Italy
Municipio 5

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    • Day 2

      Victoria Secret Angel & Versace Adonis

      April 8, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 7 °C

      (Short information for everybody reading this blog. This is a summary of all my thoughts and experiences, which I usually write down (quite tired) at the end of each day, without paying attention to any grammatical rules nor spelling, so please dont be surprised if suddenly the tense changes or letters are missing:))

      Turns out Italy did not disappoint us. When we woke up at 7:30 the sun was shining and it was warm enough to walk around without an anorak, gloves and scarf. We went to the Officina Zero, which is a 100% glutenfree bakery, to start of our day with some Croissants, coffee and a freshly squeezed orange juice. We headed to the metro station close by and took a train to the Duomo. Finally we realized what the tickets we had bought really were for. They brought us to the terraces on the rooftop of the building. It was absolutely insane, we didnt even realize it was possible to get up there. We were really happy and decided to stay there for a while and enjoy the sun. Later on we visited the inside and the archaeological area of the cathedral. Our visit made us hungry, therefore we walked over to Amorino (still the very best gelato ever) and grabbed an ice cream. First Kai only wanted to get chocolate but then I convinced him to try different flavours since he was at such a good gelateria, and even though he didnt admit it, I‘m quite sure he thanked me later. Although, what he didn’t appreciate for sure was the „short“ stop at Victoria Secret… well I just had to. What is a trip to Milan without some „serious“ shopping? I returned Kai the favour and spent at least an hour in shoe stores with him, because he couldnt decide whether to buy red, yes red, special edition vans or not. He bought them in the end and was happy, so it was worth the wait:).
      We strolled along the street, went to a supermarket, bought some drinks and snacks and sat down in a park next to the Basilica San Lorenzo. However, the park wasnt as nice as we thought, there were some really weird emo- teenies, walking around, smoking and drinking, which lead Kai and I to have an extended conversation about education which almost lasted throughout the rest of the day. Anyways, we walked on and found a very pretty bar outside, so we sat down and ordered two analcoholic cocktails. Felt quite fancy;))
      We stayed there for a while and enjoyed the sunrays tickeling on our faces.
      On our way to the restaurant „Bistró“, I had found on a „glutenfree guide“ website earlier, we walked past a canal with bars, cute little shops and art galleries. We hadnt seen such a charming part of the city before and I was glad we had come cross it.
      After a couple of minutes we found ourselves walking through a less touristic part of the city and saw an old man carrying boxes of wine out of his car. Kai stepped over to him and offered to help. The man was very surprised at first but accepted Kai‘s offer. They went inside the house while I looked after his cute dog. For a moment I was a bit worried because they took a while to get back. But then they came back and the man thanked us a thousant times. We talked for a bit and he offered to invite us to his house for a glass of wine, but when he looked for his keys to open up the gate he realised he had left them inside, so we waited for about 20 minues until he had called all his contacts and had finally found somebody who could open up the gate for him. Before we left he invited us again but we declined, saying we had a reservation, so he gave us one of his wine bottles and wished us all the best.
      Although I must admit the day was over all incredibly aweosme, my highlight was dinner. The Ristorante Bistró is a 100% glutenfree place where they offer all types of Lasagne, fresh homemade pasta, delicious burgers with soft buns and honestly everything somebody could wish for. I felt like I was in heaven. I can’t remember the last time I had such good bread it was just exquisite. I was more than full but I just couldnt say no to dessert, so we ordered a Tiramisú scomposto. Kai doesnt even like coffee, but he knew that for me this Tiramisu was just a „to die for“ so he shared it with me!
      We gave the girl a good tip and „rolled“ (at least I did) to the next metro station and drove home, packed all our stuff and went to bed where I am now currently reflecting on our awesome day and writing this blog!
      Good night to switzerland:)
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    • Day 67

