Milan, Italy

We got our transfer to Milan first thing this morning, the weather was a bit wet, which was a pity.

When we got to the station we found the very jacked-up "left luggage" place and dropped our luggage off and then left the station building to find the Hop-on hop-off bus stop, which was right across the road.  We had a little wait for the next bus, so we tried to find a geocache, but were unsuccessful.  Once the bus arrived we hopped on and stayed on the bus until we came to the Duomo.  

The Duomo was very impressive, both inside and out. (Not allowed to take photos inside)  Huge.  Awe-inspiring.

After visiting the Duomo we made our way to Luini's for lunch, Luini's serve panzerotto - these are folded over pockets of pizza dough, surrounding tomato and mozzarella cheese that are then deep fried.  Sinfully delicious!  We also bought a couple of beers, and stood on the pavement outside with our panzerotto and our beers, it felt quite strange, but we enjoyed it!

Next we wandered through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, an extremely beautiful and ornate shopping mall. 

It was built in 1877 by Giuseppe Mengoni, who unfortunately plummeted to his death from scaffolding, just weeks before the project was completed. To avoid similar bad luck, locals and tourists alike go to the mosaic of a bull, which is said to mark the spot on which Mengoni fell, and spin on his testicles. We, of course, had to have our turn on the bull too.

We found a geocache nearby, so we quickly did that, before taking a stroll and buying a couple of odds and ends.  We then hopped back on the bus and continued our tour of Milan.  

 Sforzesco Castle

Sforzesco Castle

Porta Sempione

Porta Garibaldi

It was quite fascinating to see the building with a vertical garden (below).  Milan seems determined to become really eco-friendly, which is great.

Once we got back to the station Paula and I found a lovely shop selling baby clothes, so we did some shopping for Isabella.  The Central Station in Milan has really lovely shops!

We collected our luggage and boarded the train to Tirano.  It was a very basic, regional train, not like the smarter trains we have become used to, quite a shock to the system.