Milano. Meh.

Incredible view of the cathedral in front of dark stormy skies

When Brian and I went to Milan (Milano) in 1994, we really didn't know what to expect.  Or, to be precise, we expected it to be like Rome or Florence, which of course, it isn't.  It's a business and fashion center and many of the buildings of any real historical significance were bombed in world war II.  We didn't have a great time there.  

But, this time around, I wanted to try it again.  I wanted the boys to see a different view of Italy than we had been seeing - and that famous gothic cathedral is just really, really cool!  But, unlike the other cities we planned to see for one week each, we chose just three nights in Milan.  That would allow us to pack in fun stuff and leave with a different impression than I went with.  Or, such was the plan, anyway.  

We arrived late in the day, having spent the day with Alessia's family in Mantua (Mantova) and getting myself a new "do" at the hair salon (parrucchiere).  Our apartment was amazingly spacious and also quite unpleasantly musty smelling.  We set out to find dinner and ended up eating at the McDonalds on the piazza with the cathedral.  Not bad - a sort of fun experience but not exactly stellar.  

What came from there was 2 days of some sort-of fun experiences, but a lot of stuff closed.  We didn't get to see the marionette theatre or the science and technology museum, as they were both closed (the marionette theatre, perhaps permanently).  I painstakingly researched restaurants and found a really neat sounding trattoria only to find it wasn't open on Sunday nights and was completely booked Monday night.  

In addition, our last day involved a super-frustrating wild goose chase to find a place to clean our clothes or have them cleaned.  Apparently, in Lombardia, the region within which Milan exists has outlawed commercial water-based washing machines.  You can get your clothes DRY CLEANED with chemicals but having WATER used is clearly dangerous to the environment.  My Italian is not good enough to get a sufficiently acceptable answer to this strangeness.  But, it's a new enough phenomenon that the apartment we were staying in did not have private facilities for us to use, either.  Apparently the only way to get commercial wash done is to send it out, but with us arriving late on a Saturday and leaving early on a Monday, this wasn't an option for us.  We eventually found a very nice lady who took our wash (only charged us 6 euros for it) and pointed us toward a pretty good gelateria.  All's well that ends well, but sheesh!

On the bright side, we did eat some super-delicious piadini, a local specialty (pictured below) and took the double-decker tour bus which Sam had been begging to ride one like it since Rome (also pictured below).  Milan also can boast giving me the only moment in Italy when I was actually cold.  

Piadini (with bresaola on the left and spicy salami on the right)

Happy Sam on the top level of the tour bus in Milan.  

So, Milan, I say "meh".  Maybe some day I will return to you for business and some colleagues can show me what I missed.  Twice.  Until then, parting is not such sweet sorrow.