      Sanremo - Mailand

      February 20 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

      Frühstück in Sanremo, Nachmittags dann das Wiedersehen in Mailand.
      Ab jetzt sind wir wieder zu zweit.
      Nach dem Stopp im Hotel gab es einen kleinen Stadtbummel zum Navigli 🚶🏻‍♀️🚶🏻‍♂️

    • Day 14

      De Kathedraal en Station

      November 8, 2023 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 7 °C

      Natuurlijk stond die ook op het programma met eenGuided Tour: die beviel erg goed. Goede informatie en leuke details over dit imposante bouwwerk met meer dan 3300 beelden. 600+ jaar zijn ze er mee bezig geweest en veel beroemde kunstwerken vinden er hun plek. We hadden prachtig weer. Zowel historische weldoeners als recentere beroemdheden hebben hun afbeelding op de gevel achtergelaten, zoals Napoleon. Eigentijdse financiers van het eeuwigdurende onderhoud zien hier ook kans toe.
      Een ander, moderner maar wel bombastisch gebouw is het centraal station waar we aankwamen en vertrokken.
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    • Day 2

      D2🇮🇹: Día por Milan

      December 3, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

      Nos despertamos a las 08:30h, aunque yo llevaba un rato despierto. Había sido una noche movidita, y en el hotel se escuchaba mucho ruido de la calle.

      Empezamos el día cogiendo un metro a Navigli, una zona de Milan con canales, súper bonita y que recuerdo de mi viaje en 2020. Estuvimos paseando por allí, entramos a un edificio medio abandonado que ahora es un centro para artistas, y desayuné un croissant 🥐 de crema de pistacho, un empalago de 1000kcal por lo menos.

      De ahí nos fuimos andando hacia las Colonne di San Lorenzo, y la Basilica di Sant’Ambrogio, que me gustaba de ese último viaje que hice. Ya de allí, cerca del Castello Sforzesco, fuimos a verlo, paseando por calles milanesas muy bonitas. Después de una visita por encima al castillo, fuimos a comer pasta a un restaurante que nos habían recomendado, muy top la verdad.

      Después de comer fuimos a los jardines del castillo, el Parco Sempione, atravesándolo, y nos dirigimos hacia el Cementerio Monumental de Milan, una pasada. Mausoleos y tumbas espectaculares en todas las vías del cementerio. Familias enteras en auténticos monumentos uno tras otro, como una competición por el más bonito. Estuvimos por allí hasta las 15:45, que nos fuimos hacia el Duomo de nuevo, donde empezábamos un Free Tour.

      En el Free Tour nos encontramos de “sorpresa” a Alejandro, Rosa y Sandra, que también estaban por aquí, y hacíamos el Tour juntos.
      El Free Tour fue bonito, pero había mucho ruido y al guía no se le escuchaba a veces, y daba un poco de rabia. Pero seguía siendo bonito e hicimos un camino de 2.5h por la ciudad, acabando de nuevo en el Castillo, pero esta vez de noche.

      Desde aquí volvimos a las Galerías a ver la librería subterránea, y nos fuimos al sitio de la cena, que no estuvo mal, pero tampoco nada wow. (Si Alejandro me lee que me deje su opinión del sitio jajajajja). De aquí ya nos despedimos y nos volvimos al hotel a cerrar el día.
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    • Day 2

      Milano - Day 2

      June 21, 2022 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

      I found It hard to sleep at night, waking up multiple times. I woke up early, had a shower and headed out around 8:30. I walked to the Duomo Di Milano just to find out that you can't enter with shorts.

      Then I tried to get the metro to the Da Vinci National museum of Science but my card didn't work and I had no idea how to buy a ticket, something to do with newspaper stands. After I bought some ingredients at the supermarket, took a long nap back at the hotel and ate some sandwiches at the park.
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    • Day 41 - The Road to Milano

      August 19, 2023 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 29 °C

      Today we leave Bardolino and start making our way to Milan, our final destination for Italy.

      We were tossing up heading north around Lake Garda and seeing a small town called Limone Sul Garda or head to the South and see Sirmione. Seeing the traffic we encountered yesterday, we played it safe and headed for Sirmione.

