L.A.X: Milano

My pre-conception of Milan was of fashion and the industrial city so I had this rather bizarre image in my head: soot and factories mixed with fashion of the rich and elegant. Needless to say this warped dreamlike image was nothing really like Milan - a few nice outfits were seen however.

I must say that Milan was probably my least favourite of the four places I visited in Italy. Im not sure why - maybe because each of the other cities are so culturally rich that Milan seemed lacking in a way. Having said this I had a lot of fun seeing Nora, a friend from my exchange year in Spain and making our way through the city.

We stayed at this expensive but not so nice hostal out of the center of Milan. I think I was a little spoilt in Portugal where the accommodation is amazing. We ended up sharing a room with four or five other people, 1 of which we were convinced was a prostitute - the words "I go out a lot and I'm always working" were the clincher for this assumption. It turned out that she and 2 of the other girls were models, who didn't speak such good English.

We visited the Duomo of course. I would recommend climbing the stairs to the top and contemplating the view, which is rather spectacular! I loved the figures on the tops of the spires. We saw several other museums too - 1 to a modern Design Museum and the other to Museo De Novecento, which has just recently opened. I remember at the time being quite in love with the building and the exhibition. I managed to visit the Abitare (Italian architecture magazine) offices too and got a tour round the building and the neighboring design school. It was really interesting to talk to Renata (editor and sister of my parent's friend) about how the magazine industry works in conjunction with architects and architecture, however I think my real experience of Milan was through the food.

Here I ate my first Italian pizza at a rather bad restaurant. Our waiter tried to get away with taking my 50 euros and not giving me any change back. "Ah I'ma so sorry. I am tired. Ita slipped my minda." Yeah, sure. Dinner was more successful our second night, we went to the canals near Darsena, where they have a Happy Hour of sorts except you get all you can eat food. It's right by 2 canals so you get a lovely view of the water. It was recommended to us by Nora's Milanese friend who took us to the roof top bar of La Rinscente, which is next to the Duomo. I had the most expensive orange juice I have ever consumed there (w or without alcohol) - 8 EURO! Yes, that's not a typo. She ended up shouting us to the relief of my bank account and to be honest both the view and the orange juice were very nice. She also told us about a little shop, Luini, which sold panzerotti, which I got a little bit obsessed with. They are filled bread normally with cheese and tomato! Yum, just thinking about its dough goodness makes me want to go back (and then I think about my thighs and I'm glad that I don't have enough time). I even tried to take 2 Dutch girls that I met while waiting in line for cheap tickets for a show at La Scala. Sadly we didn't get tickets (after waiting 1 and a half hours), Luini was closed and we ended up eating a strange vege pizza, which had carrot on it. The tiramisu for dessert by far made up for it.

My love affair with gelato also began here and only got better the further I got through Italy. One word - Bacio (choc hazelnut gelato).

Next stop: ROME!

xxx

UPDATE: Here are the long awaited photos courtesy of Nora: