Milan and Lake Como
We got up early to leave Lyon, we prayed, Greg gave me a blessing, and then we checked super carefully to make sure we didn't leave anything in the apartment before we left for the train to Milan. Before we left Boston, we had printed all of our tickets and receipts for the trip so we'd have solid confirmations of everything. We had printed our train tickets from Lyon to Milan and before we left the Airbnb, I pulled those tickets out and after we got downstairs and dropped the key in the slot, I realized I must have left the tickets back upstairs in the Airbnb... At that point we were too far from the WiFi to pull the tickets up easily on my email. We have 3G coverage for free in most European countries, but it's only 3G so it doesn't always work that great. By the time we made it to the train station we fortunately finally got our tickets to load! So we got on the train and started our journey through the Alps.
I felt pretty nauseated from this point on in the trip so I didn't get to enjoy the scenery as much as I wanted to. Though what I did see was beautiful! When we got into Milan we were starving and felt a little out of our depth; we should have done more Italian studying. We went across the street from the train station to the mall that was right there and found a place for lunch. With a teeny bit of Italian thanks to Google Translate and the little English the hostess spoke, we were able to get English menus and a waitress that spoke English. Greg got a big farro salad and I felt so boring getting a plate of gnocchi in tomato sauce... One of my biggest regrets of this trip was how sick I was in Italy because I didn't get to enjoy the food as much as I wanted to.
After lunch we walked over to our Airbnb which was fortunately pretty close. Milan was pretty warm so by the time we got to the Airbnb, we couldn't wait to get into the air conditioning. But the AC wasn't working... Fortunately the host was very quick to respond to my message and he brought over a portable AC unit while we were out getting some groceries and gelato. The portable AC unit wasn't great because it put out a ton of water through a little hose in the back. The hose was so low to the ground that we could only have a small bowl there to catch the water so it had to be emptied frequently. Which meant we couldn't let it run all night. Which meant we didn't sleep well at all in Milan because it was too hot. So we were a little grouchy about that the whole trip.
The next day, we got up and walked to the train station to get to Lake Como. It was so beautiful there! We stopped at a little restaurant right off the water for some lunch. Greg went traditional Milanese and got some risotto. I was again super boring and got a Cesar salad and spaghetti in tomato sauce... The tomato sauce was incredible of course so I can't complain too much about being boring/sick. We walked by the lake and had planned to take a water taxi around the lake, but I was feeling so sick and was worried about the boat making me even more sick so we decided to skip that sadly. Instead, we walked around the little town and went into the cathedral there. Before heading back to Milan, we of course had to get some gelato.
We headed back to our Airbnb where we made some pasta for supper and then went out for an evening gelato. The next morning we headed into the city. Our first stop was the Duomo. And man is it impressive.
We went and got tickets to go to the top and it was amazing!
Then we headed back down and stood in the long, unshaded, hot line to get into the cathedral. We weren't sure it was actually worth the line, but then we got in and it was of course worth it!
After this, we were ready for lunch, so we headed into the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a huge mall that's actually the oldest shopping mall in Italy. It's full of all the fancy Italian stores. There were also some restaurants, so we stopped at one of them and we each got some pizza and shared a chocolate salami for dessert and both were to die for! We went back to the Airbnb so I could take a little nap before we headed back out to check out Sforzesco Castle. We passed an outdoor concert and listened some music for a bit and then moved on to Sforzesco where we got to sit by the fountain and take in the sites.
Everything was lovely on this trip and we loved all the gelato, but I feel like we need to come back for another trip because I was so sick and I don't feel like we had the best experience because of that. One day we'll be back!
I felt pretty nauseated from this point on in the trip so I didn't get to enjoy the scenery as much as I wanted to. Though what I did see was beautiful! When we got into Milan we were starving and felt a little out of our depth; we should have done more Italian studying. We went across the street from the train station to the mall that was right there and found a place for lunch. With a teeny bit of Italian thanks to Google Translate and the little English the hostess spoke, we were able to get English menus and a waitress that spoke English. Greg got a big farro salad and I felt so boring getting a plate of gnocchi in tomato sauce... One of my biggest regrets of this trip was how sick I was in Italy because I didn't get to enjoy the food as much as I wanted to.
After lunch we walked over to our Airbnb which was fortunately pretty close. Milan was pretty warm so by the time we got to the Airbnb, we couldn't wait to get into the air conditioning. But the AC wasn't working... Fortunately the host was very quick to respond to my message and he brought over a portable AC unit while we were out getting some groceries and gelato. The portable AC unit wasn't great because it put out a ton of water through a little hose in the back. The hose was so low to the ground that we could only have a small bowl there to catch the water so it had to be emptied frequently. Which meant we couldn't let it run all night. Which meant we didn't sleep well at all in Milan because it was too hot. So we were a little grouchy about that the whole trip.
The next day, we got up and walked to the train station to get to Lake Como. It was so beautiful there! We stopped at a little restaurant right off the water for some lunch. Greg went traditional Milanese and got some risotto. I was again super boring and got a Cesar salad and spaghetti in tomato sauce... The tomato sauce was incredible of course so I can't complain too much about being boring/sick. We walked by the lake and had planned to take a water taxi around the lake, but I was feeling so sick and was worried about the boat making me even more sick so we decided to skip that sadly. Instead, we walked around the little town and went into the cathedral there. Before heading back to Milan, we of course had to get some gelato.
We headed back to our Airbnb where we made some pasta for supper and then went out for an evening gelato. The next morning we headed into the city. Our first stop was the Duomo. And man is it impressive.
We went and got tickets to go to the top and it was amazing!
Then we headed back down and stood in the long, unshaded, hot line to get into the cathedral. We weren't sure it was actually worth the line, but then we got in and it was of course worth it!
After this, we were ready for lunch, so we headed into the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a huge mall that's actually the oldest shopping mall in Italy. It's full of all the fancy Italian stores. There were also some restaurants, so we stopped at one of them and we each got some pizza and shared a chocolate salami for dessert and both were to die for! We went back to the Airbnb so I could take a little nap before we headed back out to check out Sforzesco Castle. We passed an outdoor concert and listened some music for a bit and then moved on to Sforzesco where we got to sit by the fountain and take in the sites.
Everything was lovely on this trip and we loved all the gelato, but I feel like we need to come back for another trip because I was so sick and I don't feel like we had the best experience because of that. One day we'll be back!
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