Day 1: Milan
The Swissair flight from the States is packed and the seat configuration is extremely tight. On the plus side, we make our connection in Zurich with no problem and the food is not bad. We are also grateful that the airplane tragedy in Milan didn't affect the flight schedule.
When we land in Milan, the sky is gray and it is drizzling--not very auspicious given the wet weather in Italy over the past couple of weeks. Our bags arrive quickly and there are no formalities; we just roll our cart out and head for the train to downtown Milan. The Malpensa Express is quick and comfortable; lots of room for luggage. The trip to Cadorna station takes about 40 minutes and it costs 9 Euros. This is our first encounter with the new currency. Although I miss the concept and romance of the lira, the Euro certainly is less complicated and more convenient--maybe the United States should adopt it also.
Getting a cab is complicated by the fact that the first ATM machine I tried didn't like my card, the second was out of order, and there was line five deep at the third. But it all worked out, we got a cab (large enough to fit our luggage in) and headed for our hotel.
First impressions of Milan on the drive to the hotel--a handsome city with lots of trees and green space. Our cab passes close to the Pirelli building and the damage to the facade is very striking. But it doesn't seem to have stopped traffic in the area. Our hotel--the Sanpi--is--coincidentally--right across the street from the trattoria we had eaten in twice on our first trip to Milan in 1995.
Our room is small but has all the modern conveniences--good bathroom (with small stall shower), lots of closet space, adequate lighting, and a separate modem jack for computers. We unpack, take showers, and get ready to head out--Diana takes a short nap and I try out the computer connection, which works fine after some adjustments and tweaking. We also call our friend in Milan and make an appointment for Saturday night to meet and go to a demonstration against Berlusconi and then out to dinner.
By the time we are ready to leave the hotel, the sun has come out and the weather is very pleasant. We walk to the main shopping street (Corso Buenos Aires) through our neighborhood, which appears to have lots of Arabic signs and stores.
Our first stop is at a telephone store to buy some credit for the Great Travels cell phone. We then plan to head to see the Last Supper of Leonardo da Vinci. We had been unable to get reservations and the hotel was also unsuccessful, so we will try and go there in person and see if we can get in. Although the subway would take us directly to the church--Santa Maria delle Grazie--we want to travel above ground and head for a tram stop. A friendly Italian shepherds us in the right direction and we find the right tram (which is right around the corner from the hotel). Since the tram goes right past the Duomo, we decide to stop there first--since one of my main goals in Milan is to get to the roof of the cathedral, for the views over Milan and to see the amazing Gothic architectural details--spires, statues, gargoyles, etc--from up close. Since the weather is so pleasant, it is a good time to take advantage of it.
We get off the tram near La Scala (which is closed for restoration), walk through the amazing glass covered Galleria shopping arcade (the living room of Milan), and get to the Duomo. It is gigantic (the third largest in the world) and set in a broad piazza. Some people find it a bit much, with all the spires and turrets, but I really like it. We take an elevator to the roof and walk past the flying buttresses, the statues, and the decorations all the way to base of cupola. Lots of people are there--many of them sunbathing. I am happy to have made it to the top, since on our previous visit, it had been closed by a general strike.
We take the tram the rest of the way to Santa Maria delle Grazie and the Last Supper. We get off at exactly at the same place that we had gotten a taxi earlier in the day (at Cadorna Station) and walk the rest of the way to the church. This area of Milan is also very pleasant--handsome buildings, wide streets, lots of green; we think (as we had before) that Milan has gotten a bad rap. At the church, there is a sign saying that there are no tickets available for today. We ask at the office about the weekend and they say that there is nothing available for those days either. They tell us to call the reservation number for Monday's possibilites--the same number that is constantly busy. We decide to try at the main ticket office near the Duomo tomorrow.
