Melvan Milano

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Ciao Milano

Ciao Milano!!!

It has been a little while since our last post and a lot of not much has gone on. The most exciting / interesting thing would be last weekends trip to Milan. It was our first venture into Europe so we were quite unsure about what to expect. It was also our first flight with a budget airline (Easy Jet) which was also interesting. Not so much the airline but Gatwick Airport I suppose – with all the terrorism stuff the security screenings are quite extensive (probably a good thing). So anyway while Mel was standing between the sercurity gates in her bra and jocks, being patted down by an interesting looking woman we began to wonder what we had got ourselves in for. Anyway we made it to the plane with plenty to spare.

So we arrived in Milan around 10 o’clock and after being quizzed at customs as to why we were there made the journey by bus into Milan (just out of the city). We arrived at Centrale Stazione which is this massive (very old) station just outside the city. After negotiating all the crazy drivers on the wrong side of the road we eventually found a cab who drove us about 200 meters to our Hotel (and charged us a fortune). The place was everything we needed and an added bonus was the advertisement of tickets to watch Inter Milan play on Saturday night (which was of course the first thing Mel asked about).

The next day we got up pretty early keen to see what Milan had to offer. We went down to the breakfast room where Mel took one look and said, ‘I can’t eat any of that.' It was full pastries, croissants, cheese, ham and not much else. Not what we were really looking for. Needless to say we didn’t hang around long. We grabbed a map and worked out that we could probably walk into the city. It was a perfect morning, albeit a little cold. So good for a walk. Milan is not renowned for its architecture however for first time travellers to Europe all the buildings were interesting.

With no breakfast in our stomachs we were pretty keen for a coffee. This was to be our first encounter with any sort of language barrier whilst in Milan. To cut a long story short we got coffee (not exactly what we were expecting). We continued into the city which wasn’t far at all. The first thing we came across was the Galleria. A huge glass roofed shopping centre (apparently the biggest of its kind in the world.) In Milan they even make Maccas look posh!

We were both blown away by the amount of shops – particularly designer boutiques and big brand names. Clearly the place to go if you are wanting to shop!!! Unfortunately on the travellers budget that wasn’t our biggest priority. As we walked through the Galleria we came to another massive, and very impressive looking building called the Duomo. It is a cathedral more than 500 years old. We had pictures taken out the front by some bloke trying to make a buck and then went inside for a look. It was almost as impressive looking inside. We were then able to go outside and take a windy stair case to the top and walk around the roof. The views were impressive and we were lucky to get such a nice day. We got some great pics and it was just amazing to think how old it was.

For the rest of the day we walked around looking in almost all the shops and ate in little cafes out on the streets. Mel was on the hunt for boots and managed to find a pair by the end off the day (despite being a completely different colour to what she was looking for). That night we went on possibly the longest hunt for somewhere to eat that we have ever been on. Of course Mel was wearing her new boots which took a toll after a while. Just in time we stumbled across a nice little Italian Restaurant called Sabitini’s. They were really friendly, the food was great and it was very affordable. Evan got the biggest and best Calzone that you are ever likely to see (we have pictures to prove it).

Saturday was a pretty cruisy day having seen most of the sites and shopping the previous day. We went into the city again where we met a guy rmaking an upfront attempt to steal our jewellery and watches. Having negotiated our friend we headed out to San Siro Stadium, the home of AC and Inter Milan. Inter were playing Sienna in the Serie A competition. The stadium was huge although really no bigger than the MCG and wouldn’t hold as many. We got there quite early which gave us a good opportunity to check it all out and consume 1000 coffees. It was freezing inside the stadium and again Mel had made a poor choice of footwear (slip on shoes – no socks). It wasn’t a massive crowd however mad just the same. They really love their SOCCER over there. The game was great and Inter won 2 – 0. By the end we were quite happy to get to the train so we could warm up.

That was about the end of our Milan trip as we left at about 11 am on the Sunday morning. It was less than 2 hours by plane back to London, but then it took us another 2 and half to get home (the tube and trains are great when they work).


We had a great time although over too soon. A really positive initiation into Europe.

I can promise that the next trip I won’t write quite so much. It just kept spewing out!!!

Cheers
Melvan