We took the train to Milan on Sunday. A little confusion as usual but basically a smooth trip. After leaving our bags at the hotel we headed off to see the Duomo. We had an experience with the subway and got scammed – a combination of being tired, acting like the tourists we are and a run in with a “Roma”. The short story is we ended up paying 14 Euros for 2 subway tickets that should have cost us 3 Euros. Well if that is the worst that happens this trip all is good and a Roma family ate well and had a good laugh.

The Duomo is a 14th century cathedral – second largest in Italy. Beautiful stained glass and art work. We could not explore close to the main alter as it was Sunday and a service was in progress.

I will let the pictures speak for how wonderful this building is.

Now inside

After visiting the cathedral we went to the Galleria, an old shopping area now housing some well known names – who knew Prada sells decorative cakes!

We stopped at a restaurant near our hotel for dinner.

Monday we went on a “hop on hop off bus” for a city tour.

One intriguing building was a condominium which is covered with trees and bushes. There are 2 “flying gardeners” which are automated tree trimmers that crawl down the building every 3 months to trim and maintain the greenery.

We hopped off at the LaScala and enjoyed a tour even though we could not go into the main theatre as there was a rehearsal underway.

Milan has been disappointing – basically a big city with too many people and too many tourists. It was basically destroyed during the Second World War due to bombing by the Allies. It lacks the charm of Paris and has largely been rebuilt since 1944. However glad we have seen it, 2 days was enough.

Tomorrow off to Zermatt and an escape from the unrelenting heat.