Day One in Milan

I arrived in at the Milan airport with a full day to burn before Seth would arrive from Cairo. After stashing my large backpack in airport baggage storage I headed for the train station and purchased a round trip ticket on the express train into the center of Milan. Before leaving for Italy I had done a bit of research on recommended sights and places of interest as well as printed out a map of the Milan subway system.

The express train was excellent. It was clean and quick, taking just 28 minutes to arrive in the center of town. When I left the station I opted not to go directly on the subway, but to walk along the streets for a bit. I was headed to the Duomo, a massive cathedral that one would think easily spotted from nearby streets.



The subway map print out ended up being my most valuable tool as I had not purchased a city map. I knew the Duomo had a subway stop on the red line and as I walked along the streets I spotted an entrance to a red line station. From there I began walking from station to station gradually sensing my way toward the cathedral. I wandered off course once or twice (“Woops, that’s a green line station. I must have been meant to take the left bend in the road back there.”) and was about to accept the fact that I might not find this monstrosity of a church even though it was surely just around the bend when I spotted a tall spire between two buildings. I was hot on the trail!



There are two main attractions at the Duomo: the interior and the roof. You can access the roof of this cathedral via a narrow twisting staircase of stone, or an elevator. I opted for the manual approach. Once on the roof you are surrounded by buttresses, intricately carved spires and stone railings. There are stone staircases built in to the roof, not as an afterthought for they show signs of weathering and wear that indicate many years of use and exposure. Aside from the view I was most impressed by the incredible detail and attention paid to the carvings in every out of the way corner, railing, banister or windowsill on this roof. Based on the level of detail put in to the roof, you can imagine what the interior of the church was like.



After leaving the church I headed to a sidewalk café for lunch. I was drawn in to one by an animated server who was doing a fantastic job pulling in people off the street and making conversation. I watched as he essentially started a casual conversation with passersby and then pulled out a chair and invited them to sit, placed a menu in their hands and excused himself, apologizing for the fact that he had to go inside to get his order pad. He was a master. These people may have just finished lunch somewhere else but he was so smooth they were about to eat again. I decided to give him my business as well. It turns out he is Brazilian, but has lived in several different countries, including the U.S. He speaks 5 languages and will be leaving Italy in 3 months to return to Brazil and open his own restaurant with the money he has saved while working around the world.





While waiting for my sandwich to arrive I thought I’d order a coffee. I looked over the menu quickly and found an entire page devoted to coffees. When he asked what I would like I ordered a latte.

“Latte?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Just milk?” he clarified.
“Yes, just milk.” I confirmed, thinking he meant only milk with my espresso.
“Would you like it hot?” he asked. This seemed like an odd question.
“Uh, yes. Hot please.”

A few moments later I was brought a small glass of hot milk. Mental note: “latte” is Italian for milk. If you want an espresso with steamed milk you need to order a “café latte” or a “latte machiatto”. Gotcha. I drank my milk like a good little American.