August 15 is a holiday! We were lucky this year that August 15th falls on a Thursday, perfect for an extended weekend!
If you have read my latest articles, you know that between the trips and me it is a great love story and you also know that my last trip with my cousin Carine was at the end of May 2019. We planned to leave together after summer, but we didn't see ourselves waiting that long. Our trip to Croatia seems so far away now that we had to go back between two trips in order not to become completely insane; although we are already a little bit crazy together (no wonder we get along so well), but shush, that's a secret. What do you want, there are some who are addicted to games, we are travelers, everyone has their own tastes, don't we?
anyway, we decided to leave for a few days in August to get a little break. I know that a long weekend is just a break, not really a holiday, but it feels good to escape, to leave Paris and see something else, to meet new people, to speak in a foreign language, etc.
We first wanted to spend a few days in Dublin, then we changed our mind for Lisbon. We finally opted for Italy, but I had several cities in mind: Verona, Florence, Pompeii, among others. In the end, we chose Milan, the world's fashion capital, because one of my friends went there and made me want to go there too. He told me that he stayed there for a few days and that a long weekend was enough to visit this city. Milan was therefore the ideal choice for our little getaway.
Day 1
To stay the same, our outward flight was 1 hour late; we are now used to it with low cost flights!
Once we arrived at Milan Malpensa airport (about 1h15 flight time), we took public transport: a train (13€, 55 minutes) then another train (2€, 7 minutes). The hotel is only a 5-minute walk from the Dateo train station. This saved us a lot of money because the taxi would have cost us 95€.
Once we arrived at the hotel, we were flabbergasted. The room, a disappointment. It is tiny, barely enough room to put a double bed and some furniture. The bathroom is for disabled. Nothing to do with what we saw on the Internet when we made the reservation. The walls, cigarette paper, we had the impression that our neighbour was in our room because we heard him talking and also the sound of his phone keys and WhatsApp notifications. The room was a real sauna, impossible to leave the window open with the sound of cars and people in the street. We had to pay 5€ a day to use the air conditioning, it was out of the question for us.
Anyway, we thought that the next day's breakfast (included in the formula) would make up for all that; absolutely not!
Day 2
You will laugh, but the "breakfast" consists of crispbread (2 per package), croissants filled with cherry or apricot, small jars of jam and honey, coffee or cappuccino and pineapple juice cut with water. Not even butter! Anyway, the big scam!
After this pretend breakfast, we headed to the nearest Starbucks. Beautiful Starbucks and huge! Attractive fruit pies, pastries and many others waited for us wisely behind the windows. There was even a little roasting demonstration.
My cousin took a chai latte and a kind of brioche chocolate bread, I took a matcha latte and a croissant.
After our real breakfast, we walked mainly in the Duomo district where the famous cathedral is located.
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Duomo |
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Duomo |
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Vittorio Emanuele II |
We then went for a walk in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II where there are many luxury boutiques: Prada, Louis Vuitton and many others are located here.
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Leonardo Da Vinci |
In this gallery is also the zodiacal mosaic of the roaring bull, Il Toro di Milano. According to legend, make 3 turns on the genitals of the bull using your right heel guaranteed to fulfill your dearest wish.
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Il toro di Milano |
Not far from Piazza del Duomo stands L. O. V. E. , the work of Mauricio Catalan. This is not a work dedicated to pure love but rather a work of love of provocation because the acronym L. O. V. E. means: Freedom, Hate, Revenge, Eternity (Libertà, Odio, Vendetta, Eternità in Italian).
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L.O.V.E. (Libertà, Odio, Vendetta, Eternità) |
We continued walking before we came across the church of Santa Maria Del Carmine. The Milanese (or Italians) seem to be very religious because there are many churches in Milan.
We then had lunch at Obicà, a restaurant recommended by the Guide du Routard where we were able to taste a delicious burrata, among others.
We then went to the district of Castello e Corso Sempione and then to the basilica of Santa Maria di Lourdes.