We start walking back towards the tram but we decide to look for a snack first....we see a bakery called the California Bakery and we stop to check it out. They have all sorts of American baked goods--even bagels--but that is not what we are looking for. Continuing along the Corso Magenta (a major shopping street), we seem to have entered a "gelato-free zone". We walk for blocks with no gelato in sight. We stop at a shop which sells bakery goods from all over Italy--sbrisalona from Mantova, panforte from Siena, cookies from Sicily, etc. Diana buys a bag of cookies from Trentino and we continue our search for gelato.
Just as we are about to give up, a gelateria appears and we go in. I get an extremely zippy lemon and a very good strawberry--and I feel better. We continue to the tram stop near the Duomo as we are starting to get tired--the jet lag is setting in. When the right tram arrives--the number 1--all the passengers disembark and the tram goes off empty. After five more minutes of waiting for another one, we give in and start to search for taxi. Sometimes you have to decide that you have more money than time.....
At the hotel, we have a short rest, but--even though it is still early for dinner in Italy (7:30 pm)--we head out for the restaurant across the street, Il Carpaccio. If we wait any longer, we may fall asleep at the table. We are not the first ones there. It looks exactly the same as it did when we ate there in 1995....we are greeted in Italian by a Chinese waitress and are seated at the same table we ate at on our first visit. The same owners are still there--a father and son, we think. While we are there, the restaurant starts to fill up--with a mixture of tourists and Italians.
Our dinner is quite good and we are happy that the service is efficient; we are not ready to have leisurely meal. We both have risotto to start--milanese (with saffron) for me, asparagus for Diana--both very good. Diana has the veal cutlet Milanese, a huge piece of breaded veal very nicely-cooked and tasty and some great roasted potatoes. I have the fritto misto, which is excellent--some small fish, some calamari and a fish fritter. We have a half carafe of the house white, which is refreshing and easy to drink. Diana has rasperries for dessert and I hav a very creamy panna cotta, with a not too sweet caramel like sauce. Too much but very good. The bill comes to 58 Euros, about $53 US; it is hard to eat this well with as much style back home.
Luckily we only have to cross the street and come up to our room.....we are out like lights in a matter of minutes. It is a very good first day in Milan.
Jim and Diana
When we land in Milan, the sky is gray and it is drizzling--not very auspicious given the wet weather in Italy over the past couple of weeks. Our bags arrive quickly and there are no formalities; we just roll our cart out and head for the train to downtown Milan. The Malpensa Express is quick and comfortable; lots of room for luggage. The trip to Cadorna station takes about 40 minutes and it costs 9 Euros. This is our first encounter with the new currency. Although I miss the concept and romance of the lira, the Euro certainly is less complicated and more convenient--maybe the United States should adopt it also.
Getting a cab is complicated by the fact that the first ATM machine I tried didn't like my card, the second was out of order, and there was line five deep at the third. But it all worked out, we got a cab (large enough to fit our luggage in) and headed for our hotel.
First impressions of Milan on the drive to the hotel--a handsome city with lots of trees and green space. Our cab passes close to the Pirelli building and the damage to the facade is very striking. But it doesn't seem to have stopped traffic in the area. Our hotel--the Sanpi--is--coincidentally--right across the street from the trattoria we had eaten in twice on our first trip to Milan in 1995.
Our room is small but has all the modern conveniences--good bathroom (with small stall shower), lots of closet space, adequate lighting, and a separate modem jack for computers. We unpack, take showers, and get ready to head out--Diana takes a short nap and I try out the computer connection, which works fine after some adjustments and tweaking. We also call our friend in Milan and make an appointment for Saturday night to meet and go to a demonstration against Berlusconi and then out to dinner.
By the time we are ready to leave the hotel, the sun has come out and the weather is very pleasant. We walk to the main shopping street (Corso Buenos Aires) through our neighborhood, which appears to have lots of Arabic signs and stores.
