Day 2 – Milan and onward
I had booked tickets for the Duomo including the rooftop by lift for 10am. Michael had a call to do at 9am so we headed into town on the metro and found a cafe doing breakfast in the Galleria Vittoria Emanuele II.
It wasn’t a bad view for breakfast. Michael and I ordered the standard Italian breakfast – croissant, toast, butter, jam, fruit juice and tea or coffee – and Bethany ordered a cheese and ham toastie with orange juice. Michael did his call and was finished by just after 9:30am leaving us plenty of time to wander outside and find the right entrance.
After a brief bag check we scanned our tickets and made our way up to the lift. There was no queue and we got in the first lift that arrived. It only held 8 people plus the lift attendant so I can imagine the queue gets quiet long as the day goes on.
On arrival at the top the attendant pointed us in the right direction and we set off towards the rooftop terraces. Even though we had seen the stunning architecture from the ground, nothing had prepared me for the first view from the roof.
We then walked along this first level and at the end made our way up more steps on to the top level.
A number of years ago I use to be part of a group called Cathedral Camps. We would spend a week or two of our summer holidays cleaning, dusting, polishing and painting cathedrals all around the UK. I did ten in different cities and sometimes it involved us using cherry pickers to get to difficult to reach locations. I’m not sure I would have liked the job these guys were doing!
Beneath is a picture from the front of the cathedral to give you an idea how high up they were.
After doing the circuit of the rooftop terraces we took the stairs down into the cathedral. I was surprised that it was only 139 steps down.
Inside was just as stunning as outside. As a stained glass window fan I was in seventh heaven. I could have spent hours just gazing at the windows and following the stories. Here are a few of the many pictures I took of the stained glass.
And here are a few views around the cathedral showing the columns and other architectural features.
Our tickets also included entrance to the archeological museum underneath the main cathedral so we went down to have a look. This excavation was 4m below the level of the current cathedral and part of it is thought to date back to 400AD.
Just before leaving Bethany spotted the signs of the zodiac on the floor. It just happened that we walked passed mine.
As we headed to our next location I couldn’t help but take a couple of photos from the front against the clear blue sky.
Next stop was Castello Sforzesco but, as we had to walk down one of the main shopping streets, we couldn’t resist having a look in Desigual. Around 30 minutes later we carried on our way with an extra bag – oops 😬
The view of the Castello is quite imposing and amazing to think of the number of bucks it must have taken to build such a big fort.
We walked through the Castello and on into Sempione Park. Bethany couldn’t resist playing on the rings as we walked passed.
There were also interesting sculptures in the park.
At the far end of the park was the Arco della Pace (Arch of Peace) and the view through the gardens back to the Castello was lovely.
We decided we needed a break for lunch and that afterwards we would head straight to the station so I could have a look around and also to see if we could collect the hire car a bit earlier.
We found a lovely restaurant behind the Arco Della Pace and sat at a table outside.
It just happened that the restaurant was right next to two tram-lines so we got to see the old trams going back and forth on their routes.
We decided that we would catch the tram to the metro station to get us to the main station. I went across to look at the map and found that the number 1 would take us to Cadorna station where we could catch the green metro line to the central station.
We arrived at Central Station at 2:45pm and our car was booked from 4pm. We went to ask if the car would be available early but the staff in the Avis office were very unhelpful. They said the car would not be ready before 4pm and there were not even sure they had the car that we had booked. Michael was less than impressed but we agreed to come back at 4pm. This gave us some time to wander round the station.
Unfortunately we also came across another Desigual store and added to our purchases 😬We then went to have a sit down in the food court to wait until we could collect the car.
At two minutes to four we decided to risk heading down to Avis to see if they had a car for us. The reception this time could not have been different. The lady was extremely polite and helpful and checked with the garage what cars were available after asking us how much luggage we had. Everything was quickly organised and she gave us directions to find the garage where we had to collect the car. She even came outside with us to point us in the right direction.
It was a very warm 300m walk to the garage but we found it easily. We handed our paperwork to the guy on the desk and he said someone would bring the car out to us. There were cars being driven in and out at speed all the time even tough the garage was very tight for space and was at the bottom of a steep winding ramp!
Our car appeared from the back and the guy driving it reversed it up to a car that was already parked, to allow other cars to be driven passed, but didn’t stop in time and actually hit the parked car. We couldn’t believe it when he got out, picked up a cloth and a spray bottle and proceeded to polish the area he had hit. Michael went to check it out and there appeared to be no damage to either car.
We put the hotel address into sat nav and set off to collect our luggage. After a couple of incorrect turns we parked up outside the hotel and for the first time opened the boot. We couldn’t believe how small it was, definitely not a car for us at home as Bethany’s hockey bag would not fit in it. We managed to get our three suitcases and one rucksack in the boot by removing the back parcel shelf. The other two rucksacks had to go on the back seat with Bethany, who also didn’t have much leg room. After a bit of juggling with seats we all managed to get comfortable and set off on our way to Negrar.
The journey itself was uneventful and we parked in the supermarket car park just after 7pm. We shopped for food for dinner – bread, butter, ham, cheese, salami, crisps and drinks – and then made our way up the hill to Agriturismo Canova.
Francesca, the owner, was pleased to see us again and she showed us to our room, which was exactly the same one as last time. We quickly unpacked our swimming things and went for a well earned dip in the pool.
After our swim we went back up to the room, had our dinner, unpacked and headed to bed determined to have a lazy day on Tuesday.
Crouch Family On Tour 