{"id":15537,"date":"2016-06-20T14:19:07","date_gmt":"2016-06-20T12:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.boeingbleudemer.com\/en\/?p=15537"},"modified":"2025-05-31T11:12:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T15:12:15","slug":"romantic-city-break-milan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boeingbleudemer.com\/en\/romantic-city-break-milan\/","title":{"rendered":"A Romantic City Break in Milan – Our First Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

For an impromptu romantic weekend away from home, we set our sights on Milan, the second-biggest city of the incredibly beautiful country that is\u00a0Italy. Still, I will always remember the stunned reply\u00a0of my Italian teacher when a student told him that she was dreaming of visiting Milan: \u201cMilano \u00e8 brutto (ugly)! It’s gray and polluted; why you wanna go there?\u201d While I was planning my visit, the information I found\u00a0on the internet was not reassuring: the city was often referred to as a gray, cold and expensive.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, I wanted to make up my own mind about the capital of Italian design. Every day, nearly thirty flights connect Paris to\u00a0Milan, plane\u00a0tickets\u00a0for this journey are affordable. In January 2016, I bought\u00a0round-trips with Easyjet for about\u00a0\u20ac60 per person.<\/p>\n

I was happy that R\u00e9jean decided to come with\u00a0me for this weekend in Italy, because I often travel\u00a0solo. My little 36-hour trip turned into a romantic city break\u00a0in Milan. Unfortunately, my health problems did not go away for this trip, we are so went piano piano<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Our Romantic City Break in Milan<\/h2>\n

When traveling with Easyjet, the modus operendi<\/em> is “do without checked luggage”. We both sparsely packed tiny bags (Arpenaz\u00a010L) so that we could keep them on our back all-day long. We arrived to Milan around 11\u00a0AM and when we exited Cardona train station, we were wowed by the monumental Sforza castle. Inside this 14th-century fortress, you will find many museums including the Sforza Pinacoteca.<\/p>\n

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A leisurely walk in Parco Sempione<\/h2>\n

It was a mild sunny\u00a0winter day, instead of spending time inside, we went for a stroll in Parco Sempione to admire the dolce<\/em>\u00a0Italian vita<\/em>. Since\u00a0I just cannot resist the appeal of strong\u00a0espresso (and a slice apple pie), we sat down at caff\u00e8 Living<\/a>\u00a0enjoying\u00a0its\u00a0panoramic\u00a0windows overlooking the Arch of Peace. Across from our table sat an elderly couple. The husband, elegantly\u00a0dressed, was reading La Repubblica<\/em> while his wife with\u00a0impeccable hair\u00a0and a\u00a0plunging neckline was\u00a0trying to complete\u00a0her crossword puzzle behind\u00a0large dark\u00a0sunglasses. Ah, Italy!<\/p>\n

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Refreshed, we headed\u00a0towards\u00a0the heart of the city. R\u00e9jean had visited Milan when he was a\u00a0child and became my personal guide\u00a0leading me to the major tourist attractions. When his memory failed, his smartphone came to the rescue as his phone carrier Sosh allows free data roaming in Europe.<\/p>\n

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The Touristic Heart of Milan<\/h2>\n

What a disappointment it was to\u00a0discover\u00a0the architecture of the Teatro Della Scala. This theater is considered the\u00a0Mecca of opera, it is\u00a0where Verdi and Puccini presented several of their new operas! The neoclassical building looks\u00a0sad when compared to the grandeur of\u00a0the Paris\u2019s Opera Garnier. I tried to find tickets, but none\u00a0matched the timetable and price I was looking for. Want to see this mythical place\u00a0without splurging on seats to the opera? You can get in the concert room though the Scala Museum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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I quickly swallowed my disappointment when I discovered galleria\u00a0Vittorio Emanuele\u00a0II\u00a0immense glass roof, what a classy shopping mall!\u00a0Although this place is very touristy, the gallery\u00a0is worth your time\u00a0and even though you might not\u00a0regularly shop at Prada or Versace, you will surely appreciate its monumental dimensions.<\/p>\n

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Milan\u2019s Duomo<\/h3>\n

At the exit of the galleria, crescendo<\/em>,\u00a0we landed right in front of the magnificent Duomo cathedral, a gothic orgy of\u00a0marble and statues. When the Irish\u00a0writer Oscar Wilde visited the cathedral in 1875, he wrote to his mother:<\/p>\n

