Milan, Italy

I didn't even WANT to go to Milan.

I had read Milan was a modern city with fairly little to offer in terms of tourist attractions, save The Last Supper and a Duomo. Oh, and The Scala.  It was like I heard 10 things about Milan, but heard them all separately...10 separate things I was lukewarm about seeing.  It's a center of banking, a commercial hub, home to fashion designers, blah blah blah. It all sounded terrifically boring, to be honest. I've seen plenty of Duomos, thankyouverymuch, I can skip this one.  But I agreed to go anyway, considering our apartment in Vicenza is less than 2 hours away by train. And because my mom, the product of a fairly religious childhood, was looking forward to seeing The Last Supper.

At the Milan train station

My mom is really The Undisputed Queen of Travel. I take it for granted sometimes, but give that woman 2 hours and a laptop and she could do just about anything. So, of course it was her who researched the entire city, made a plan bought the train tickets, and arranged the best part of the weekend -a tour of Milan.

 The tour was in a plush motor coach, with an English speaking guide and included an overview of Milan, it's history, a visit to see The Last Supper, a guided tour of Sforzesco castle, the Teatro alla Scala, the Galleria of shops and the Duomo.

I shouldn't have doubted my mother because you guys, Milan is awesome. It's a large city and it's got an energy that is both soothing and energizing.  It's full of chaotic car traffic that moves along effortlessly in the same lanes as the public trains. (I don't know how accidents don't happen constantly).

But that shared space makes it seem both modern and ancient at the same time.  As I admired the heavy, metal streetcars, an impossible attractive taxi driver told us that Milan sold street cars to San Francisco some years ago.

The architecture is stunning. The history is fascinating. The food is excellent. I loved it. Halfway through the weekend, I turned to my mom and said "I would live here" and she grinned and said "Me too!"



My biggest regret in visiting Milan was not attending an opera at La Scala, the world renowned opera house. Our tour took us through the museum, the gilded lobby and then we stood in one of the plush, red velvet covered opera boxes.  I could just imagine how magical it would be to listen to my first opera here.  Sadly, the (very few) remaining tickets were at least €255 and we thought it was a bit too expensive for lousy seats.  In hindsight, I bet the sounds, the sights, the experience would have been worth every euro cent.

Now, if you ever spend copious amounts of time in Europe you may start to think that after you've seen 20 or so duomos, you've seen enough duomos.  I had that very thought. But, don't be a fool!  Nothing I could write here could prepare you for the Milan Duomo.  The only thing that was even remotely close to it is La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. If you've seen that and marveled at the opulence, the grandiosity of the design, the excess, how around each corner is another opportunity for your jaw to drop to the floor, then maybe, you might be somewhat-sorta-almost prepared for the Duomo in Milan.  But still, you are not prepared.

This cathedral took 6 centuries to build...that's right... it took more than 600 years!  I am a bit of an architecture buff and always find myself wandering around structures and cities, taking in the feel of the buildings. The duomo was like someone shaking you as hard as possible and then hugging you. It's so grand, so impressive that it's startling. But it's also incredible beautiful, spiritual, heavenly and calming at the same time.

We paid a bit extra to take an elevator to the top and walk around outside, admiring the spires up close.  I'm no huge fan of heights (neither is my mom) but it was worth every moment in that ear-popping elevator. The views of Milan are astounding, the close up view of the architecture was a dream.  And I took a photo of my parents that I immediately fell in love with.

And of course, Milan is also full of exceptional shopping opportunities. There is a glorious galleria just between the duomo and the Scala.  I wandered in and out of boutiques there and in the shopping district, dazzled by Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Fendi, Versace and more. It's certainly a city where you could put the hurt on your credit card!

So, dear readers, I encourage you to add Milan to your travel list if it's not there already.

For those of you who are using this blog as help for your future travel plans (or just love hotel photos, like me!) we stayed at the Hotel de la Ville, which was modern, updated and gorgeous.

The location was perfect as a home base for exploring the city and the decor was gorgeous and modern.

  I fell in love with this navy upholstered King Louis chair. I need to ask my friend Stephanie (from Glitter and Goat Cheese ) for advice on how to recreate this entire area - awesome lacquered white table, gorgeous navy King Louis chair and a tall, graphic lucite lamp.

I'm not normally a big fan of wallpaper, but I fell in love with this bold graphic print in soft metallic. I might just have to play with wallpaper in my next house.

And finally, the hotel had a great bathroom as well, which is super important to me.  I'll fall in love with any bathroom that has marble everything, floor to ceiling!

Thanks, Milan, for being my first wonderful surprise on this trip.

Caio!