Milan

Milan was founded about 600 BC, originally home to Celtic tribes and then later the Romans who named it Mediolanum - land in the middle. We didn't notice the agriculture in the area as we didn't get out to the country but the books say it is situated in the middle of a fertile valley, the PoRiver. It is now the second largest city in Italy - the home to 1.3 million people where a century before only 200,000 lived here. The fast population growth and the decimation from all the conflict in the area can be seen in the layout of the city, the housing, the roads which have replaced canals and sadly the pulling down of the city walls. It seems to be a city without a centre - a number of areas draw the locals and tourists - but no one spot - which makes it quite different to other cities we have seen so far. The Castello Sforzesco was our first stop because that was the first thing we saw after turning the corner after the underground station. The castle is about 700 years old, - austere, plain, huge and domininating - as I guess all castles which protected a town should look like. It still had its drawbridge, the towers with diamond cut stones, ramparts, and some of its wall. Like most castles we have seen it has suffered the ravages of time and invasions and is now restored to some its former glory (unlike many other castles) but without most of the walls. The restoration completed in the 19th century led to the castle being gifted to the city - it is now the home of 12 museums and art gallery's (eg Egyptian, decorative arts, furniture, muscial instruments, Achille Bertarelli Prints, prehistory and proto history, photographic and so on) which we didn't go into because it was 23 degrees and sunny outside.
The castle backed onto to a lovely green area which we shared on both days with many locals and tourists. We had fun helping autumn on its way by shaking branches and watching the leaves fall (Harry almost got hit by some conkers) as we sang our own adaptation of the song

"Catch a falling leaf and put it in your pocket
Never let it fade away
Catch a falling leaf and put it in your pocket
Save it for a rainy day
For love may come and tap you on the shoulder some starless night
Just in case you feel you want to hold her
You'll have a pocketful of starlight" (leaf light didn't quite sound right).

We enjoyed drinking 'Caramello' sized coffee in the park - (but for 1.50 euro that wasn't bad. We later paid 5 euros for a coffee and it wasn't 3 times the size - we didn't pick the price of the coffee as pasta was 6 euros - but we learnt our lesson - drinks and food is generally expensive in Milan). The park was also home to a sports arena which was built in the early 1800's from the brick and stone taken from the city walls when dismantled. It is now used for football (but not the big games where the two big football teams Internazionale and AC Milan - that is the privilege of the San Siro football stadium), athletics, cycling and whatever else 30,000 people might like to watch. Italians like their dogs - they were everywhere - all shapes, sizes and ages. They weren't meant to walk without a leash in the main park but off to the side there was a huge fenced area for the dogs to run free. We saw them walking, running, sniffing, playing, being carried by their adoring owner and even one in a push chair (you can buy pet push chairs over here) - but there seemed to be no such thing as a pooper scooper - need I say more? We also found another garden 'the first English romantic garden' in Milan - after walking through the finish of a fun run/walk. The Mansion in the garden at one stage was lived in by Napoleon and then after a number of occupants gifted to the public - rather nice on a sunny day.

We got around using public transport and our feet. The underground was close to our hotel and built in the 1960's so had quite modern carriages, wide and very long. On the first night we arrived about 10.00 caught a bus to terminal 1, then the bus took us back to terminal 2, before arriving in town - about 50 kilometres away - it took a while. The taxi would have cost us 70 euros from the airport so we saved some money by only taking a taxi on the last leg to the hotel. We couldn't prove it but we are convinced the driver took us on a rather long and circuitous route. The hotel, was in the suburbs, built in the 1950-60's (evidence is the green and black bathroom) and the receptionist rushed off to take croissants out of the oven while collecting our details. Not fair as each night we arrived back to that wonderful smell of freshly baked croissants but we had to till morning when they were cold! The rest of the time we bought day passes which gave us all day access to the ATM (not anytime machine which would have been nice but the local transport system including underground, buses, trams and trains). The transport seems to cope well with all the tourists eg central station has 600 million travellers a year - that is another very large and impressive building being restored. We also we took the 'hop on hop off' bus and enjoyed sitting for a couple of hours seeing the sights and resting our weary feet. The attendant and bus driver were so bored that throughout the trip they waved to people on the street, gently drove the bus up to the crossing to give pedestrians a fright and honked their horn at drivers. It was quite entertaining to watch. All joking aside though, as pedestrians we had to be careful - motorcyclists, cyclists and often cars ignored the pedestrian green light and if there was a tram or bus in sight as well we looked left, right, left, right, left, right, left (you can imagine it was a bit like a fast flowing tennis match) before we took our lives in our hands and crossed. We aren't that good at Italian history so even though the commentary was in English (we could have chosen French, Russian, Italian, Japanese or Mandarin) the Italian names were not significant to us. All that is, except Leonardo Di Vinci - that well known Italian, whom I will write more about later. We also took a tram ride on the old trams introduced in the late 1930's and rattled around the town to the poorer suburbs - high rise apartment housing with no balconies and little greenery. We didn't really see any obvious affluent areas which considering it is the home of the fashion industry surprised us - perhaps they are a bit out of town. We ate lots of pizza, pasta and rissottos. The Milanese are very proud of their rissotto - yellow from saffron. The story goes that on the night of the marriage of a young woman a jealous young man placed saffron in her wedding feast rissotto. After the initial dismay of a bright yellow dish the guests tasted and liked so it became a national dish - backfired a bit for the young man I think. As we sat and ate beggars came along regularly (well dressed and so we assumed professional beggars). There is a lot of statues and fountains in the city. Apparently if they are not given a nickname they are accepted by the locals. The needle and thread symbolises productivity and starting anew and indicates the link with the fashion industry according to the American designer. It has no nickname. But the one by the castle has been named the wedding cake - I thought it rather nice actually but I guess I am not Italian. Talking of water we wandered past the canals - most of them disused (if not filled in for roads) and some a little bit stagnant. I suspect they are trying to revitalise the canal area but it will take a while.