The Cathedral is an awful failure. Outside the design is monstrous and inartistic. The over-elaborated details stuck high up where no one can see them; everything is vile in it; it is, however, imposing and gigantic as a failure, through its great size and elaborate execution.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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My dear Oscar, it\u00a0seldom happens but I just cannot agree with you! From the first glance, I was fascinated by this gothic revelry\u00a0of marble. I really wanted to see\u00a0this sight\u00a0in depth, and we bought two admission tickets that included access to the roof. The interior of the church is\u00a0nice to see, but I especially enjoyed the roof terraces, as they allow to see up\u00a0close to the minute\u00a0details of the sculpted\u00a0marble. I took a lot of pleasure in discovering the Gothic structure of the building with its flying buttresses\u00a0hidden behind a facade reminiscent of a barn with\u00a0a\u00a0pointed roof and rectangular shape.<\/p>\n

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Never losing sight of the Duomo<\/h2>\n

Innamorata<\/em>\u00a0with\u00a0this building, I could not let it out of my sight\u00a0even for the meal I was desperately craving. We simply crossed the street to enter the department store Rinascente Milano. On the top floor there are a few restaurants with a great view of the cathedral. At Il Bar, it was difficult to concentrate on one thing with\u00a0the beautiful view that was offered to ourselves and the elegant Milanese with their luxury\u00a0handbags and impeccably cut suits. It seems that there\u2019s a\u00a0lot of money flowing around this city: women are dressed in furs, the shops are quite luxurious, the city is clean (10x more than Paris!) and the streets seemed relatively secure\u00a0(20x more!).<\/p>\n

After waking up at dawn and exploring the city on foot\u00a0for many hours, we were growing increasingly tired. When it was time for checking-in , we headed to our hotel Spadari Al Duomo<\/a> located only a few steps away. We wanted to rest a little before going out for a romantic Italian dinner. While R\u00e9jean was taking a shower, I took a\u00a0drink from the complimentary minibar and watched with relish\u00a0the last rays of sunlight tickle the towers of Milan Cathedral.<\/p>\n

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Romantic Dinner \u2026 or Aperitivo Milanese<\/h2>\n

Tired from a long day of walking, we dragged ourselves outside of our room. Our steps naturally led us to Corso Como and Porta Garibaldi where several restaurants and bars are located. It\u00a0was too early to eat, so we walked slowly while taking mental note of places that looked inviting.<\/p>\n

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It was a good\u00a0excuse\u00a0to drag R\u00e9jean to 10 Corso Como<\/a>, the famous Milanese concept store that is similar to Colette in Paris. I contemplated for a few minutes the sublime Luggage bag from C\u00e9line, it looked so good that I was itching to buy it.\u00a0Alas spending the equivalent of one month salary on an handbag is unthinkable for me,\u00a0I’m not Carrie Bradshaw after-all! The boyfriend wanted to buy it for me, but\u00a0it was out of the question\u2026 I prefer a romantic getaway to a fashion accessory! Like at Colette, my favorite department\u00a0was the bookstore where one\u00a0can find beautiful books on design, fashion and art. I wanted to indulge in book shopping, but the sheer weight of those coffee-table books held me back because I would have had to carry them in my backpack the next day.<\/p>\n

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Since it was still not yet time to eat, we stopped at\u00a0a bar to get drinks. The crowd at Princi<\/a> was younger and we felt more at ease than where we had lunch,\u00a0no more luxury items, only joie de vivre<\/em>. We ordered two Spritz Campari, and the waitress also brought two mouth-watering\u00a0plates of aperitivo<\/em>. I had read that it was the tradition in Milanese bar to serve\u00a0small snacks to accompany drinks, but I did not expect such copious\u00a0amount of food ! When it was finally time for dinner (8pm), we were not hungry anymore \u2026 and we were very tired! Fortunately, R\u00e9jean had not booked a table in one of the Michelin-starred restaurants as he had originally planned to, or else we would have been very disappointed.<\/p>\n

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Nocturnal Explorations<\/h2>\n

Sated and determined to enjoy the Italian capital, we pushed our exploration to the Isola neighborhood where we discovered an area with resolutely\u00a0modern buildings and some street art. Frankly, Milan is a beautiful city. True, it\u00a0does not have the antique charm\u00a0of Rome, but as a large contemporary metropolis, it\u00a0seems to be a place where life is enjoyable with its charming monuments and splendid view of the Alps. I especially liked how the city harmoniously integrates modern buildings to the existing architectural heritage, a way of\u00a0highlight\u00a0its past while looking forward, something that, in my view, Paris has failed to achieve.<\/p>\n

After being too early for a while, it was getting late.\u00a0We\u00a0made a last stop at a bakery to\u00a0get some chiacchiere and we went to bed. I don’t know why, but Italian bakeries are often open until late\u2014very nice to satisfy\u00a0late-night cravings!<\/p>\n

We crumbled on\u00a0our soft bed with 28,795 steps (21\u00a0km walk) on the fitbit! Smorzando<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Addresses mentioned in a romantic city break\u00a0in Milan<\/h2>\n