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Castello Sforzesco |
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Santa Maria di Lourdes basilica |
We went to the Il Massimo del Gelato ice-cream maker, recommended by the Guide du Routard, to taste delicious ice creams (strawberry, lemon and coconut for me). I mean, so to speak for my cousin who dropped hers when she wanted to take a picture of it. The poor girl could only taste one of the three flavors she had bought (melon, lemon, strawberry).
We continued our walk then we landed at Gino Sorbillo's house, recommended by the Routard Guide, to eat a pizza.
Day 3
In the morning, of course, we did not go to the hotel for breakfast. We went to Starbucks Reserve where we had the same drinks and a kind of raw ham and cheese sandwich. We fell for a piece of pie, it was not cheap (about 6€ per piece) but so good.
After a good lunch, we visited the Monumental Cemetery, a kind of Italian-style Père-Lachaise.
After visiting the cemetery, we headed for Santa Maria delle Grazie Church and the Basilica of Saint Ambrose.
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Santa Maria delle Grazie Church |
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Saint Ambrose basilica |
We then landed at the Magenta bar to sip a cocktail (according to the Guide du Routard, a bar to drink but not to eat) and then we nibbled on a slice of bread with salmon, avocado and Bénédict egg at the California Bakery Tre Torri located at the Citylife Shopping District (shopping centre).
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Magenta bar |
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California Bakery Tre Torri |
We went for a walk in the mall and then my cousin bought an ice cream that she didn't drop this time!
We then headed to the Garibaldi station district where we could admire Stefano Boeri's Bosco verticale, two 27-storey green buildings covered with 900 trees, 5000 shrubs and 11000 plants. Very nice but really not cheap because the first price starts at 660000€.
We returned to Piazza Del Duomo where we ate in a chic restaurant, Pino in Duomo: tagliatelle for my cousin and lemon risotto and shrimp for me.
Day 4
Day of departure for us. We left our luggage at the hotel reception and then went to lunch at Starbucks Reserve.
There were a lot of people that day and one of the waiters suggested that we move upstairs to a bar that also serves hot drinks and pastries.
Another waiter, who looked a lot like Tintin Italian version with his puff (we called him Tintino to make the name more Italian) came to us to ask us what we wanted to order. My cousin and I wanted to order the food downstairs at the Starbucks counter and we thought it wasn't possible. After explanations, "Tintino" left us with the first waiter who took our order based on the card in the lower counter. We had to go down to show him what we wanted because it was not possible to get the Starbucks card downstairs. He explained to us that the upstairs and downstairs were linked and that it was quite possible for him to order from below and bring our order from above.
After a few minutes of waiting, he brought us what we wanted but had reversed the size of our drinks, so be it!
Once we were full, we asked Tintino for the bill, who was spaced out.
It's funny because here, sometimes you barely get rid of your empty plate without you asking for anything and sometimes you have to call the waiter to get rid of your plate even though he knows very well that you've been finished eating for a while.
We then went for a stroll in the shops in Piazza del Duomo.
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San Carlo al Corso church |
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Ferrari Store |
We also had lunch at Il mercato del Duomo and bought our souvenirs for friends before returning to the hotel to pick up our luggage.
When we arrived at Milano Malpensa Airport, we lined up to board and talked to a 70-year-old woman who was returning from hiking and made us laugh to death. It was really fun and allowed us to finish our stay in style. Moreover, no delay for our flight this time, a first!
Additional information and feelings
Milan is a very pretty city, the Duomo is really beautiful, but I didn't get hooked on to it and neither did my cousin. We expected something else.I think Milan is more for shopping addicts or museum enthusiasts because here they will be served, there are plenty of museums and shops to choose from.
One weekend is more than enough here.
The most widely used mode of transport must surely be the tramway because it is everywhere in Milan. We didn't test it because we walked a lot and did almost everything on foot. Our hotel was located 30 minutes walk from the city centre and we walked back and forth every day.
As mentioned earlier, Italy looks like a very Catholic country with all its beautiful churches. We also found that they looked quite similar.
The Milanese seems to be dog lovers because there are dogs everywhere in this city and they are accepted in shops and restaurants. We even saw a person eating at the table with his dog on his lap, not very hygienic all that!
Anyway, even if it is not the best city we have visited, this break has done us a lot of good.
See you in a few months for our next adventures!
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