      The drive was nice going through lake side towns, as it was a Saturday it seemed very busy. We got outside of Sirmione and noticed traffic building up trying to get in the central car parks, we saw some free ones on a side road and thought suckers… we stopped for a coffee and a toilet pit stop, this is when I looked at google maps, reason everyone is willing to wait in massive lines is the 40 minute walk from where we were having coffee to the castle of Sirmione, Who’s the suckers now… well Katie took the backpack to save me so lets say Katie!
      We got into Sirmione is now a resort town, it is known for its thermal baths & Roccas Scaligera, the medieval castle over looking the lake. At the tip of the peninsula of Sirmione is the site, Grotte di Catullo which is ruins of an old Roman Villa some 2000 years old, also the best beach in the area we were told. We grabbed some lunch and then opted for something we hadn’t really researched much, a 10euro boat tour of the peninsula for 25minutes. The company drives your around the peninsula, a couple of facts along the way, nice pictures and then gives the boat a wee bit of gas before the end for some fun. You come back under the draw bridge to the castle which was tight but awesome to see.

      After this I had seen local busses running, found that for 1.50euro each we could catch the bus 5 minutes away from the car! So we opted for that instead of being sweaty messes.
      Once back at the car we headed for Milan, a hour and half drive, as it is Italians main time to Holiday we found the Autostrada to have ‘Traffico Intenso’ - or in plain English, a heap of traffic so 130km wasn’t on the cards.
      We got into Milan, got into the AirBnb and dropped our bags off and I went to take the car back alone to save Katie’s feet! Now I am not saying that I missed Katie in that short 10minute drive, but my phone decided to not connect to apple CarPlay, I did run a red light, I did get tooted and yelled at an intersection, for not going on a green when cars were blocking me and I got yelled at by the Europcar lady for parking in a taxi zone while trying to work out where she wanted the car parked. So Katie will now not be allowed to stay back doing the washing in future.

      I opted to walk back as it was a 25minute walk and grabbed some supplies from the supermarket.

      We had always planned to go to QC Terme, a tranquil Spa in Milan with lush gardens with saunas and spa pools. The spa is famous for its sensory rooms - such as a sauna set at 50degrees with soothing music and smells like roses, a rain room with screens around and when a storm comes on the screen it starts raining from the ceiling. They also have different kinds of relaxation rooms.
      Katie & I found this great after the stress of the Metro - I brought a MilanoCard which no one can tell me how to activate it, (I even researched this massively) so I now have a dud card & had to buy a day metro pass. Also have the MilanoCard people emailing me saying activate through the app, the app says I need to pick it up… all in all, a massive stuff around. Also had scammers trying to sell us metro tickets while I was working out the MilanCard, by the third one I wasn’t replying that politely!
      But the spa was amazing and very nice in the evening.
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    • Day 1

      Milano - Day 1

      June 20, 2022 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

      Just arrived in Milan and walked to the hostel. It's reallyyyy hot outside and the walk was long, but the city is really pretty. Debating wether I should go out exploring today or rest and leave that for tomorrowRead more

    • Day 18–21

      Retour à Milan

      March 24 in Italy ⋅ 🌨 12 °C

      C'est parti pour 3 jours de plus à Milan !

      Après le 1er wwoofing en Lombardie, j'ai pris 3 nuits à l'auberge de jeunesse Madama Hostel pour me poser et pour visiter la plus grande ville au Nord de l'Italie !

