn’t find any gloves in there which are feeling more necessary with the change in temperatures. The area we were in didn’t really have any suitable pubs being too high end so we caught a tram (which we didn’t pay for as it was too complicated) back to the apartment area. There we managed to find a pub and had a sneaky Asahi. It was a bit of a rigamarole finding a place for dinner but eventually we found a restaurant and wine bar. I had the carbonara which was delicious and Lisa had lasagna that she raved about for the rest of the trip.

5 January 2023

We then walked to the Brera art gallery stopping for a hot chocolate along the way. The gallery holds some of the best artwork in Europe and is Milan’s most famous gallery. There were a lot of very impressive paintings although too many on religious theme for my liking. What would art and the world have been like without religion? I certainly think the art would have been a lot more diverse and therefore more interesting. Lisa and I split up and Lisa went shopping after half an hour at the gallery. After some initial very impressive works I went through the second half of the gallery at a faster pace, there’s only so many Mary and Jesus pictures one can see in single day.

From there it was onto the Leonardo museum. This had a really good audio guide and models of Leonardo’s inventions. Last time in Rome we went to a Leonardo exhibitions that had been more interactive and while the museum was good it wasn’t as compelling. 

I then set out to meet up with Lisa grabbing a lunch panini from a street cart. We then headed off to the Milan castle for a walking tour of the castle which also covered Leonardo’s life. The guide, Isa, was very good and gave us a good overview of his life. 

• Leonardo’s father was a notary but his mother was a peasant and they were not married which therefore makes him a bastard. His father recognised his artistic skills early and despite limited education his father pushed him towards becoming an artist. 
• He started in Florence but ran into some trouble after being caught for sodemy. He started a painting for the church but didn’t finish it after he got in trouble for not following the specifications 
• He then moved to Milan initially as a musician. He made an entrance by winning a music competition playing a lute in the shape of a horse’s head. 
• Leonardo tried his hand at everything! And seemed to be pretty damn good at most things. 
• He left Milan after the French conquered it and spent time in Rome and Florence before returning to Milan. He was then invited to France and lived in Paris for the last two years of his life. 

After the tour we grabbed a gelato as our afternoon treat and then headed back to apartment for a rest after what had been a long day. It was a bit of a wander to find a restaurant for dinner but we found a touristy Italian place. Lisa had the carbonara but then complained that it was “too yellow”, whatever the hell that means. I had the lasagna and it was delicious.

Overall Milan has been a very nice city. Much busier than the places we stayed in France and less touristy than Barcelona. The cathedral was very impressive and certainly crazy busy in the area around the cathedral and main square. There were some more modern and larger buildings than the other places we had been. A lot of shops didn’t speak English at all and it was a challenge at times with ordering things. The city was very clean and the metro was fantastic and very easy to get around. Helps having screens tell you what the upcoming stops are. Two days felt about right for Milan, I don’t think there were too many other major attractions to see. If we came back I would look at a day trip to lake Como.