Viva Italia Part 1 of 5 - Milano

Last night, I was watching the latest episode of Top Chef and the long discussion on risotto reminded me of our trip to Milan and their unique risotto. Mmmm... yummmm...

Milanese Risotto and Osso Bucco

When I made my semi-permanent move to Ireland, I was homesick, unready, and frankly a bit depressed to be leaving my comfort zone. I was leaving a healthy life in Manila and truly did not see the point of moving to a different country I hadn't even really thought of visiting until prior to the months leading up to my departure. Then again, I have always been a glass half full type of person so I kept telling myself that I should see this as a great opportunity to see and live Europe. Unlike those who've squeezed the full continent into a commercial tour spanning a week and a half or two, I get to see how Europeans actually lived and not just fall into the usual tourist traps. 

At least that was what I kept telling myself. I even had a list in my head of places to visit -- London, Paris, Tuscany, Rome, Greece, Barcelona, Amsterdam, and Portugal. In the 3.5 years of my Irish adventure, I missed a flight to Switzerland because of work, a flight to Barcelona from lack of pages in my passport, and a second flight to Barcelona because of a family matter. I did make it to London, Paris, Tuscany, Rome, Milan, Venice, Vienna, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Belgium, and Austria. While I saw places that weren't even in my radar, I am still gutted over missing out on Spain and Greece, not so much on Portugal. Maybe it just wasn't meant to be.

Mid year last year we already knew we were on our way out of Europe. While we didn't really know where we were headed yet, we knew it was time for a change in scenery and it wasn't likely that we'd be back to the continent any time soon after we left.

I would have died if I had missed out on Italy altogether.

So in October 2010 we headed off to complete a 9-day blitz of Italy. Milan wasn't really a destination for us unless we were popping in during fashion week, but hey, we found we could squeeze it in so why not.

A monument to celebrate Milanese
industry and fashion

We started out juggling thoughts of what other country we can see on this blitz and ended up with very limited options given our time constraints. Finally, we settled on popping over to Vienna, Austria then taking a late night flight to Milan the same day. I'll tell you all about Vienna some other time. While it wasnt a long trip, Vienna deserves a post all its own and so does Milan.

So we reachd Milan at around 11 in the evening tired, hungry, but also buzzing from finally reaching Italy. We left the airport and found ourselves in a dark alley with taxis waiting for similarly red-eyed travellers like us. There was a queue so it wasn'd hard to flag one, but my, did that ride wake us up. The driver was uncommunicative, drove like a demon (this coming from a madwoman driver), and gave us heaps of add-ons to our fare because if was night time, we had luggage, etc etc. It was not a good start to Milan. But then we got to our hotel and it was divine.

We stayed at the Westin on Piazza della Repubblica which we got for a bargain fishing around the "top secret hotels" section of http://www.lastminute.com/. It wasn't exactly close to all the sights you wanted to see, but it was close enough with the subway just a hop and a skip away.

Overall it was a fabulous hotel. It was grand, super clean, refined and not too opulent - just the way I like my hotels to be. The service was impeccable too. They even managed to arrange a last minute tour for us that was booked out even before we got there. I love Westin hotels the world over. My only complaint would probably be the lack of air conditioning, hot kettle, & clothes iron given government regulations on such. Its not even the hotel's fault, it was just the way things were in their country. We have been pre-warned that this is the case in all Italian hotels but these are such staple things in hotel living that it didn't really sink in until we got there. In wintertime I think we would have been ok, but because we had arrived just as summer left, it was still too warm for no air con and I normally prefer to sleep like I was locked in a chilly bin and snuggled in covers warm from my own body heat. Yes, I had a few sleepless nights on this trip.

So after we got settled in, we tried scouring the streets for food. No impressions of the city yet, my stomach always came first in these situations. While I am normally an exceptional multi-tasker, doing anything when I have morphed into a cranky starved biatch won't get me anywhere so I have given up on even trying long, long ago. My mission that night was to get fed. And if it meant pouncing on the first food option I find, so be it.

It was McDonald's. A double cheeseburger, fries, apple pie, and a milk shake later, I brushed my teeth, played my usual pre-sleep sudoku, and was off to la-la land in a matter of minutes.

I know, dont sleep on a full stomach, but I couldnt help it. My eyelids were drooping even while I was brushing my teeth and toothpaste drool was dribbling down my chin.

Rick Steves' Italy - our lifeline

So, fed and first night ticked we have a day and a half left to cover as much of Milan as we can. We decided we'll get a tour and cover the Duomo, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle, the opera house, and most importantly the Last Supper. Don't ask how we managed it but we did and owed much of it to Rick Steves' Italy guide book. We would have been lost without it, but it was literally our lifeline through the whole blitz. I cannot thank my cousin enough for recommending it. While I would have loved more pictures in the thing, I have never seen a better guide book yet.

