Okay, Here's Milan

PART TWO: MILAN

So once we got on the train in Geneva, we had to ride almost four hours to get to Milan. It was the kids' bed time when we boarded and we had already exhausted all of Rose's entertainment options (the activity book), so you can imagine how awesome that went. Sevak and I seriously thought our hearts were going to fail us at any moment. Towards the end the kids both ended up falling asleep and we said a silent prayer of gratitude.

Once we got off the train we immediately heard and read Italian and it was kind of cool. We walked to Hotel Ibis which wasn't too far from the station. In the morning we just took it easy for a little bit, because we were still pooped from our journey. We watched some Italian cartoons, and I still have the theme song from Siamo Fatti Cosi stuck in my head (hey, it was catchy)! By the way, I saw Maya the Bee (Maya l'Abeille) on TV in France--that's from my day!) We had breakfast at the hotel (which included focaccia and salami) and walked to Pinoteca di Brera to see some famous paintings.

Couldn't have chosen a worse day to be tourists--it was raining cats and dogs. Luckily all the street vendors were prepared and we were barraged with numerous offers for umbrellas. We bought one.

I didn't know if we were allowed to take photos, but I snuck this one--it's of the Brera Madonna, and Sevak was enthralled by it because he studied it in an art history class.

I also snuck this one--Rose was well-behaved!

Next we got off at Duomo (oh P.S. we really liked the metro--it wasn't crowded) and immediately saw this beautiful cathedral (another one!):


The Piazza Duomo is a large shopping area, and we went to a food court to eat some pizza and panzerotti (kind of like fried calzones...I think they're a Milanese specialty--google it). Here are the obligatory food pictures:

Mmmm...yummy. Even though it was from a fast food-ish place, it was heaven.

Simon wasn't that thrilled with the panzerotto

We couldn't resist the gelato

Rose liked the nocciola flavor

Had to throw this one in--looks like Provo doesn't have the only Brick Oven!

In the evening we went back to Duomo and bought a little souvenir at a bookstore. Rose was sleeping--she would have been sorry to miss it (bookstores and toy stores are her favorite places). There were some carnaval things going on because I think it's the season. For example, here were some people doing crazy hairstyles:


Here are some large purple snails which Sevak and I imitated:


In the evening the kids fell asleep pretty easily (another one of God's tender mercies) and Sevak went out to get some stuff for us to eat. The guy at the front desk was offended that Sevak thought there was such a thing as "take out" in Italy, but Sevak ended up finding some take-out Indian food nearby. Haha...Indian food in Italy. Oh, that reminds me, we had Italian food in London at a restaurant owned by some Vietnamese people. Globalization is real.

In the morning we got back on the train, but the journey home was much easier because instead of enduring through the long layovers that were actually scheduled for our trip, we hopped on earlier trains. Our tickets were exchangeable so we figured it was okay, and none of the ticket-checkers said anything about it. So, that was Milan. Once again, hard with the kids, but totally worth it. I'd love to go back again someday.