Hello my friends,
I’ve been away from the blog for a while now, but I promise to get back to writing here. In case you were wondering… I had a small spring break during which I went to Italy (again), this time Milano. At least that was my initial intention, to spend 3 whole days in Milan… but it turns out that after a day in which we covered pretty much every visiting aspect… we had not much more left to do.
But at first, lets see some pictures of this nice city, and I have to say that after going to Rome, Milan doesn’t impress me as much, mostly because it’s dirtier and there are not as many impressive things to see. I would say though that you must see the Dome and the place in front of it, the Vittorio Emmanuelle Gallery, very picturesque and full of shops, the Scala (it can be visited unless it’s a concert day) and finally DaVinci’s Last Supper.
Try the ice cream shops in the Gallery… I tried one with pistachio and chocolate, home made… best ice cream so far!
View from the roof top of the Dome
Da Vinci street sign
Shopping… a great experience in Milan if you can afford it
LOVE the chocolate and ice cream here
So the next day we had nothing much left to do … therefore we decided to take the train to Venezia! It was a 2h30m train ride and as soon as you get off the train, you can see the beautiful town and its canals. Although we bought a map, we managed to get lost as soon as we crossed the bridged in front of the train station… mainly because we got lost from the tourist group! I can tell you this much, we weren’t the only ones to wonder around with maps and a lost look on their faces.
But, it turns out, getting lost is a most do in Venezia! As it is seeing the Rialto bridge and the Grand Canale, visiting the San Marco Place and the Dodge Palace, as well as the Ponte dei Sospini. Also, you have to try a gondolla ride… or if you cannot afford it (it is 80 euros), try a ride on the vaporetto (7 euros), not as romantic but you can still see the buildings around the water.
Beautiful canals and gondollas
View from the Rialto bridge
This is were Casanova was locked (it’s actually a link between the court house and the prison)
A day is pretty sufficient for Venezia, unless you want to see the museums. So in the evening, we decided to visit Torino the next day. Turin or Torino in Italian is a nice, clean, quiet city and it has a lot of history, some even more recent. I have to say that out of these three, I loved Turin the most, because it’s not overly touristic, it’s VERY clean and beautiful. Unfortunately it rained cats and dogs that day… so I had to buy an umbrella, I had another umbrella stolen (or replaced by accident), and by the end of the day my feet were soaking wet.
Things to do and see in Turin: the Royal Palace, it is absolutely beautiful on the outside and the inside, the Madama Palace, if you are with kids go visit the Museum of Cinema (or Mole Antonelliana), you can see the cathedral where the shrug of Jesus (or so it’s called) is preserved, although it is not exposed most of the time. And you MUST save half a day to see the museum of Automobiles. Starting with the first engines back in the 18-19th century, the first cars, and moving on to Ferrari from our days.. it’s a beautiful experience and I would absolutely return to see everything in detail.
An old Fiat 500 on the streets of Turin
Ferrari at the museum
Now that is hard work!
Beautiful but rainy Turin
