Day 2 – Exploring Milan

Once I wrote the blog, we both got ready for a busy day in Milan! To start with, we walked to a square. Nothing really special, except that the last time we were in Milan, we spent an evening here drinking beers with all the University students so it would be rude not to go back and visit. We continued our walk past the Wall of Dolls and to the Da Vinci museum to see the Last Supper. Unfortunately, when we asked for 2 tickets they were all sold out and it’s advised to book online at least 2 weeks before. Instead, I googled the picture and admired the painting from my phone.

All the walking worked up and appetite, so we called into a cafe and enjoyed some savoury pastries. I had cheese and spinach and Louis had the ham and cheese one because it was the biggest.

Like in most cities now, Milan has bikes you can rent and use as you please. Louis went first, typed in his code and got his bike. When I went to type in my code, the machine had broken so as Louis cycled, I jogged beside him until we found some other bikes on another street.

Thankfully it wasn’t too long until we came across another bike station. We spent the next few hours, cycling from the amazing water fountain in front of Castello Sforzesco, through Sempione Park, where we watched the turtles swim in ponds, to the monument cemetery on the other city of the city, passing the hand and foot statues on the way.

The cemetery was amazing. At first I did question why Louis made me cycle half an hour to see a cemetery but it’s definitely worth it. It’s where all the famous and wealthy Italian families are buried such as the Campari family, and they all have these hugh elaborate monuments or little houses as their head stones. While Louis continued to explore the cemetery, I took photos of a butterfly who was just working the camera. I wasn’t happy with a few photos so I even came back 5 minutes later and it was still there! A very obedient butterfly.

We cycled back into town along cobbled streets, it was great cause it made my metal basket rattle so everyone in my way knew to get out of the way without me having to be rude and ring my bell. In town we popped into McDonald’s for a quick ‘relief break’ before heading for a drink in the afternoon sun.

We decided to treat ourselves so we went to the Aperol spritz terrace bar that overlooked the Duomo. We were in and out pretty quickly though as we were so thirsty our glasses were empty in no time.

Before returning back to our apartment, Louis insisted we went to check out the Whispering gallery, however it was getting done up so we went and saw the Middle Finger statue instead.

For dinner we met an old school friend Calvin for pizza, who also featured during our days in Milan in Chapter 1 (Inter-railing). He brought some friends along and we all enjoyed unreal pizza and drinks. We had to be out of the restaurant in time for the Liverpool match KO at 9pm.

To watch the match we went to a Wonder House, Calvin’s go to bar. With €5 cocktails I can see why. The bar does a mystery shot which contains 10 different ingredients so we spent the match guessing what flavours we could taste. None of us did particularly well. I guessed 3 and Louis only guessed 1.

To finish the night, we all headed to a bar called Boom. It’s where local musicians go to ‘jam’ so the music was pretty decent. Louis could have had a go on keys and let me sing but we were missing two guitarists and a drummer, so we spent the night drinking and dancing instead.

The bar closed, and probably for the better. We decided to walk home – it should only take 40 minutes but due to our inability to walk and navigate, it took slightly longer. An hour and a half later and we were tucked up nicely in bed. Thanks for a good night Calvin, sweet dreams!