Salve, Milano

As we began the descent into the Bergamo airport, I started second guessing my remaining time in Italy. Bergamo is absolutely STUNNING! Added to the bucket list but just from the airplane I could see beautiful buildings, lakes and mountains, and then they had a huge video ad in the airport I was dying over. Next time...

And now that I was not flying directly into central Milan I had to get back on a flippin’ bus for an hour to get from Bergamo to Milan. Nothing to note on that trip except that I wanted off the bus.

Central Milan is nuts. Not in a bad way. The motorcycles freak me out though. I’m not sure if I mentioned it but almost every place I’ve been to I’ve seen a very prominent motorcycle training course - and for good reason. So many people ride them in Croatia and Italy but they weave in and out of traffic and between busses…it’s insane.

Once I got to the bus station I realized I would not be walking all the way to my Airbnb. So, time to figure out the Subway and Tram system in Milano!

After fiddling around with the ticket machine I successfully purchased a 90-minute ticket and found the correct Metro to board. I should mention that at this point in time I didn’t know there were both Subways and Trams. The Trams include cute little wooden trolleys that run on the above ground tracks.

I successfully got on the first Subway and then asked an Italian guy if I was transferring to the correct subway…he said yes. He didn’t speak English well though. He was wrong. I was supposed to be above ground at this point. I realized quickly that what I was doing wasn’t correct and got off. I went up to the street level and saw the trolley I needed.

When I finally found my Airbnb the nice woman who checked me in saw how sweaty I was and ran to her apartment and got me the biggest bottle of water. I REALLY appreciated that water.

I took some work calls and then ventured out to find food. I love how late Europeans eat. Strangely I ended up in a bar, eating a burrito, drinking a beer…in Milan. I know, I’m a bit ashamed but both the beer and the burrito were good. After dinner I walked to the Arco Della Pace which was right next door to my Airbnb.

 

The next morning I had to be out of my Airbnb by 11am but I had a ticket to the Duomo at 10am and I knew I’d be there for more than an hour so I decided to find a place to hold my bag. Bounce Luggage Storage is kind of like Uber for your bags, in my opinion. It’s little smoke shops, restaurants, etc. all around the city (they are a lot of places other than Milan) that you can pay about $3-$5 to hold your bag in a secure “back closet” for the day (or more). My luggage place was a little restaurant and they tagged it like at the airport and gave me a retrieval ticket. There were good reviews on that particular spot and my experience was a 10/10.

The Duomo was…stunning. I purchased a fast pass ticket to bypass the 230 stairs to the Terrace and Rooftops and I’m not sorry about that at all. Going down those stairs was slow enough with all the people. I cannot imagine how slow the up was.

The Duomo di Milano, with its Gothic architecture, is the cathedral church of Milan which means it serves as the central church of the Archbishop of Milan (I’m not Catholic-I had to look that up). Construction on the cathedral began in 1386 and was finally completed in 1965 - although it looks like there's constant work being done on it.

You can Google the history of it - I don’t need to revisit it. I enjoyed the visit and took way too many photos that I now have to go through. I would recommend seeing it if you’re in Milan but I would 1. Buy your ticket early; 2. Get there early. Even though I had a fast pass the line to get into security was absurd; and 3. Get a fast pass with the elevator to the roof. It’s not that I mind climbing stairs but you will have people of all ages and physical shape trying to climb with you - unless you have something to prove or really want the exercise, I’d bypass the stairs up.

                

After the Duomo I wandered over to the Castello Sforzesco - a medieval fortification built in the 15th century by the Duke of Milan - it is home to museums and art collections.

 

I picked my bag up from the restaurant and headed to the train station to catch my ride to Florence. When you arrive at the train station the big reader boards don’t always list every train departing because there’s so many. They do it by departure time and mine was not listed yet. 

 

When it finally popped up (5 minutes before departure which is not abnormal) I had to get all the way down to the other end of the train into the Silent Business Class section - I like this section because people can’t be talking on phones or randomly playing Instagram or YouTube videos without earphones on. It’s quiet. And they give you a little snack and drinks.

We start rolling away from Milano Centrale and then we stop like 5 minutes later and the voice comes over the speaker saying there’s a broken down train so we’ll be delayed 50 minutes. Normally I’d be annoyed but I was working on the train ride so it just meant another extra hour for getting crap done.

The ride from Milano took us through beautiful Bologna and down into Florence. As usual, stepping off the trains into these huge stations is like getting punched in the face with sound. They are bustling with so many people and coming from the silenzio car was even crazier.

And now off to find my Airbnb in Florence…