Veneto Region, Italy again! July 2019

Day 1 – Getting there plus a wander round Milan

Following the journey home after our last visit to the Veneto Region, Michael has sworn that we would never drive to Italy again. I was disappointed as there were lots more places I wanted to visit. Luckily in between the new Gotthard Base Tunnel has opened and reduced the train journey to Milan to 3 hours 40 minutes. Michael had already made the journey for work and had said it was very comfortable. With this in mind we decided to go to Italy again this summer but we would travel to Milan by train, collect a hire car and drive on to the same place we stayed at last time.

We don’t normally choose to go back to exactly the same place but as there were still places in the area I wanted to visit and the agriturismo had been exceptional we decided to book again.

The plan was arranged to take the train to Milan on Sunday morning, stay overnight in Milan so we could do some sightseeing and then pick up the hire car on Monday afternoon and drive to Negrar. We would stay there until Saturday morning and then head back to Milan to catch the train back to Zürich late afternoon. Michael booked the train tickets, hotel, hire car and agriturismo and we were all set!

Sunday morning arrived and the weather didn’t decide to play fair. It was bucketing down with rain when we needed to walk to the station with our luggage. By the time we got to the station our shoes and shorts were soaked. Not a great start to the holiday!

We got to Hauptbahnhof in plenty of time and were able to go and buy our breakfast from Starbucks and Coop. We then went up to the platform and our train was already waiting.

The part of the journey I was most excited about was going through the tunnel. The map below shows the old route with twists and turns on the left and the new route on the right.

This aerial photo shows the entrance to the tunnel – very unassuming!

The weather north of the tunnel wasn’t great

But after covering the 57km in just over 17 and a half minutes

…we finally found some blue sky!

And everything had become very Italian although we were still in Switzerland.

After a short stop at the border to change train crew and check passports we were on our way again towards Milan. We arrived, with Swiss efficiency, on time in Milan Central station. We joined the mass of passengers making their way out of the station and walked to our hotel.

We were booked into the Best Western on Piazza Lima. It was about a 10 minute walk from the station. We were able to check into our room even though it wasn’t officially time. When we found our room we started to unpack what we needed for our overnight stay and found that lots of our clothes at the top of our suitcases had got wet on the way to the station. This meant unpacking more than we had intended to.

After all the damp clothes had been hung up to dry we set out to explore Milan. Unusually I didn’t have a guide book but I had been on the internet and managed to find a one day itinerary recommendation. My main destination was the cathedral and Michael wanted to visit the Starbucks Reserve Roastery again.

Bethany had already grabbed a map at reception and after locating the hotel we set off to explore. The hotel was right next to a metro station but we chose to walk to get our bearings better. First target was the Duomo.

We passed the Natural History Museum on route.

After a brief stop at the LEGO shop,

…we walked though a shopping street and caught our first glimpse of the Duomo.

The view from the front was even better.

We planned to go up on the roof on Monday so we carried on wandering. I spotted the Aperol Terazza but it was a bit early to indulge.

We walked through the most beautiful shopping arcade – Galeria Vittorio Emanuele II.

After this it was time to make the pilgrimage to the Starbucks Reserve Roastery. It was nothing like any Starbucks I had previously been to!

There was a normal Starbucks coffee bar but also a cocktail bar, cake shop and pizza bar. There was also a full coffee roastery in the centre with staff filling and emptying the machines and bagging the coffee to go out to stores.

This picture is made up of coffee bag labels.

We decided to stop here for something to eat and so Michael could try one of the special reserve coffees.

After our late lunch we set off again to explore Milan spotting the great old fashioned trams on the way.

Our next stop was the church of San Maurizio. It was stunning inside but very unassuming from outside.

The church was right next door to the archeological museum so we saw some relics of columns on our way out.

I had spotted a location on the map that I wanted to wander by. Luxottica is one of the biggest spectacle frame and sunglasses manufacturer in the world and their brands include Ray Ban and Oakley. Their head office is in Milan.

It was actually pretty uninspiring. The Oakley shop next door was more interesting.

We walked on passed Cadorna station with an interesting sculpture outside.

After this the next stop was the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie. This is where Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper is painted on the refectory wall. I hadn’t bought tickets and usually you have to book a long time in advance so we just visited the outer buildings.

The next destination was our last planned stop for Sunday – Castello Sforzesco.

On our way back to the hotel we passed the Swiss Centre.

We decided that as we had walked 12km round Milan that we would have a quick swim in the hotel pool and then eat in the hotel restaurant. There was a special Milanese menu that Bethany and I decided to have.

The view from the restaurant on the 6th floor was good but the view from the rooftop terrace on the 8th floor was even better. The top of the Duomo was just visible.