A Week in Milan

We have just returned from a week with friends in Milan. We did heaps - far too much for one blog post - so we will be posting about specific places over the coming weeks (or months maybe).

We went to and from Milan by train, an excellent (if slightly slow) way to go. It's great being able to wander around during the trip and carry bottles in your luggage if you wish, but train travel through the Alps isn't the fastest. Still, it's easier than driving, and both of us get to look at the view.

Susan's first Alp (taken through a train window)

Milan was...hot. No other word for it: 38 degrees every day, cooling(!) to 27 overnight. The thermometer in our apartment never showed less that 27.3 degrees the whole time we were there, which made sleeping difficult, but we did plenty during the days and usually managed to collapse in a heap at the end of the day.

The apartment 

We saw plenty of churches (we went looking for old - and I mean seriously old - churches), museums and galleries, spent a day up at Lake Como, and ate plenty of gelati: three a day seemed to be an elegant sufficiency. There was also beer, pasta, pizza, and huge mountains of very fresh mozzarella, which is now one of our favorite cheeses. We got to grips with Milanese public transport, and really appreciated having two tramlines and a metro stop within cooee.

A Mystery Museum

We arrived home on Tuesday evening (to find the old fridge-freezer had defrosted) and have almost 1500 photos to sort through, collect our thoughts and try retrieve the memories that have almost melted together in the heat (did we mention it was hot?).

To me, this is Milan in one photo

If you're going to Milan, look up our friend Stefania and her B＆B. She was fully booked for most of last week (which was why we rented an apartment) but her place has been really nicely done up this year, and she speaks Italian (natch), excellent French, and is an adopted Aussie and native Milanese.