The internet said that 'Milan is all about design and high fashion' so we could not resist wandering the streets with all the big names. But it was a bit hard to find. One road boasted 1.5 miles of shops but it didn't really feel like a shopping centre - just a long street where shops took up a block each. Some were closed because it was Sunday and others closed because it was Monday but all the big names were there Mercedes (they are getting into bicycles just like Puma and Alfa Romeo), Prada, Benetton, Versace, Armani, Gucci. With push chairs having a 4,500 euro price tag, gloves 250 euros and jackets for around 2500 euros - we didn't stay long. Others were a bit more affordable but we didn't stay long there either. The best form of advertising we noticed was on the drain covers 'Laurusliami' - so at each step we knew which shop we were outside. Fashion didn't seem to be worn by most of the people in the street but occasionally on the tram or underground we saw an exceptionally dressed older woman who looked so out of place. Galleria Vitterio Emanuelle was the shopping mall by the Duomo - a large building with a domed glass roof. Lots of people dressed for autumn with at least 3 layers while we wandered around in shorts and summer tops enjoying the warmer weather. We also hopped off the tram at one stage as we saw a market -Chinese market actually - huge crowds, difficult to move and it seemed that all you could buy was cheese, mushrooms, wine and truffles (3 for 10 euros) while you listened to entertainment - reminded us of Hong Kong.

And so far that doesn't seem very exceptional. But here come the WOWs (wandering through the gardens it suddenly dawned on us that WOW could mean 'Wonders of the World' - duh you say). So, we listed our WOWs that we have so far like Quantock Head (geographical WOW), Waffles in Brussels and food in Gdansk (yum WOW), Glasgow Tower and airshows for Harry (engineering WOW), puffins on Skomer Island, my first sight of a toucan (nature WOWs), cycling in snowy Amsterdam, walking the cliffs of Dover, around Wellington Harbour and up Mount Kau Kau (all experience WOWs), Leonardo di Vincis Madonna and Child (creative WOW). And to add to our list Milan has 2 or possibly 3 WOW's and we think that is pretty good for a city that we wouldn't say 'put on top of your list'.

WOW number 1 - Duomo - Milan's cathedral. Ornate from below but more so up top. It has a marble slab roof which meant we could climb up onto the roof and wander around. We nearly missed the opportunity but when sitting inside waiting for the organ to play we looked up at the huge stained glass windows and saw shadows walking past - was it a plane, was it a bird, no it was people. So, off we went and climbed the rather large number of stairs to the top - not just a balcony - to the roof. Instead of listening to the organ playing, we were seranaded by a saxophonist down below. Spectacular. The Duomo was started in 1386 and took 5 centuries to complete - it is a unique architecture unlike anything else in Italy. We could see why - marble all round with all the decorations different, flowers, faces, birds, decorations etc.


WOW Number 2 - the cemetery - Cimitero Monumental. It is a result of a number of grave sites having to be moved to house the growing Milan population. So, the memories of loved ones are all together in tree lined avenues. It is a bit like a miniature village, where families have commissioned well known sculptors to create a lasting memorial to their family members. A couple of examples were the Giovanni Macia Memorial which was created by Luigi Crippa in 1869. It had a woman opening a door - a symbol used in the 19th century to reflect the moving to the heavenly realm. Another was by Emilio Quadrelli in 1889 and depicted a woman holding her husband and titled parting kiss - rather sad - but others depicted the life of the loved one, or being part of a family - which to me signifies hope.

And there could have been WOW Number 3 - but we didn't see it because it was closed on Mondays - but philosophically we said you can't see everything and because there was no tourist information centre that we could find our touring was a bit hit and miss. But we are convinced it would have received the WOW title. It was Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper painted on the wall beside the Mary de Salle Grazie church (built in 1465) and almost destroyed in the second world war. We consoled ourselves with having seen a rather magnificent Last Supper in the cemetery instead. Milan even has a Leonardo statue proudly sitting in a key area behind the shopping gallery and are obviously proud that this man who lived and worked in Milan for a while. I suspect they are also pleased he painted the picture on a wall as Napolean couldn't take it to Paree. Leonardo also designed the old port of Milan with canals built in 1400 and which were still active to both leisure and shipping until the end of the second world war. I would have enjoyed a boat cruise but the summer season is over.
We left Milan on a moonlit night, but there were no stars in the sky.

This week begins the pumpkin selling in the supermarkets for Halloween. Eagerly awaited by us as this is the only time you can buy them, no not for candles but soup. So, we went to the supermarket and I lifted it up and found it was so light that there could hardly have been any pumpkin in it- they must be specially bred for hollowing out. So, we contented ourselves with leeks and potatoes for soup.