Just returned from an epic 16-day X-mas holiday to four different cities with my Scottish friend John…now continuing the half-hearted and sporadic documentation of Bub’s adventures in Europe.
Milan
The train station:
Actually, we flew into Milan from Madrid, so I don’t remember why we have a picture of this. I think John had to use the bathroom here.
(*Edit from John: yes M-A-B-E-L, because, when we arrived in Milan, we got off the bus at the train station, and went to go for a coffee inside the station, then you took the pictures inside the station, we had a disgusting coffee inside the station, then crossed the road and went to Burger King for some junk food. did you go on this holiday or was it just a figment of my imagination that we went together?
me: HAHAHA oh yeah that’s right. reminded by the man with amnesia. not burger king, mcdonald’s.)
Someone warned me beforehand that Milan would be “ugly.”
The gloomy, black, dirty metro system surely fits that description (especially coming from Madrid), but there was something very charming about all the little shops and streets, much more charming than I’d seen in any Spanish city. I got the sense here that the Italian sense of decor in shops and cafes really draws the eye towards sparkly colorful things in windows and makes the consumer in you want to step in through the door. Every place was so cozy, so tasteful and pleasing to the eye. Every day saw a new cafe in which to satisfy my new espresso fix.
The most memorable sites in the city (as probably any tour guide book will tell you) were the cathedral, the castle, and the big domed shopping mall whose name I forget.
You can see the giant Christmas tree here in the square.
Another shot of inside the castle.
Other than that, I can see why Milan is known for designer brands and frou-frou fashion. Also, don’t come here for night life. Although I guess if you’ve been to Madrid you would say that for any other city. We got chucked out of a bar around 2:30 and had to walk back to our hostel in a completely deserted city. This chucking out seemed to be a pattern during our travels.
Here is a random Christmas tram that was going through the city. No passengers allowed.
What else? The food was pretty good. They have these all-you-can-eat buffet tables with the Italian version of tapas in most cafes, and all you have to do is buy a drink to take part in the feasting. And oh, was there plenty of feasting during our holiday. We said that we would come back “half a stone heavier and broke.” At least the latter part of that statement is now true.
Stay tuned for more, dear reader(s)!
mabel lee 
More pictures, I say!!And, after being in (and smelling) the subway for too long, I have to completely disagree with you about the ugliness of…anywhere else, really (except maybe oil fields). I also love the overwrought rococo architecture. Seems like everything which is not ornate is sleek and modernised – we’re offered an interesting dichotomy of how our large world cities will look in future. One of the things I adore about New York is, between ugly office buildings and cool-looking new structures, I am often surprisedly entranced by some small church’s quiet beauty.