Milan: Part III - Michelanglo

Europe is like a big art and history museum.

Hundred years old castles, buildings with magnificent crafting, roads built for horse carriages and beautiful flesh like marble statues are on display in all major European cities and Milan is no exception.

Sforza Castle, about 15mins walk from the Duomo is worth a visit for all art lovers (or tourist who are sick of shopping!). For only €3, it gives you access to all the exhibitions including paintings, statues, furniture, armors, weapons and even modern artwork.

There are loads of paintings and the one shown below is one of the most important piece in the castle. (I am no art expert, but logic tells me if a painting is on display in a huge room all by itself, it must be pretty special!)

"Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus" - This painting was thought to be painted by Leonardo da Vicci.

(On close inspection, you can see the left window is actually the Sforza Castle itself, how awesome is that?!)

Milan has a strong Catholic influence, therefore, most of the artwork in the castle is about "Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus". This particular painting was painted by Picault in 1758, who copied the painting which was originally painted by Leonardo da Vicci in 1515.

Even though it is not painted by Lenoardo da Vicci, it is still fascinating to look at.


A truly fascinating master piece we saw during this trip is this unfinished statue of "Mary and Jesus ". It is the last statue made by Michelanglo. Look at how rough it is at the top half of the statue and compare it with the flesh like leg at the bottom half of the statue. It really makes you appreciate the effort and the talent of the artist.

If you really don't want to pay the €3, there are live shows avaliable for viewing as well and the photo below is the "most viewed art" of the day! They are performing in the middle of the castle, you really can't miss it even if you want to.

The only issue with this kind of show is that the performers don't have a schedule, so you just have to try your luck!

Sweet?!

Milan: Part II - Latte

The best way to rejuvenate after walking around Milan all morning, is to sit at a relaxing cafe and have a nice cup of coffee. Knowing how much Italians love their food and drinks, I had great expectation of how good my Latte would be -- and what I got was ...............hot milk. In Italian, "latte" means "hot milk".

If only I had read about Latte on Wikipedia before the trip, I would not have made such a mistake. Check it out on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latte.

"Latte" in Italian means "Hot Milk"

There is no shortage of coffee places in Milan, even Gucci have their own cafe right outside their store. To my surprise, their coffee is actually reasonably priced, unlike their bags!

Gucci cafe menu

The quality of food in Milan is pretty high and that applies to the price, too. The general rule of thumb we follow when comes to choosing a restaurant is, the more people there are the better. With this rule, waiting time is unavoidable, but since dining out is quite expensive over there, it is better to wait for a table in a good quality restaurant then taking the risk.

Out of all the pizzas, risotto, pasta, salad, gelato and coffee that I had during the trip, the clam spaghetti was the best. The clams were fresh, the spaghetti was perfectly cooked and the sauce had a mild taste and light texture which complimented the clams really really well.

Clam spaghetti

A trip to Milan would not be complete without art, so the third part of this trip is Milan: Part III - Michelangelo.

Sweet?!

Milan: Part I - Duomo

The whole point of leaving beautiful New Zealand to come to the UK is to travel around Europe as much as possible. Therefore we went to Milan the weekend before I started my new job.

Milan is an obvious choice of destination for all fashion/brand conscious people. However, for the fashion conscious who do not want to spend €500 for a Nutella Cube bag*, like myself, there is much to see as well. (*Scroll down for a photo of the bag.)

Our first stop was the Duomo. One of the most beautiful cathedrals in the world, the details on the outside are unbelievable! We spent the day and night walking around it to see its beauty from all angles we could get access to.

In the morning, tourist rush hour.

Afternoon tea at the cafe on the top floor of a department store right next to the Duomo.

From the top of the Duomo. We took the stairs, but an elevator is available, so there is no excuse not to get up there. It is so worth it.

The Duomo looks equally breathtaking at night.

The Duomo is a "functional" Catholic church, meaning there is Sunday mass while the tourists are walking around the church, which is a bit strange.

Almost 400 photos were taken in the two days, mostly of the Duomo. The rest are the beautiful food and drinks that we had, and some funny ones as usual. Stay tuned for "Milan: Part II - Latte"

Sweet?!

Nutella bag. Look at it, who wouldn't want one, eh?!?! =P