As far as I knew, there wasn't an incredible amount to see in Milan in terms of being a tourist so we decided to make it a relatively chill day. Landing in the airport after an early flight from the Leonardo Da Vinci airport in Rome, we took a coach to the Milan city centre and left our luggage in the train station storage. First thing's first: we went off to look for a cup of delicious Italian coffee in the still-sleeping city. To go with our anticipated coffee, Tatiana and I bought some chocolate croissants at a baker's market just outside the train station. The weather was a bit chilly (I was wearing both my pleather jacket and my coat) and the sky sprinkled a tad during the day. The grey sky wasn't doing developing Milan a favor, but when we finally got in the city centre, things turned up. I found the buildings with narrow windows and wooden shutters charming on their colorful facades.
It felt quite European going from coffee shop to coffee shop with espressos, cappuccinos, lattes, melanges and the occasional Americano. Okay, so maybe we had about three cups each, but we hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, okay? Also, coffees in Europe are a bit different than our talls and ventis in the States (although Starbucks is everywhere now and they keep their American sizes). Espressos and cappuccinos are small and dainty, but strong.
I'm a huge fan of markets: outdoor markets, covered markets, farmer's markets, antique markets and especially flea markets. After a lounge in a cafe, we stumbled across a sign pointing to a market, so we made a beeline for it. Being Italy, naturally there were plenty of leather goods and plenty of designer goods (whether they were real or not, I wasn't sure, but I fell in love with a pair of Valentinos that I simply couldn't afford or fit into my suitcase).
The market was a great combo of clothing and food so we bought some great abate pears and really yummy grilled chicken skewers for lunch. :) Time for another cup of coffee! Besides, if we get coffee we can sit in the outdoor cafe and eat lunch while people watching. :)
So what is there to see in Milan in terms of tourism? Well, the Duomo for one!
It's a beautiful cathedral as you can see. :) And a great place for people watching as the shopping centre is really close to it. I do love looking at peoples' outfits!
That shopping centre is packed to the brim with Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Dior, etc...
There is also the Santa Maria delle Grazie that holds the Last Supper however! But on the downside, one needs reservations practically months in advance to see it. But regardless, we were in Milan on a Monday and the Santa Maria was closed. Sad day! And we walked all the way over! At least it was a nice walk. And we got to grab some Pocket Coffee candies (coffee candy filled with a liquid centre). Here's a photo of the church:
The courtyard of the church was actually open and it was recommended, so we went for a look-see:
Afterwards, we kept on exploring the city, looking for a place to grab a bite before catching our next flight to Berlin. When the time came, we grabbed our luggage and bussed back to the Milan airport only to be greeted by a canceled flight to Berlin. This caused quite some drama amongst all the passengers and we ended up spending the night in a hotel lobby due to easyJet's poor service (they were supposed to pick us up from the fully booked hotel and transport us to another for free). Luckily for us, we were able to catch a flight 24 hours after our original one and off to Berlin we went! At last!
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