      24 mars : Arrivée à 17h à l'hôtel et seulement le temps de décharger les affaires, et de faire un tour à Porta Romana que la nuit était déjà tombée. J'ai seulement pu visiter quelques quartiers de nuits comme Navigli ou Brera

      25 mars : Grand soleil sur Milan ☀️ ! C'était le moment d'aller courir ~9km dans le plus célèbre parc de Milan et de parcourir les plus beaux quartiers de la ville de jour ! Visite du Duomo, de ses terrasses qui offrent un panorama magnifique sur la ville, sur les Alpes et sur les centaines de statues de la cathédrale.
      C'était l'occasion aussi de rencontrer Guillaume et Dorothée, deux anciens mineurs de la N01 et N02 qui vivent ensemble à Milan et ont 3 enfants. On a pu échanger de belles histoires sur leurs parcours à l'international et sur les Mines autour d'un bon repas chez eux 😋
      Bonus : Guillaume est un grand supporter de Lens, le monde est petit 🔴🟡

      26 Mars : Jour de pluie ☔️... L'occasion de visiter des musées comme celui des sciences et des techniques Leonard de Vinci, ou bien la Pinacoteca di Brera.
      J'ai eu l'opportunité aussi grâce à l'appli Couchsurfing de rencontrer des internationaux de voyage ! On a marché dans Milan, mangé des spécialités lombardes, puis une glace et on a terminé la soirée à une auberge de jeunesse.

      27 mars : Départ tôt de la gare direction Bergame

      🇮🇹🇬🇧 C'est à Milan que j'ai pu vivre mes premières soirées avec exclusivement d'autres étudiants étrangers, et même avec des italiens seulement ! J'ai passés de très bons moments à perfectionner mon italien et mon anglais, et chaque jour qui passe j'ai de plus en plus de facilités à entamer et poursuivre des conversations avec des inconnus 😀

      Note sur Milan : cette ville, ancienne capitale de la 1ere république italienne, est aujourd'hui le poumon économique du pays. Bien plus que Rome, Milan attire chaque année de plus en plus d'italiens et d'étrangers, et la ville connaît une croissance démesurée !
      Cette croissance est à double tranchant pour le pays. Milan participe au rayonnement italien sur le plan économique, culturelle et universitaire. Mais, elle est aussi le syndrôme d'un pays qui se centralise de plus en plus, avec un coût de la vie élevé, tout cela en parrallèle d'un dépeuplement de régions italiennes (notamment le sud) et la baisse voire la fin des services publics en dehors des grandes villes
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    • Day 16

      Milan (rain day)

      April 13, 2023 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 11 °C

      So I’ve got Ben’s cold (which was Clare’s cold and which was somebody else’s before that…) so had a quiet day.
      Made it out for a tram ride to the canals of Navigli - and a proper Italian pasta lunch. We get really solid pasta in Australia but the bolognese sauce was top class.
      Wandered that part of Milan and then came back and chilled in the Airbnb and caught up on Ted Lasso.
      Heading to Venice tomorrow - so will need to head back to the horrid Milan train station! 😬
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    • Day 3

      Foodporn am Kanal

      February 19 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

      Erste Station in Milano: ESSEN. Heute ging es zum Kanal Naviglio Grande, um sich das erste Mal so richtig italienisches Essen zu gönnen. Also gingen wir am Kanal entlang und analysierten den Margarita - Index. Bei 7.50 € und gutem Angebot waren wir überzeugt und setzten uns rein. Und was soll man sagen.. Ich wünschte das Essen wäre nie fertig gewesen und mein Magen wäre unendlich befüllbar 😋🤭 Für Felix gab es erstmal ganz klassisch eine Pasta di Carbonara und für Ania ein Risotto gambaretti a limone. Eine gute Wahl und wir sind gespannt, ob dieses Festmahl noch getoppt werden kann!
      Naja genug zum Essen (ich träumte noch davon), gut gefüllt entschieden wir uns schon Richtung unterkunft auszubrechen, da wir schon ziemlich müde waren. Also machten wir noch eine Mini-Wanderung vorbei an wichtigen und schönen Orten und fuhren dann schon ins Bettchen. Morgen geht es nämlich ganz früh schon weiter.
      Unser Fazit zu Mailand: Eine echt schöne Stadt mit beeindruckenden Gebäuden. Für uns aber ein tacken zu groß.
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