Day 2 in Milan, I was up early to get to the Duomo before the crowds turned up. So there I was, on a beautiful crisp winter's day at 8am photographing the Duomo as the sun rose. It was really gorgeous, it's such a lovely building. Of course, there were a couple of other tourists out there with the same idea as me, including this one Chinese girl dressed head to toe in Fendi, with a photographer in tow, wearing very high heels and who must have been utterly freezing. I wish I'd taken a photo of her photoshoot in front of the Duomo, it was hilarious - people are weird.
Right by the Duomo square is the entrance to the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele, so I walked in there, following my high-heeled, overly dressed, early morning companions. This covered shopping area is Italy's oldest shopping mall, built in the late 19th century. It is really lovely - the floors in particular were spellbinding, so I have quite a lot of photos of them. The mall itself had all fancy shops - Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci, Armani, etc. etc.... None of which was quite as beautiful as the building itself!
I left the central area of Milan and walked up through an area called Brera. This was a cool area of Milan, with lovely old buildings and museums. The final destination of this walk was a building called Bosco Verticale. This residential building was designed so that it would be a vertical forest, with plants spilling all over the balconies and outside areas. Of course, being winter, there wasn't too much greenery, but it was still pretty!
From there, I was fairly close to another place that I wanted to go to, Cimitero Monumentale. Yep, I visited a cemetery. But it wasn't the usual cemetery, this one was full of amazing sculptures and really over the top monuments to the dead. If you think about it, it was like going to an outdoor sculpture gallery, and most of the tombs were old and fascinating!
The next step was to look for some food. It was a Sunday, which I always have problem with in European countries because loads of places are closed! But I eventually found somewhere to eat after ducking into a couple of restaurants and they were full. The place I eventually got a seat at wasn't the best food, but it did the trick as it was about 2pm and I was starving!
After eating, I walked over to the Basilica di Santa Maria Della Grazie. This is the church where Leonardo's painting "The Last Supper" resides. I didn't manage to get a ticket to go and see it - there are only so many tickets and they get snapped up quickly. I did manage to pop into the back section and see the garden... before I was kicked out because we weren't supposed to be there! The church itself was nice from the outside though!
I went back to the hotel I was staying at to get ready for my dinner plans. I was going to someone's house to learn how to cook pasta as part of an Airbnb experience! I hopped on a tram and went over there. It was a really fun evening, with lots of wine, lots of laughs and some really delicious pasta. It was great - I was the only one taking the class that night and the teacher had invited a friend over as well so it was like having dinner with new friends. I went back to my hotel fairly late and went straight to bed. Big travel plans for tomorrow!