Milan

We entered into Italy through Lugano, Switzerland and arrived in Milan about 3 hours later at noon.

I had read in another blog that Milan is nothing but shopping so maybe I wasn't expecting much but I found Milan to be very pleasant. I think part of the reason was that I was finally, finally in Italy for the first time in my life (I was in Milan in May and Florence later, in July). I love the whole Italian atmosphere, the dolce vita feel.

I did my homework and avoided eating at the square. But unless you have time to venture far, anywhere you go near the tourist spots is a tourist trap so we couldn't avoid it and sat down at a pizzaria for our first real Italian pizza. We asked for my old favorite pizza quattro stagioni and said we would share. It came cut into half. Ah well. The thing that stood out most about this pizza was the tomato base. It was simply bursting with flavor. I loved it. I noticed that the crust around the pizza is not eaten but is thrown away into a side bowl. The bill came with a surprise: while the beer was  only 2 euros and the pizza 7 euros, a cover charge, il coperto , of 4 euros was added to the bill on top of a 10% service charge.

Where else but in Milan can you find such a classy McD?

How could they bring us to Milan on a Sunday when most shops were closed? I must go back to Milan one day for the shopping because there are more quality stuff than Florence or even Rome, all concentrated near the city.

The white Domm de Milan  (Milan Catherdral) stands out in my memory despite it being the 10,000th church (ok, not that many but you know what I mean) that I'd seen by then. My photo doesn't do the church justice. It is huge and looks like a Wilton wedding cake with lots of details. 

And that's Milan for me.