My Daycation to Milan, Italy!

This weekend was the only time we had a Saturday exam. So traveling far for just a day and one night didn’t seem worth it. I for one was looking forward to relaxing!

Well when it came time to making any sort of plans for the weekend, the rest of the group just wanted to stay in Riva. Since no one wanted to do anything, I decided to take a day trip by myself to Milan on Saturday after the exam. Milan is only an hour train ride away from us and because I hadn’t gotten the opportunity yet to see it, I felt this weekend would be perfect to do so.

I left after lunch in Riva and got to Milan in the early afternoon. My first stop was to Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral). The outside was so impressive, with lots of tall reaching spires and an abundance of windows. Stepping inside I noticed how dimly lit it was and the massive columns throughout the church. Following the columns up to the ceiling, I spotted the little designs up there as well. The stain glass was pretty as well! Although I prefer when the tiles of stain glass form the picture, not when its just single windows with pictures on it and no tiles, but nonetheless it was very beautiful inside. I did notice however a very creepy statue. It was of a skeletal man with a cloth around him and a sunken face. I was perplexed as to what that was about.

When I was looking into what to do in Milan, I had read that visitors were allowed to go on the top of the Duomo roof! I had never gotten to something like that before, so I took advantage of this opportunity.

After waiting in a short line, I walked the winding steps inside the church to reach the top. Right when I got out, I was met with all the incredible structures of the outside roof! I wouldn’t have thought the designers would have put as much detail into the roof, but wow it was so interesting! All the spires, sculptures, walkways, and support structures were right there for me to touch. 

 

Not only did I get to see these structures up close, but I also got a great view of the city from up there!! 

 

That last picture is of the main city square of Milan! It is right in front of the Duomo, named Piazza del Duomo.

After staying on the roof for a while, I went back down to check out more of the city. Since it was getting closer to dinner/evening time, the amount of people in this area of the city had doubled. It was starting to get a little overwhelming for me so I decided then to hop on the metro and head to another area of the city.

The other place on my small to do list was Castello Sforzesco. I’m so glad I decided to check this out as well because it was remarkable and so large! It had a huge wall around it to state its territory and tall towers. I had such a relaxed and enjoyable walk through its courtyards and walkways. 

 

I found out it was originally built in the mid 1300s. In the mid 1400s, the Milanese people razed the castle to the ground trying to get rid of the current republic. Military leader Francesco Sforza took back over control, proclaiming himself the duke, and rebuilding the castle with better fortifications. Pretty interesting this all happened hundreds of years ago.

 

After walking through the castle, I left on the other side and entered into Parco Sempione. I grabbed myself a little ice cream cone and walked around for a little bit. The park was simple, with large trees and grassy areas for picnics. I strolled down one of the pathways, leading to the pond. It was very relaxing and pretty outside.

I enjoyed seeing the family interactions around the pond. There was a grandpa and little toddler who were there together. The toddler kept running out of his grandpa's reach and so the grandpa had to keep chasing around after him, trying to keep up. Just funny to see happening.

But since I was only there for about 5 or 6 hours it was time to head back to the train station. I really liked doing my own thing and it was definitely a good experiment to see how I was able to manage navigating a city by myself. I looked up what I wanted to do beforehand and avoided going to areas I felt would be more likely to have pickpockets. I felt really confident in myself as a traveler afterwards. The key is to not stand out as a tourist and be conscious of surroundings. 

Just a quick train ride back to Riva and I had a really fun night because when I got back everyone was still there! So I got to hang out with the group that night :)

The following day was probably my laziest day thus far while being over here. I woke up, went to the church in town (it was all in Italian but I was happy I went to experience it here), had a yummy brunch, and then just chilled. I worked a lot on my blog so I did feel somewhat accomplished. It was one of those rainy Sunday's when all you feel like doing is staying in bed and relaxing... and I got to do just that! For a change I didn't have anywhere to go and not much to do, it was very nice indeed!