I ended up staying in Milan a few extra days as my friend Peter decided to come and meet me there versus me heading up to Nice to meet him. Peter is one of my friends from Ohio State who, this summer, also decided to quit his NYC finance job and travel around Europe, and thus we currently have a lot in common.
Over the years, I've been to a number of places in Italy, however, Milan was different from all of them - being much more urban than I had originally expected. Map in hand, Peter and I set out to explore the city - and given my general lack of directional skills, I was quite proud that I was able to navigate us through the city!
I'm not what one would call an Art History Buff, but I do enjoy seeing artwork that I've heard of. Both Peter and I had been somewhat disappointed with the Mona Lisa in Paris, but we were hoping that wouldn't be the case when we went to see The Last Supper in Milan. Sadly, by the time we got there - the tickets were sold out and we were unable to get in to see it. (I had no idea you had to buy tickets in advance!) But, hey, at least we saw the building it was housed it - I guess that will have to do until my next trip to Milan:
However, unfortunately, Milan is incredibly hot in late August - temperatures reaching 39 degrees (I looked this up online, it's over 100 degrees Fahrenheit)! So hot, in fact, that Peter even took a pit stop to cool himself off in a fountain outside the U.S. Embassy:
That said, we limited some of our walking around during the day and decided to take a lunch break. And where else to eat lunch in Italy than:
Yes - this isn't a joke - we actually ate lunch there.
Also while we were there, we came to understand how Milan is seen as a fashion capital - however, there was one look in particular that I'm at least hoping will not catch on and start a trend:
Note: This was made all the more ironic as he had on a man purse and was pushing a stroller with a small dog wrapped in a pink blanket.
We packed a lot of sightseeing into our few days in Milan, however, there is one thing that you can bet I did not do:
