My sister came to visit and we went to Milan for what was supposed to be three days but ended up staying an extra day near the airport since easyJet cancelled our flight back home. We tried to eat as much gelato and drink as much espresso as possible.
I like Milan, it's different than other Italian cities like Rome, Venice and Florence. It has things to see but is not as cultural as say Florence. The Duomo cathedral (picture above) is one of the main tourist things to see. It's huge! Milan is very hip with trendy women and men walking their dogs and having lunch in outside cafes.
We got a pepperoni and vegetable pizza
Kayla and I went to a neighborhood pizzeria our first night. €5.00 for a pizza is not bad and it was perfect. The base was light and crispy. The menu wasn't in English so it was fun to try and decipher what the toppings were. We made pretty good choices I think.
On our first day in Milan we went to this neighborhood gelateria.
Kayla had Lemon and I had Banana and Pear. They were both very good.
The next day for breakfast we went to Chocolat. We got espresso and this delicious cold meat sandwich (it's customary to stand and drink your espresso). The bread was incredibly soft and the meat better than anything I've ever had before.
The logo was very cute. We came back here before going to the airport as well.
My favorite area of Milan was the Brera area. While we were there I went and met one of my colleagues from the Milan office of the company where I work and the office is in the Brera area near this beautiful church and square. My colleague took us to a cafe not far from this square and we had the best lasagna I've ever had. For €4.00 each it was great. Most places have a lunch menu that was reasonable and everyone takes a one hour lunch break! No eating sandwiches at your desk. I didn't take a picture of it because we were busy chatting away.
We popped into McDonald's to see what they had on the local menu. I find it interesting how it varies from country to country. Nothing terribly exciting on the regular menu (they had McWorldcup burger though) but they had a McCaffe.
They don't have Starbucks in Italy (for obvious reasons) and this McCaffe is probably their only coffee chain (the coffee was better than at Starbucks too). They had about 4 or 5 different kinds of espresso for €1.00 or less and some pastries that were reasonable as well. Kayla tried an espresso with some kind of cream in it and I got a Tiramisu milkshake. They also make fresh squeezed OJ in the morning during breakfast.
We went to a local grocery store and I bought a few packs of Kinder cake bars to take home with me and I also bought this box of cereal.
It's chocolate coffee cereal. It's so good. I wish I'd bought more than one box
We had more gelato near our hotel. Kayla had coconut and dark chocolate and I had something crunchy (we couldn't figure out what the label said)
The very last day we went back to the Brera area for lunch. There are so many cafes around there and most had good lunch prices. We went to Bar Brera.
I had spinach and ricotta ravioli I think. The menu was only in Italian. Kayla had a cold pasta with shrimp and peppers. If you can see in the picure the Coke cans are also thin and tall.
We had one more gelato for the road. We went back to Chocolat. Kayla got a Lemon and Basil and I got a Dark Chocolate and Orange Chocolate.
The Lemon & Basil was the best flavor. It was sweet but you could really taste the basil
Chocolat is know for their different flavors of chocolate gelato. It was packed when we went at about 2pm and when we were there for breakfast previously people were coming in for gelato at 10.30am. I would much rather have a gelato than a cup of tea for elevenses any day!
Waiting around for an entire day to catch the next flight to London. The hotel was fine. It had a pool but since we didn't plan on being stranded we didn't bring bathing suits.
Overall we really enjoyed Milan. There are so many places to eat and while it is an expensive city it is entirely possible to eat on a budget. We also didn't get to try any of the panini vendors around the city. My only regret is I didn't eat more gelato!
