Milan

Italy was very much calling after the St. Moritz experience, so given that the snow didn’t look to be getting much better, and that Milan was only a couple of hundred Ks away, we decided to leave the mountains and check out Milan.

On route we dropped in to visit Bergamo where Rich and Elisa, a colleague from RBoS, were staying for Easter. We meet up in the old town then drove through tiny walled lanes we never thought Wickse could fit through! Lucky those wing mirrors fold back and not too many cars came in the opposite direction. Quite a hairy experience nevertheless!

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele - it may be the focal point of Milan but it's only a shopping mall!

Milan wasn’t as exciting as we’d hoped. As we’d read, it did prove to be just a large metropolis disguising a simple working town. The city centre was beautiful but the shops really did seem to be well out of the ordinary person’s budget. While it was cute to see all the haute fashion boutiques (Armani, Dior, Chanel… counted at least six Dolce & Gabbana stores), traipsing around the “Golden Quadrant” as the areas is known, in the footsteps of groups of done-up-to-the-nines lasses from Cardiff oohing and aahing and twittering away at the glittery stores became utterly tiresome. The fashion statements effortlessly worn by many of the locals was really a sight to behold however, especially coupled with the Ferraris and Lamborghinis littering the streets.

Well hello!

Our Lonely Planet guide wasn’t much help in enthusing us either and finished with the phrase that resonated well: ‘not much reason to linger’… We did manage to find some nice artistic back streets with lovely cafes behind the castle so I’m sure with some inside knowledge there is plenty more to be seen.

A skeleton taking a well earned rest outside the Duomo

Playing tourist

Getting a bit more exciting around here