Our first stop is at a telephone store to buy some credit for the Great Travels cell phone. We then plan to head to see the Last Supper of Leonardo da Vinci. We had been unable to get reservations and the hotel was also unsuccessful, so we will try and go there in person and see if we can get in. Although the subway would take us directly to the church--Santa Maria delle Grazie--we want to travel above ground and head for a tram stop. A friendly Italian shepherds us in the right direction and we find the right tram (which is right around the corner from the hotel). Since the tram goes right past the Duomo, we decide to stop there first--since one of my main goals in Milan is to get to the roof of the cathedral, for the views over Milan and to see the amazing Gothic architectural details--spires, statues, gargoyles, etc--from up close. Since the weather is so pleasant, it is a good time to take advantage of it.
We get off the tram near La Scala (which is closed for restoration), walk through the amazing glass covered Galleria shopping arcade (the living room of Milan), and get to the Duomo. It is gigantic (the third largest in the world) and set in a broad piazza. Some people find it a bit much, with all the spires and turrets, but I really like it. We take an elevator to the roof and walk past the flying buttresses, the statues, and the decorations all the way to base of cupola. Lots of people are there--many of them sunbathing. I am happy to have made it to the top, since on our previous visit, it had been closed by a general strike.
We take the tram the rest of the way to Santa Maria delle Grazie and the Last Supper. We get off at exactly at the same place that we had gotten a taxi earlier in the day (at Cadorna Station) and walk the rest of the way to the church. This area of Milan is also very pleasant--handsome buildings, wide streets, lots of green; we think (as we had before) that Milan has gotten a bad rap. At the church, there is a sign saying that there are no tickets available for today. We ask at the office about the weekend and they say that there is nothing available for those days either. They tell us to call the reservation number for Monday's possibilites--the same number that is constantly busy. We decide to try at the main ticket office near the Duomo tomorrow.
We start walking back towards the tram but we decide to look for a snack first....we see a bakery called the California Bakery and we stop to check it out. They have all sorts of American baked goods--even bagels--but that is not what we are looking for. Continuing along the Corso Magenta (a major shopping street), we seem to have entered a "gelato-free zone". We walk for blocks with no gelato in sight. We stop at a shop which sells bakery goods from all over Italy--sbrisalona from Mantova, panforte from Siena, cookies from Sicily, etc. Diana buys a bag of cookies from Trentino and we continue our search for gelato.
Just as we are about to give up, a gelateria appears and we go in. I get an extremely zippy lemon and a very good strawberry--and I feel better. We continue to the tram stop near the Duomo as we are starting to get tired--the jet lag is setting in. When the right tram arrives--the number 1--all the passengers disembark and the tram goes off empty. After five more minutes of waiting for another one, we give in and start to search for taxi. Sometimes you have to decide that you have more money than time.....
At the hotel, we have a short rest, but--even though it is still early for dinner in Italy (7:30 pm)--we head out for the restaurant across the street, Il Carpaccio. If we wait any longer, we may fall asleep at the table. We are not the first ones there. It looks exactly the same as it did when we ate there in 1995....we are greeted in Italian by a Chinese waitress and are seated at the same table we ate at on our first visit. The same owners are still there--a father and son, we think. While we are there, the restaurant starts to fill up--with a mixture of tourists and Italians.
Our dinner is quite good and we are happy that the service is efficient; we are not ready to have leisurely meal. We both have risotto to start--milanese (with saffron) for me, asparagus for Diana--both very good. Diana has the veal cutlet Milanese, a huge piece of breaded veal very nicely-cooked and tasty and some great roasted potatoes. I have the fritto misto, which is excellent--some small fish, some calamari and a fish fritter. We have a half carafe of the house white, which is refreshing and easy to drink. Diana has rasperries for dessert and I hav a very creamy panna cotta, with a not too sweet caramel like sauce. Too much but very good. The bill comes to 58 Euros, about $53 US; it is hard to eat this well with as much style back home.
Luckily we only have to cross the street and come up to our room.....we are out like lights in a matter of minutes. It is a very good first day in Milan.
Jim and Diana
