Milan, Italy
I have visited Milan for work multiple times and was always wondering how I would make this post. Milan is a pretty cool place and theres a whole lot of venturing to be done because it is a pretty big city. I mostly stayed around the Centre but it was still quite vast. Visiting another time near Christmas time was cool, specifically Duomo. I had fun visiting the Da Vinci museum as well. I guess I am bias as I do not like cheese that much so I was never really super fond of the pasta but I definitely ate my fill and had my tuscan and napoli pizzas too.
Soundtrack
The first time I had seen Duomo
Duomo during the day, super crowded
Obligatory selfie
More recent pic of Duomo
Checked out the mueseums in Duomo
fine dining around Duomo (i like the gold utensils)
Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle II
19th century design for a high luxury mall near Duomo
While eating breakfast and drinking a coffee, I struck up a conversation with a nice man that suggested I visit Santa Maria presso San Santiro which was in the heart of Milan, near the shopping center. Obviously the city transformed and introduced shops but this church remained. It was quite beautiful as the nice man had told me and it was worth it to just see it and bathe in it's presence.
Leonardo Da Vinci statue
Not too far away from his mueseum, where you can see all his engineering and inventions.
It's not too far of a walk back to the Hotel and Duomo. Along the way I get to see Sforenzo Castle (more on that later).
Not too far from the hotel, you can see Arco della Pace
Arco Della Pace means Arche of Peace. It was started during the near end of Napoleonic rule in Milan and a few wars and rebellions, since left abandoned and then completed later. Very cool wiki and history.
You can even dine outside and are within view of it. Of course you will get upcharged for the view but its well worth it. My dining experiences with these resturaunts were pretty amazing. Was never a fan of balsamic vinegar and bread but am now.
Spaghetti w/ Shrimp Scampi
Some chicken parm
As I was strolling through my walk back to the hotel, this was actually the time right after my day trip to Lake Como, I saw some familiar font-face of one of my beloved TV series at Sforenzo Castle. This was probably the apex of the show before it all went downhill and went further than the books.
hey look its Dany!
Nymeria (Ellaria) Sand, Drogon, some Sand Snake
It was super packed filled with fans, they had a viewing of season 6 (or 5?) at 2am at the castle. I got some pretty neat gifts and a tote bag. They gave out random wristbands from each house and I got Targaryen. It's funny that they put more effort into this than the show's Dorne storyline
One of the coolest architecture feats was the Bosco Verticale. Which means Vertical Forest, hosts 900 trees, 5,000 shrubs and 11,000 floral plants, which helps mitigate smog and produce oxygen.
Beautiful skyscrapes
2 seperate occasions went to AW Lab and was able to pick up the last Ultraboost 3 triple black and red inikis. I was very happy with these finds here. You can find this place at Via Dell'Unione
I returned to Milan in 2018 right before Christmas and it was pretty spectacular. Duomo and it's surrounded shops were all decorated in luxuious fashion. It was quite a sight! Short video link here Here as pictures really don't do it justice.
Fun tidbit that in Italy, they love Super Robot Taisen and Mechs. They even have Italian translated manga too
Milan is multi-cultural as well, you will see and meet a few Japanese and Chinese people that now live in Milan.
Met up with a work partner at lunch, I asked him to take me to his favorite resturaunt and he took me to Trattoria Caprese. He claimed it had the best Napolonese food; which I probably had to agree. The pizza and pasta was great. Cute decor too.
I really really liked this hotel, very close to the Centre, a walk to Arco della Pace with fine dining nearby and a block away from nightlife. People seem to gather there at night. The hotel is far enough that it is quiet too! The staff was awesome and were super nice to me, especially when I had to bring 2 huge Pelican cases there and were always happy to see me. I highly recommend this spot for the cleanliness of the room, location and staff. Hotel Lancaster
Lancaster was a real house which the Lannisters are based off of
Alternatively if you want something closer to Grand Centrale station and more in deep within the city, Star Ritz Hotel is great and has a pretty awesome reliable chain of hotels across Italy.
I airbnb'd the first time I was here and it was too far away from everything. Really do not recommend airbnb'ing here because of the language barrier and locations aren't as great. All the hotels I stayed at had a great breakfast buffet with tons of Nutella