Forgive our delay - Milan Part 1

So the posts on Milan are delayed a bit. We opted to enjoy the city and post later. Then, once home, we were caught up in life (and some serious cuddle time with Zander) and lost track of the week. Back to the adventure!

We packed up in the morning and were off on our last vaporatto ride back to the train station. The weather was a little soggy, so it was a great day to leave. One thing we have not mentioned yet is that every time we check the weather forcasts for the next few days, they always say rain, but when the next few days finally come, we see nothing but sun. It seems that we are one step ahead of the bad weather so far. And whereas the weather is usually in the 50's, low 60's this time of year, we have seen 70's almost every day. Which makes this the best time to travel. The weather is pleasant, and we are still in the "low season" so prices are still reasonable. The best of both worlds.

Arriving at the train station, we bought tickets to Milan and waited for the next train. It was a regional one, so no reserved seating and lower prices, but a longer train ride overall. Which was fine with us, we were all needing a little down time. We reserved a hotel for 4 nights in Milan, and Michelle is really hoping it is a good one. When you travel as the Hardleys usually do, never spending more than 2 nights in a city, you can deal with almost anything for a few days. When you spend 4 days in one location, you really hope it is good. And since Michelle and Tim's first short stay in Milan set the bar for the all time worst hotel E.V.E.R., they were hoping this place was decent. It was one metro stop away from the central train station, which was the one needed to get to the airport to fly home, so if nothing else, it was convenient.

Upon arrival, they were all pleasantly surprised to see a lovely hotel. It turns out that it used to be a 3 star hotel, and was recently upgraded to a 4 star. The funny thing was, there were a few amenities that you would expect to get for free from a 4 star hotel. Like the internet. Which we had to pay for. And shampoo. Which was no where to be found in the bathroom. And the headboards on the bed had the name of the hotel written on them and the number of stars right underneath. Except when they were upgraded from 3 to 4 stars, they didn't want to buy new headboards with the 4 stars on it. So someone litterally took a sharpie marker and drew in a 4th star. So a few little quirks, and a fairly small room, but it was clean, secure and a great way to end our European adventure.

After checking in and dropping our bags we headed out to walk towards the center of town. We wanted to show Ed and Diana the Duomo, the largest church in Milan, and the Galleria, a ritzy shopping area just outside of the church square. La Scalla theater is near there as well. We walked from the hotel over to the center of town to give them a flavor of what Milan was like. Much more of an industrial city (but still with European charm) than the other towns we had been to. The last time Michelle and Tim were in Milan they saw the outside of the Duomo, but not the inside. As we approached, we kept seeing people carrying olive branches in their hands. It soon dawned on us that it was Sunday, as in Palm Sunday, and the olive branches were the Italian version of the palm fronds that we usually carried on that Sunday. :) As we were going into the Duomo we also realized that we were in the middle of mass, so we grabbed a seat and listened to the end of the service.

Once the service was over we headed down to the Galleria. It is a large mall, with a high curved glass ceiling. Very beautiful, with wide open spaces and lots of restaurants and high end shops all along its sides. The last time Tim and Michelle were there they had shared a pizza and risotto at one of the restaurants, so we headed back to the same restaurant to see if the food was really as good as the memory. And we were plesantly surprised. The great thing about this place is that it is a high end restaurant, with higher prices than we are used to paying, but their is no air of pretension with the wait staff. We were dressed in our traveling clothes, complete with Jansport backpacks, coming into their nice restaurant. And our waiter was so gracious, so nice and attentive, you would have thought we were royalty. No one looked down their noses at our appearance, and our waiter fretted over Ed and Diana, making sure they had everything they needed. When one of our party needed to use the restroom, they found their chair being pulled out from behind them as they stood up by one waiter, while another was already at the lift calling it down from an upper floor so we could use it to get upstairs. The staff was that good. And the meal was excellent as well. It was a fine way to begin the Milan portion of the trip.

Once finished with dinner, we made the walk back to the room. The wind had picked up a bit, and by the time we got back to the hotel we were ready for the heater to kick in. We headed to bed to get our rest for the next day. Michelle was able to connect with Susanne and see Zander, which made her day. All in all, a good day!