Milan Duomo

Inside the Milan Duomo

The duomo was impressive. Personally, it was my favorite of all the duomos we saw. Maybe I just loved how neat and pristine the white marble looked. Inside, it was as dark and slightly depressing as all the other churches you see, but you cannot help but be impressed by the tapestries found on the sides. I believe in vivid colors and it was art that makes sense so this was more my style. It amazes me how alive all the colors are even after all these years and surprised no one made a more concerted effort to steal, mangle or misappropriate them in earlier years when they weren't so precious yet. For all the other things we saw inside the duomo though, I think I was most impressed with the zodiac line. Maybe its just the child in me, but I like how there is this hole in the roof that lets a beam of light shine in and point to the correct zodiac. These days it only works one day a year, but who cares, I still think its cool. Always the little things I say.

Balancing on the Beleaguered
Bull's Balls

Just across or beside the Duomo is the Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle, THE shopping center where all the French are housed -- Chanel, Louis, Prada, etc. Apart from finding my great loves all under one roof, we were also given a quick tour inside the vittorio where a 4 (or 5??) star hotel holds address, same as that of a little old lady who signed the best long term lease ever, holding onto her apartment for cheap as chips rent. The most interesting bit about  the galleria though is the presence of the bull on the floor. It is always surrounded by tourists. Urban myth has it that if you spin on its balls (yes you read it right) five times you are guaranteed good luck. -- and yes, that's me on the right giving it a whirl.

I should warn you though. There is quite a crowd hanging outside the Duomo and the Galleria and not all of them savory. Con artists in varied shapes and forms. At least the ones that we spotted would approach you with corn kernels / seeds in their palms and will try to offer these to you to feed the birds. Don't take them, don't talk to them, just avoid eye contact and make it abundantly clear from your body language that you are not interested. Because the moment you make contact you will be hooked and they will try to extract a fee from you for taking the seeds (religious ornament, your picture, whatnot) from them. It doesn't matter if you wanted them or not, as long as you've touched whatever it is they are offering it is very hard to get away. So be anti social for those few moments that you would have to walk across the piazza. Apart from that you should be sweet.

Dress Rehearsal

La Scala Foyer

After the Galleria, we were off to the Scala Opera House. There really wasn't much to do or see at the opera house. Apart from how pretty it is and how old. We did get to see the actors in dress rehearsal and they discouraged photograpny... but the little imp in me couldn't resist. What's the use of a pivoting LCD screen and no flash function if you can't use it?

So I took pictures but not many. At this point it was getting late in the day and I was already a bit antsy. We've been up early to do the full round of Hop-On-Hop-Off Bus Tour and rushed through lunch to make it to this Duomo / Galleria tour. The little transmitters with the continuous flow of fun facts about the opera wasn't doing it for me anymore. I was bored. The rest of the tour group had tinier bladders than I did and felt like they were going to the bathroom every 2 seconds. I was starting to take offence at how the guide was saying everything in a grating manner and I am CONVINCED she is doing it on purpose. I was grumpy. I was hungry. It was time to feed the beast lest the troop suffer the consequences.

We capped the day with a nice quiet dinner at a little hole in the wall with no tourists in sight.

Saffron Carbonara - Yum!

Pana Cotta anyone? Still the best I've had to date

Very characteristic of Milanese food is the presence of Saffron in everything. They had it in my carbonara, and they also had it in their risotto. You must be thinking, finally the top chef reference makes sense. And that is all it really was, the episode reminded me of good food in Milan. It was also funny how we found that chops Milanese style are very similar to how schnitzels are done in Austria. Maybe its the proximity of the two countries, but they share a few surprisingly similar dishes.

Anyway, dinner that night was leaps and bounds better than what we had the previous evening (no offense to Mickey D's, you know I still love you). And once again we were full, and happy, but also tired. So we settled in and prepared for our last stop in the morning before we hit the train for Venice.

Our last stop was our quickest but one that left the biggest impression on us. We went to Sta Maria della Grazie, home of one of the greatest works of art ever. This is where the Last Supper in all its highly secured yet still decaying beauty can be found. You can see it was fading but it was still amazing, and trite as it may seem you do get this sense that you are in the presence of greatness. Da Vinci must have been one crazy man to have been able to bottle up so much talent. Again, no photography allowed but as my cousin said when she found out much later, I am loca and yes I took a sneaky photo anyway.

A Sneaky Peek at The Last Supper

Overall summary of Milan? It was ok. It didn't knock my socks off, but it had its own treasures that left me breathless in those first few moments of discovery. The modern parts of Milan reminded me of buildings from the 80s but it was made more majestic and prettier by the backdrop of history. Similar to how the old but grand Milan Central Station framed all the modern buildings in the Piazza della Repubblica.  Would I go again? Maybe if chance permitted, but not because of a great need to return. I do love the food though, but then this is a sentiment I will be repeating over and over through my whole trek across the boot shaped country.