April 6, 2017. Another day in elegant Milan

LOCATION:  Suburb outside Milan, Italy

WEATHER:  Another beautiful day.  highs mid 70s

 

Over breakfast at the hotel, we continued to discuss tomorrow's train situation.   George wants to leave on the 7:00AM local train arriving in Central Milano at 7:20, in order to catch the 7:35 long-distance train to Pescara.  Nervous Nelly Karmen wants to catch the 6:07 train, arriving in Central Milano at 6:40, in order to have a buffer, time to get a coffee, etc.  George pretty much convinced me to go with his plan.

 

Then, we started our day by catching a train to downtown.  Today, all the trains were delayed 5-10 minutes, making me re-think tomorrow's plan.  I convinced him to go with my early schedule plan.

 

On our way to downtown, we had to transfer in Monza, home of the Grand Prix racetrack.  We strolled around the cute town, but didn't see the track.  It has a beautiful pedestrian mall, full of chic shops.  We had assumed that Milan is so crowded this week due to a race, but we learned that it is  because of "Design Week".  People from all over the world are here to see exhibitions on fashion design, food design, furniture design, etc.  

 

The Central Milano train station is pretty grand.  There are trains going everywhere.  I hadn't realized that Lake Cuomo is so near.  That is on my bucket list.  

 

 

Today, we experimented with other types of transit.  We  took the metro to the southern part of the city to the canal area.  We learned that Leonard de Vinci was instrumental in creating the sluice system for the canals.

 

Milano is one of the only Italian cities without a river, so in the 1400s  they created the canals in order to transport heavy materials such as marble.  These boats are now party boats and restaurants.  

 

We stopped at this canal-side cafe for lunch.  We said it was a "Rick Steves' Moment". 

 Rick is a travel writer and produces shows about beautiful sights in Europe.  Here at lunch, we watched the beautiful people stroll by, others elegantly smoking and eating lunch, and long racing rowboats with professionals sculling down the river.

 

Some of the streets along the canals are pretty gritty, open at night only for the party crowd.  Even along ugly storefronts, there is usually a surprise piece of a beautiful courtyard tucked in behind.  It reminds me of New Orleans.

 

As part of Design Week, there are temporary art installations all around.  We walked around this strange one.  The ultimate tiny house?

 

We took the tram to another part of the city known to be the furniture design section.  It was full of the Design Week people and shows.  The stores were fabulous, with out-of-this-world furniture.....

 

This part of the city is called the Bohemian section.  It is packed with little cafes, shops, and galleries.   We found a little cafe to have a glass of wine in, and to rest up a bit.  Just beautiful.

 

We have seen pretty much everything we had planned to see in Milan, except Leonardo de Vinci's painting of The Last Supper. You have to reserve tickets for this months in advance.  

 

Back at the hotel, we spoke again with our sweet non-English speaking receptionist.  We reminded her that we would be leaving early in the morning and so we paid our account.  We all had a good hug, with a few tears, saying how nice it was to have met each other.  Wow!

 

Then, we went to our local bistro where we are now "regulars".  Tonight we shared a bottle of wine and a pizza for which the restaurant won a prize.  It had truffle oil, Parmesan cheese curls and porcini mushrooms that melted like butter on the tongue.  Our waiter and the chef gave us a hearty good-bye, too.

 

We have enjoyed our stay in Milano!