So, once the airfare was booked and out of the way, the next step was to find a reasonably priced hotel near Centrale Stazione Milano (Milan Central Station). I needed a to find a hotel close to the train station because I would only be spending one night in Milan, and then from Milan we would be taking the train directly to Venice. After checking a few websites, we settled on the Hotel Aosta Gruppa Minihotel. This hotel is located directly across the street from the main entrance to the train station. It couldn't have been any closer. It turned out to be a fairly nice hotel for the price we paid. The air conditioning was wonderful, which is often a complaint of European hotels, and the front desk service was pretty good. There was even a breakfast (included in the price) the next morning on the hotel's 8th floor dining area with views overlooking the train station. The breakfast room attendant even made me a gorgeous looking cappuccino.
Our flight arrived into Milan just past 8:00 am on Sunday, July 26th. Going through Customs and Immigration was a breeze and our luggage showed up rather quickly. Upon exiting the arrivals building at Malpensa International Airport, we saw the Malpensa Shuttle bus waiting curbside. As Malpensa Airport is located more than 50km away from the heart of Milan, it was necessary to find a mode of transportation to take us directly to Centrale Stazione. The Malpensa Shuttle does just that. It's a motor coach that is operated on a continual basis that transports passengers, and their luggage, directly to Milan's main train station. Quick, convenient, cheap, and easy. The bus ride into central Milan only took about 40 minutes.
Milan's Central Train station is where regional trains, long distance trains operating on the Eurostar, and Milan's metro converge. The station is huge, busy, full of bustling people and their luggage trying to quickly transport themselves form one location to another. The station itself was actually built during the time of Mussolini.
From our hotel, it was quick and easy to grab the Metro to Milan's most iconic tourist attraction, it's gothic Duomo. When you emerge from the Metro stop, the Duomo sits before you in a huge open Piazza. This amazingly, gorgeous marble Duomo dominates the space it resides, and bombards your senses with sights that have to be witnessed. For the adventurous, you can either climb steps or take an elevator to the Duomo's rooftop to explore some of the numerous whimsical gargoyles, statues, and spires that reside high above the city. From the top you also get a great view over bustling city of Milan itself. As we were on a tight time schedule, we opted to take the elevator (the more expensive of the two options). I was a bit disappointed that you really can only walk around 1/3 of the rooftop and not the full circle around the building. But it was a great vantage point to be so high up. When you look back down at the Piazza all you can see is people, and colors, and pigeons and you hear noise, the noise of people, traffic, and crowds. Of course, you can also enter the Duomo itself. The highlight of the Duomo is certainly its facade, more so than it's interior, which while enormous in size, is dark, and unadorned.
Sitting directly opposite the Duomo, and facing it, is a bronze statue of the first King of a united Italy Vittiorio Emanuele on horseback. It seems that almost every Italian city is almost obligated to erect a statue of the great Vittorio Emanuele.
In Milan, not only do they have a statue of the man, but adjacent to the Duomo is the famous Vittorio Emanuele Galleria. It's basically a large, glass topped, open-air shopping and dining area. In the center of the Galleria is some gorgeous mosaic flooring. There are mosaic pictures of representations of many of Italy's most well known city's, such as the one of Romulus and Remus suckling from the she-wolf to represent Rome. The most popular of these mosaic pictures is by far the Little Bull that represents Turin, or better known to Americans as Torino, sight of the 2006 Winter Olympic Games. It's long been tradition that when you come to the Galleria, you need to find the Little Bull, put your heel to his testicles and do a full spin around in a circle on the heel of your foot. Locals say that this act brings you prosperity and luck. Lucky or not, a whole lot of people were sure giving it a try.
Out the other side of the Galleria (opposite side from where the Duomo is located), is the world famous La Scala opera house. This is the sight where many a famous opera has been performed for years. There's a small opera museum located adjacent to the Opera House itself. In the square that sits between the Galleria and the Opera House is a bronze sculpture of Milan's most famous, and perhaps most revered son, Leonardo Da Vinci, who's famous work The Last Supper (which I didn't have time to see), is also located in Milan.
Milan is the largest city in Northern Italy and also the banking capital of the country. Additionally, Milan is world famous as a fashion capital, and all of the top fashion designers, be they Italian or international designers all have boutiques located in Milan's fashionable and upscale Quadrilateral area. It's fascinating to walk up and down the streets of the area known as the Quadrilateral and see shops such as Ferragamo, Gucci, Dolce & Gabana, Armani, Escada, etc.
While I would never call Milan a "must-see" city for tourists, I was glad that I took the opportunity to spend some time in the city and see it's sights. And as Milan seems to be a hub for much European air traffic, it's worthwhile to take some time to stop in the city and use this city as a home base for your travels through the rest of Northern Italy.
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