Katharine Goes to Europe: Milano

My friend Molly and I headed to Milan and Lake Como last weekend to get a taste of Italy. We arrived late Thursday night to the Milan airport—we were very lost trying to find a shuttle to our hotel. Soon the airport cleared out and the only people besides us still there were teenage girls waiting to spot One Direction leaving Milan. Though we got off to a rocky start we had a great day sightseeing in Milan. We visited the famous Duomo, a shopping plaza full of designer shops and well-dressed Italians, and many other plazas. The plaza is very touristy and there were lots of men wanting to give us “free bracelets from Africa”. We enjoyed our first tastes of Italian cuisine with delicious pizza and cannoli.

Il Duomo

Inside Il Duomo

Gigantic organ

Another view inside

Piazza

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II aka shopping hall

Inside la galleria

Cannoli

Saturday morning we took a train to the town of Como aside Lake Como. The town itself was beautiful. We enjoyed walking around the churches, shops and other buildings. We then took a boat cruise that stopped at several other small towns along the lake. At each we got off and explored and on several islands we did not see any other people besides ourselves. Lake Como is definitely a seasonal attraction and I can only imagine how beautiful it is in the summer. After a long morning on the lake, we headed to a café to warm up and eat lunch. Once again we were treated to a delicious Italian meal—we split pasta and pizza between the two of us and enjoyed hot drinks. In the afternoon we explored the town some more and did shopping before taking the train back to Milan.

Lake Como

Fall in action in Como

The town of Como

Molly on one of our cruise stops.

Hidden waterfall

Exactly how I imagined Italy

View from the boat

Gigantic lunch

The harbor in Como

Molly and I at the lake!

On Sunday we visited the rest of the main sights in Milan. Sadly we were unable to see Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper because tickets sold out months in advance. However we visited several other sights instead. We started in the plaza near La Scala, the world famous opera house. I tried to peek inside the luxurious gilded lobby however I was kicked out because I was not patronizing the box office. We then headed over the Sforza Castle. The complex is large and you can imagine the wealth of the founding family. We explored the grounds before heading back to the city center for lunch. In the afternoon it poured and the men who were giving out bracelets on Friday were now selling umbrellas. We ended up soaking wet but were able to explore several more main streets and two high-end department stores before catching our flight back to Prague. Milan and Como were great first tastes of Italy and now I can’t wait to explore Southern Italy.