Milan

Milan's Duomo by night

I probably did visit Milan during my whirlwind 36-day student tour of 9 European countries more than a decade ago, though as I couldn't make out where I was between Liechenstein, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Germany at some point, I couldn't remember either if I've touched Milan on that trip. Probably did on our way to France or to Switzerland. I couldn't be on a tour that covered Florence, Venise, Pisa, Naples, Capri and even Pompeii and not have visited Milan, right?

Anyway, at 10:30 am Saturday morning, Hub suggested that we visit Milan. At the speed of light, I found us a hotel room, though it took us much longer to get the kids ready, pack a bag and actually leave the house. And to make things worse, the man actually had the other bright idea to have lunch in Modena before we leave. Bref, we didn't arrive in Milan till after dark.

I've gotten quite a phobia of driving into the heart of Italian cities because of the video cameras. But the cool thing about Milan on weekends is that you could actually park quite close to the duomo etc - that is if you managed to find parking space. And as non-residents we're supposed to park on the blue lines which were rarer than Bengal Tigers on a holiday weekend.

The façade of the Duomo - wow!

Still, Milan's so worth the visit. It's actually a city! It has beautiful free stone-buildings, museums, posters of musicals and concerts, lots of shops and restaurants!!! And its 600-year old late-Gothic Cathedral is a beauty! 3rd largest Catholic church in the world after St. Pierre de Rome and la Cathedrale de Seville (I've visited both - in fact there are not many churches in major cities that I've not visited. Most churches except the one in London are free and you can't miss them when you arrive in a city.) Extravagant marble exterior and cold marble interior. My pictures of its interior were all taken without flash. Though you always see morons clicking around with their flash even when they have been told that they shouldn't use it inside the church.

Inside the duomo

I wish of course that Hub is worth a million bucks though of course figuratively-speaking he is (ahem). Boy, are there beautiful boutiques in the square near the duomo. But since times are hard and the wallet quite empty, I contented myself with a bag of hot chestnuts and a giant candy floss. We'll have to save a little if I were to get my diamond upgrade in a year or 2. I never stayed awake enough to learn much during Economics at school. But if there's anything I've learnt it's this bit about resources being scarce and one having to prioritise and make choices.

The roof of the shopping gallery

Napoleon had been to this part of the world. Which probably explained why you have signs of folie de grandeur almost everywhere in the city. I find the city really beautiful, reminded me quite of Paris, though people who have been there in the week insisted that the pollution, traffic etc are really bad and that nobody in their right mind would want to live there. But I probably wouldn't be so fat if I could live, walk and shop in a city like that.

Courtyard of the Castello Sforzesco

I look forward to visiting Milan again. There are lots of fusion restaurants in the city centre. Would also love to visit the modern art museums and the modern shopping galleries. Go hand in hand, shopping's an art after all. This place has therapy potential. I love Milan.