Left Barcelona the next day via the Aerobus and took a flight to Milan! We reached in the afternoon and after some transport issues (we couldn't find the public bus to our airbnb) but thanks to some kind Chinese locals living there we managed our way there. Turns out the apartment is pretty close to "Chinatown", which made us feel safer walking around. It did feel kinda weird seeing Chinese speaking fluent Italian though. Haha.
After settling down in the apartment, we headed out and grabbed a random meal in Chinatown that wasn't good so shan't mention much about it. (It's not true that if you are in Italy, every pasta dish you order will be good! D:)
The first monument we chanced upon on foot was the Acro Della Pace (Peace Arch). Seems like every city has sort of a monument representing peace.
Castello Sforzesco (Sforza Castle), once a castle for the Duke of Milan, now holds several museums and exhibitions. We weren't interested to pay to visit the museums so we just walked around the compound.
And outside the Castle, we chanced upon a market. From what I learnt, it's not a permanent fixture so we were lucky to have visited Milan when it was there. It was an international showcase of sorts, so there were booths from all around the world, selling their country's famous products or cuisine. We also learnt later that this was the reason we couldn't find our bus to the airbnb because bus routes were diverted due to the market as they had closed some roads.
We ordered some meat sandwich. And a can of coke! I don't usually drink coke in Singapore, but somehow I craved coke everyday when I was in Europe, to the point Joel would stop me from buying it because the craving was getting out of hand. Hah!
Also bought some meat platter from the Argentina booth.
The next day we headed out for a quick early lunch at a small cafe I found on the internet that was patronised by many locals.
Had the ham and cheese sandwich and a random plate of pasta. We were the only tourists there! I guess the locals go there because the food was cheap and fuss-free. Poor boy's hand bandaged because of the hard work handling two luggages, lugging them up buses, stairs...Thank you my strong man!
Our real reason for venturing in that area was for the Santa Maria delle Grazie (Church of Holy Mary of Grace), which houses the very famous work of Leonardo da Vinci - The Last Supper. It is super hard to get tickets, you have to book months ahead (I think 6 months ahead would be safest, but who plans their trips so early anyway?), and even though I had tried to do so a couple months before, tickets were already sold out. Even countless calls to their ticket hotline went unanswered. They only let in a very little number of visitors daily, because the moisture humans bring in actually leads to the deterioration of the very valuable art work.
Anyway, so happened that a friend of mine visited Milan a few days before and she managed to get tickets upon walking in. She was very lucky and got a ticket after 1 hour of waiting due to cancellations. So upon her advice on how to score tickets, we went ahead to try our luck.
There may be cancellations, but subject to whether the ticketing staff wanted to let you have it! So we put on our most sincere faces, and approached the staff to express our humble interest in waiting for a cancellation. They initially said that no tickets were available at the moment so we said our thank yous and told them we were very willing to wait. She nodded and reiterated the uncertainty of getting any tickets. So I went out to snap some pictures while Joel wandered off.
When I went back inside to sit at the waiting area the ticketing lady who spoke to us earlier immediately started motioning for me to go over. I excitedly rushed over and she said, "Is your husband around? I have last-minute cancellations and I need you to join the tour NOW." I was ecstatic, and slightly amused that she thought Joel was my husband. LOL. I managed to find Joel looking at some exhibition display in another room and we quickly paid for the tickets and were immediately ushered into another room where a small tour group was already waiting for us.
Happy that we scored the tickets so quickly!
The Last Supper - we were in AWE. This is real history painted by Leonardo da Vinci. We can't believe we were actually looking at the original piece only mere metres away, and also the fact that we were in the same room as the incredible painter once was in.
Pardon the horrible iPhone quality. Okay I know, no photos allowed but the sneaky Joel took this. A whole group of students came in about 10 minutes after we did and they were a huge distraction for the staff on duty. Each group only gets 15 minutes inside btw, so that duration was pretty much spent admiring every inch of the painting.
We were very blessed!
We then walked over to the actual church and was greeted by a beautiful church courtyard.
Inside the church itself (a separate part from the room that houses The Last Supper).
After exploring Santa Maria della Grazie, we headed to see the Duomo!
Duomo di Milano. I reckon this is one of the more beautiful duomos in Italy! Really love gothic architecture.
When in this Piazza, you have to be extra careful with your belongings! And avoid any eye contact with touts trying to sell you pigeon feed. There really are too many pigeons for my liking. :/
Entry to the Duomo is free, but you have to pay a small fee to take photos. They give you a paper wrist strap (like those you wear to themeparks) and only those wearing can take pictures. Most people tie it around their camera straps.
My fav part would be the glass stained windows which tell a story in each pane. I slightly regret not knowing the bible thoroughly enough to be able to identify with most of the depictions.
The exterior up close.
So much detail goes into the door as well.
Just beside the Duomo you can find Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. One of the world's oldest shopping mall, named after the first King of Italy.
I would say this is my fav place in Milan. Just for the architectural design and the beauty of it all. We didn't shop there though, because everything is branded & the restaurants overpriced.
Everyone spinning on the bull's balls for good luck. We didn't do it because it seemed silly that everyone was watching you, (though it makes some sense to go along for the fun of it) but also cos we're not superstitious.
All shopping malls should look like this!
Headed back to the apartment and it started to drizzle. We walked everywhere by the way, although the apartment is pretty far away (30 minutes on foot), and only resorted to taking the public bus when we had luggage. I guess this way we could see more things that the city could offer.
However, we did make a conscious effort to return back to the apartment before the sky turned dark for safety reasons! I think the only place we stayed out past dinnertime during the whole trip was in London and Barcelona. Totally scaredy-cats but that's how we avoided any unnecessary bad situations! You cannot be too careful especially because you do not know the city well.
That concludes Milan! It was a good experience seeing The Last Supper and Duomo, but to be honest I probably won't return to Milan so soon as there's not much to do here unless you are interested in the high-end shopping, eating, gallery-viewing - basically the atas lifestyle!
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