We were only in Milan for one full day, so our main goal was to visit the Milan Cathedral or Duomo as it is often called.
We both slept in a bit to try to catch up on our jetlag sleep. I probably slept more than Deanna and woke up to get some things handled. I need to go out into the city in search of Sim cards for general use and also for livestreaming on Twitch. Our current ATT cellular does have a daily international service feature to add service to our phones. We just enabled roaming and it automatically worked. That was nice and convenient.
It was raining like mad outside due to thunderstorms in the area, but I knew I needed to go out and handle the Sim cards, so I got dressed and grabbed my umbrella and ventured out. Immediately I noticed how the water was pooling all over the streets and sidewalks in Milan. The cobblestone roads and possibly ancient sidewalks were no help to managing water flow from the rain runoff. I think I was about 50 feet out the door when I felt my sock getting wet from a step I took in a puddle. Oh well, onward to the mission.
The streets were still very busy considering the amount of rain and thunder happening in the area. As I headed toward the first cellular I dodged train cars, tourists and locals all trying to get through the rain as well. I noticed that the trains were pushing large amounts of water too as they drove through the city. At one point the train created a wave that spilled over the curb's edge onto the sidewalk. I imagine some unsuspecting people have been caught by the train splashes from time to time.
The first store I stopped at was the TIM cellular store. I quickly picked up a couple Sim cards and head out. One thing they asked for that I didn't' bring was my passport. Luckily she asked if I had a picture of it and I did! So I emailed her the picture and that was good enough to get the Sim and move on to Vodafone. As I walked toward Vodafone I caught a glimpse of the Duomo between some buildings. In Vodafone I suggested they use the photo of my passport and that worked just as smooth as in TIM. Nice and easy. With my Sims in pocket I headed back to the hotel and made notice of the KFC along the way and took a quick photo of the Duomo from afar.
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| A rainy glimpse of the Duomo |
I went back to the hotel and Deanna and I got ready for the rest of the day while the rain started to calm down. By the time we were ready to head out there was no more rain. But we left with our umbrellas just in case.
We were both pretty hungry so we immediately went in search of food. We wound through the narrow cobblestone streets and onto a main road with trains and cars all speeding by. We happened to notice that right near our hotel was an old church of historic significance so I took some photos of that too. The church is the Church of St. Thomas in Terramara. Click for the Wiki.
We continued our journey in a random direction looking for open restaurants. We found that the google and yelp status of restaurants was not accurate at all, so it was almost useless to look up something online. We found a place that was open and had a decent looking menu so we went inside and got a seat.
We ordered a buffalo mozzarella pizza, a salad, and an octopus appetizer. The pizza was very good. The crust was delicious all the way through. Apparently this place ages their dough for 48 hours to allow the dough to become more digestible. The pizza was really tasty. The cheese and sauce combo was very good and the crust was delicious. The salad came out with a pile of prosciutto on top, which wasn't expected but I pulled that off and ate it so Deanna could enjoy the salad. I did not take a picture of the salad. The octopus wasn't the best I've had but it was ok. I would not order it again if given the choice. The meat was kind of stringy and slimy which is not usually the case for grilled/roasted octopus I've had in the past. I'm still thinking about the pizza.
After our breakfast/lunch we made our way over to the square in front of the Duomo. It was very busy and pretty hot out at the time. We snapped a couple pics and went in search of the ticket booth.
We found the ticket booth around the corner and they also had a suggestion on their sign to buy online. I had previously looked online and didn't find the exact package I wanted to be available. I looked at their link and did find what I wanted. I bought the rooftop, terraces and cathedral pass with lift. After we bought our passes we walked over to what looked like an entry point and inquired if this was the right entrance for us. The security guard immediately looked at my streaming setup and told me that my bluetooth speaker was not allowed. I told him ok ok, and walked away. I remember other streamers leaving their gear with a little shop nearby while they went into the church. So just to cover myself I went to 2 booths and asked if I could leave my speaker and they both refused to do it. So I tucked the speaker deep down into my backpack and turned it off.
We had tickets for the 4pm entry I believe and we jumped in line to wait. When we approached the door the security guy was really easy going. He joked about my batteries and streaming gear not being a bomb and then let us go in. I expected more of an issue with my camera, but I think folding it down and tucking it away made it seem less "professional" than it was. Since it's not professional.
We waited in a bit of a line to get on the lift to the terraces of the Duomo. When we got up to the top of the building we were immediately in awe of the detailed architecture and amazing views. This was definitely worth the visit. We walked along the terraces, then onto the roof. We hung out on the roof and admired the views for awhile. While we were up there a musician began singing down on the plaza. The sound was so loud and lovely and really set the mood for being in Italy.
After we left the roof and the two terraces we walked down the stairway, which was heavy with body odor, to the inside of the cathedral. At this point it was already beyond 6pm and they would not let us entered the rest of the tour which was supposed to include the cathedral. We did get to look around a little as we exited though and it was really nice.
A couple things to note about visiting the Duomo. They claim that ladies have to cover their shoulders. Deanna had on a dress with open shoulders and she did not get told to cover her shoulders. They say you can't bring in speakers. I was able to tuck mine into my bag and it was fine. The rooftop is definitely worth the view and visit.
When we exited the Duomo we strolled around the city a little to view some art and then went back to our room for a quick pitstop. We grabbed free Aperol Spritz in the lobby of our hotel, which was a free perk from 6-9p daily. After our pitstop at home we took my livestream on a walk over to the Castello Sforzesco. The castle has a large fountain in front and really cool walls and towers and a big moat around it, but the square was already closed for the day to visitors.
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| Leonardo |
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| Castello Sforzesco |
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| Castello Sforzesco |
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| Street Art |
I ordered the Ossobuco and Deanna ordered the Gnocchi. We also shared what was supposed to be a Caesar salad. And no dinner is complete without a bottle of wine. The Ossobuco was a bit dry and forgetful, but the side of risotto that accompanied it was good. Deann's Gnocchi was kind of salty and the salad wasn't so bad. The wine was good though.
After dinner we caught a few pictures from the Duomo at night and also strolled the city streets to see the Ferrari store and the La Scala Opera House.
We never made it to the Last Supper fresco, but all in all a pretty productive day with the time we had. Milan was good to us. Tomorrow we take the train to Riomaggiore and Cinque Terre.
Remember all photos will be linked here: Full Photo Dump