Early this morning we left our problem-riddled hotel in Padua and departed for our last stop on our grand tour of Italy—Milan.
I have been looking forward to seeing the heart of the country’s business and fashion enterprise. And despite the chilly breezes and cloud cover, Milan has not disappointed so far.
Our first stop after our three and a half hour bus ride was the famous Duomo. I have seen pictures of this phenomenal gothic cathedral in the past and let me tell you, it exceeds the hype. (Emily was visibly awestruck when she walked in and saw the amazing stained glass.)
Our local guide Simone was so passionate about the cathedral, it was lovely listening to him talk about the different sculptures and other details of the church that you would definitely miss if touring it on your own.
After our visit to the Duomo, we took an hour and a half for lunch. We ate outside at a nice place (nice enough to charge us 6€ for bread, yeah we fell for it, the bread looked too good). Carrie and I got gnocchi which of course did not disappoint.
After carb-loading we rejoined our group and Simone and headed throughout the rest of Milan’s city center. We saw La Scala opera house, the stock exchange (which has a huge middle finger sculpture in front of it that also looks like a Nazi salute from the side), the bank of Italy, and Sforza Castle.
I did a small report on Sforza Castle earlier in the semester and it was very cool to see what I had researched in person. It was also a great feeling to see that my research was accurate! The coolest part of the castle was the moat area which is now green space that houses 40 stray cats. The castle employs a woman to feed them each day and she is the only person allowed in the space. Pretty cool huh?
After a little rest at our hotel (which actually has a shower stall,) we departed for dinner. We ate at a local pizzeria, it was an unconventional dinner of a very nice pasta with red sauce and then chicken and french fries which we all thought was really bland fish and chips.
Then our lovely new tour manager Serena took some of us to a gelato shop and I got a flavor called “winner taco” which was confusing but also chocolatey and delicious. Now some sleep before we get back into our media visits tomorrow.