Milan, Italy

Our journey to Milan started off with the romantic notion of travelling by train through the Alps into the fashion capital of the world. However, Trenitalia (Italy's version of National Rail) found it quite amusing to send us a carriage train that perhaps last ran in the 70's that contained stuffy 6-seater compartments where the seat numbers no longer corresponded to the boarding pass and it was someone's job to put post-it notes an all the windows to re-number the seating - austerity at its finest moment!



Leaving Zurich

As our train left Zurich and entered into the Alps, Olie managed to take some great scenery shots along the way. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get many photos of the beautiful lakes as our fellow carriage patrons wanted to sleep and therefore drew the curtains.

The green pastures at the base of the Alps in Summer

Capturing the magical mountain tops from the train

The train journey between Zurich and Milan was only supposed to be 3 hours, however each time we stopped at a station, an announcement would be made in Italian, translated by the other passengers (with a roll of their eyes) to mean "There is a problem with the train, we will be delayed by 15 minutes"...which gradually extended to 30min, 40min and so on. So by the time we arrived passed the picturesque Lake Como, it was completely dark and we didn't have the opportunity to enjoy the view.

The cabin of our train - 6 seats in 2 rows of 3 seats

Making Friends with Locals

There were some positives on this long train journey. As a traveller, you should seek our the courage to ask others for tips on what to do and where to visit. Our fellow carriage passenger, Gianmarco was a local Milanese and turned out to be very helpful in suggesting places to visit. He then proposed that he and his friend would drive us home to the hotel. Anxious initially (taking a lift home with strangers probably breaks every rule in the street-smart guidebook of backpacking), but they seemed friendly enough and before we knew it, we were in the back of an Audi, being driven home by locals who actually live in Monza and would be happy to catch up with again if we were to attend the Italian Grand Prix.

Like Gumby hugging a knitting needle 

August in Italy

The last two weeks of August is probably the worst time to visit Milan, as the entire city is on vacation - the only dinner we could find given our late arrival in the city was beer with cured meat sandwiches at a pub. The streets were quiet apart from the tourists. However, despite the lack of foot-traffic, the Church fashion police were still in force at the Duomo (largest cathedral in Italy and took almost 6 centuries to complete), not allowing any tourists in with above-knee shorts despite the morning temperature already past 33 degrees.

Statue of the first King of Italy

Duomo - largest gothic cathedral in Italy

Inside the Duomo

Paintings lining the gothic columns

Amazing stained glass windows

Shopping Galleria

Next to the Duomo was the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a glass roofed shopping arcade dedicated to the first Italian King where even the McDonalds restaurant tries to blend in with the upmarket decor of the Gucci shop.

The Arch - Vittorio Emanuele II

The glass dome in the centre of the gallery

The gallery lined with expensive shops

Leonardo Da Vinci

Outside the arcade, was a statue of Leonardo Da Vinci - painter to the Court of Milan - per the title of the exhibition we had visited at the National Gallery last year. The relationship that Leonardo Da Vinci had with Milan was told to us on the train, whereby the artificial canals that intersect the city were designed by Leonardo to transfer building materials for Castello Sforzesco (Castle Sforza) - an imposing fortress in the centre of town first constructed in the 14th century, home to his patron the Duke of Milan.

Statue of Leonardo

Walls of the Castle

Tower - reconstructed after the Austrians used it as a military base

Milan Train Station

After walking around town, we settled down for lunch near the train station. Tip: do not leave valuables on the table, as we had a 4 year old street kid walk up and put her hand out begging for money while were were inside the restaurant. Milan train station is located in a beautiful old building that looks classic from the outside but quite modern from within.

The train station built out of a beautiful 18th century building

Statue on top of the train station

Our next stop: Florence.

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