First and foremost, this is just a brief account of my trip to Milan. I took 113 photos that day and here in this post there’re only 12 of them. What I want to say is, ‘don’t treat this as a guide for your own (potential) trip to Milan!’
Anyway, we touched down in Milan, Italy at about 9am. Took a bus to Milano Centrale, the central bus and train station in Milan. The ride cost 7 euros and took a little more than an hour.
Upon arrival in Milano Centrale, I was first awed by the grandeur of the station. It was one of the more beautiful central stations I’ve ever seen.
Milano Centrale
Milano Centrale (front)
Compared to Milano Centrale, KL Sentral is quite…… shitty. But then again, Europe vs South East Asia, can’t expect much, can I?
The first thing we did after reaching the station was to check the schedule for our train ride to Venice later that evening. After that we bought a burger at McD’s (don’t cringe! food is food!) called Mc Italy as lunch as we didn’t want to waste time sitting in restaurants. The burger was a bit dry but it tasted fine. I would’ve liked it more if McD simply added mayonnaise to it.
Mc Italy (beef and bacon)
Basically the city centre was not large so walking wasn’t a problem.
My impression of Milan after walking for a while was that it was a modern city, as can be seen from the style of its buildings.
Milan random shot
However, as I walked and walked, the buildings started to look older and older. But old doesn’t mean uglier (like in Malaysia). Here, old actually means better and nicer. And surprisingly, although those buildings are old, they look surprisingly clean, as opposed to old and dirty looking buildings in Paris.
Maybe it’s not the problem with Paris, I don’t know, maybe I’ve been staying in Singapore for too long and am too used to buildings looking clean and spotless. In any case, Milan is really tidy and me likey.
Piazza Cavour
Random alley (overly bright sky =\ )
As we walked, we passed by this piazza which might be a shopping heaven for those who are very much into branded goods. One interesting thing to note is the fact that McD’s is right next to Louis Vuitton. So for those who can’t afford LV, just buy a burger from McD’s, they pay the same rent and thus they’re both equally prominent brands.
Piazza before Il Duomo
Standing at (approximately) the middle of the Piazza
Right next to this piazza is a huge church called Il Duomo which, in my opinion, is one of the most grand churches I have ever seen. Unfortunately, I could only take pictures of the exterior of the Duomo as we were not allowed to take photos in the church.
Here, I’d like to especially warn potential tourists who are visiting the Duomo to be careful of jerks distributing seeds. Basically they came up to me and stuffed some seeds into my hand. Then a lot of birds flew onto my hand and started pecking away. They then asked my friend to take pictures of me. I knew something wasn’t right but I smiled anyway as she was busy snapping away. True to my expectations, after all was done they tried to force me to pay. Seeing that it was an innovative attempt, I gave them 1 euro (only).
However, my other friend who was going around by himself wasn’t as lucky. They took his camera and took pictures of him. Then he was forced to pay to get his camera back. He paid 4 euros. So potential visitors, be careful.
Il Duomo
After visiting the Duomo, we went to visit the Arco della Pace. In between the Arco della Pace and the Duomo are some nice streets.
Milan streets
After a while, we reached an old castle called the Castella Sforzesco.
Castella Sforzesco (and small eyes (due to the sun))
On the other side of the castle, there is a park called Parco Sempione which at the far end is where the Arco della Pace is located.
Parco Sempione and Arco della Pace
Unfortunately the Arco della Pace was under repair/restoration on the side facing us. We tried going to the other side of the arc. To our dismay, when we reached a distance close enough to have a clear view, we discovered that both sides were under repair so we didn’t bother getting any nearer. I decided instead to buy a postcard with a clear view of it without any scaffolding.
Arco della Pace (under repair wtf)
By the time we reached where we were, it was about 4pm and we had to return to Milano Centrale to board our 5.30pm train to Venice. The train ticket cost us 14.55 euros each and took about 4 hours.
It was a real shame that we couldn’t go see the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci which was located in a Convent in Milan. Advanced booking was required and when we tried booking, it was already too late for us.
But no matter, the remaining days in Italy were a blast and after seeing all that I’ve seen in Italy, I don’t feel much regret for missing out on the Last Supper.
Maybe one day I’ll photoshop myself onto a picture of the Last Supper I find online. =)
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