Milano

From Barcelona we flew into Milan, Italy and spent the day here. Italy, the home of gelato, vino, gelato, pizza, gelato, tiramisu, pasta and gelato. OK, yes there appears to be a liking for gelato.

Our hotel was located a short walk from central Milan and was called Hotel Canada. Again, I liked it for the name and Z for the great reviews. This hotel was quite nice and we had a good sized room. Breakfast was included and it had a very good spread of cereals, fresh fruit salad, pastries, toast, cheeses, and meats. Z really liked the fact that he could order a cappuccino with breakfast. We arrived early in the afternoon and were greeted at the hotel by the front desk clerk who was a Mr. Bean look-a-like. He even had some Mr. Bean tendencies which were quite humorous.

After checking in we walked into central Milan because we only had the one day. We quickly found the Duomo, Milan's cathedral. This magnificent building is the fourth largest cathedral in the world. It took six centuries to complete. It is absolutely stunning. The interior is massive and has incredibly beautiful stained-glass windows. We paid $6 Euro each to walk up about 200 stairs to the roof top. The views of the city from there are amazing and definitely worth the cost.

After exploring the Duomo, we came upon the Galleria which is a mall filled with high end stores. In the Galleria is a great gelato shop called Savini and this is where I tasted my first authentic Italy gelato. I've been hooked ever since and am not sure I can go back to eating ice cream or gelato back home. OK, who am I kidding I can't give up eating ice cream, but it will never compare to Italian gelato.

Just outside the Galleria is the world renowned opera house, Teatro alla Scala. This theatre was inaugurated in 1778 and recently received a face lift. The interior was beautiful, very "posh". Unfortunately the theatre was dark the evening of our stay, but we could only imagine how wonderful a performance would sound in there.

We also made our way to Castello Sforzesco, a castle situated in central Milan. This castle now houses several museums and art collections. Before ending our day, we had a lovely dinner at Cafe Milano situated along the main pedestrian street. Once again we sat outside for dinner and enjoyed the opportunity to people watch. Dinner consisted of a tasty pepperoni pizza and steamed vegetables on the side with tiramisu for dessert. It was a great start to our stay in Italy.