Milan

A long weekend spent with my mum

By Michael Wilson

March 7^th, 2016

This Christmas I bought my mum a mini break in Milan and after really looking forward to it for months it was finally time to go an explore the city.

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Our first stop was the beautiful shopping experience that is Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. It’s a gorgeous old school mall including all of the high end fashion stores (Prada etc) and some really great restaurants.

Duomo di Milano

After a little bit of window shopping, we headed outside into the square to take in the sights of the incredible cathedral, Duomo di Milano. It’s one of the largest cathedrals in the world.

Shopping

Of course Milan is known for its shopping and during my research I had heard about an amazing department store called La Rinascente. It’s open until 10pm, it’s full of high end clothing and housewares and has an amazing bar overlooking the cathedral. Its certainly worth a visit to the top floor.

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Cafes

The thing I loved the most about Milan was the food and the coffee breaks. Seemingly, Italians drink coffee all day every day and me and my mum were all too happy to partake. Espressos for me and cappuccinos for my mum. They cost about €1.50 whereas if you order a latte they’re about €4, which I guess is their way of telling you we don’t drink lattes here.

Sempione Park

Our Airbnb was about 2 minutes from Sempione Park so we had a wonder over there to explore. The first thing you notice is Sforzesco castle, which might not be the most beautiful castle in the world but it certainly feels medieval. On the other side of the park you’ll find Arco Della Pace, a large archway, which was erected by order of Napoleon and sits at the end of a road which connects Milan to Paris.

AC Milan

As a football fan, I wanted to visit the home of two Milan clubs, the San Siro. Sadly, as there was a match on that evening, security meant we couldn’t get too close, but I’m glad I can say I’ve seen it.

Night time in the rain

It rained pretty much the entire time we were in Milan, which meant I got soaked a fair few times, however it also meant the nights were beautiful as the lights reflected from the puddles.

Mercatone dell’ Antiquariato

On our final day, we jumped on a train and headed a short distance out of the city to visit an antiques market. There were all sorts of stalls selling a huge array of antiques and a few very cool retro furniture shops.