Yesterday already seems a life time away.
Milan was incredible. Such a beautiful city to just get lost in. I left my hotel early and decided to walk in the direction that the majority of people were going. Although this initially seemed like a good plan by the evening I had walked about 20k. I had also nearly got run down more than I care to mention. The skill with crossing roads in Italy is not to wait for the green man, because in fact the green man just means that the cars on that road are stopped, not the ones turning into that road. So the best thing to do is just walk, don't run - you won't fit in, but walk with ownership of the road. It's very likely you'll get beeped at or skimmed by a moped at some point. This is normal. Especially if the cars have been waiting at a green light, then they'll go through the red light to make up time - now doesn't that just make sense!
Two things that really took my breath away in Milan was the intricate and utterly amazing architecture and gorgeous fashion. Every building had elaborate detail along the windows and around the roof. Places were people don't necessary look were an explosion of patterns and complex design. The effort and artistic attention given to the simplest of buildings was just extraordinary. I don't know why people took the time to make these places look so beautiful but it's fascinating that they did. And that's without mentioning the Duomo (cathedral) and the shopping mall. Although you wouldn't expect these two to be associated they were both of different, but equally outstanding, beauty. This is something you have to see for yourself. A £40 flight and £60 hotel is really worth it.
The second thing I noticed was the beautiful fashion that the Italians had. In general the Italian dress sense is to die for, along with their figures, but there was something different with those in Milan. I assume this is due to the renowned status of the fashion city of the world but the simplicity and modesty of these outfits were what every woman dreams of. Again, something that is worth a £100 weekend away.
For lunch I stopped for a sit down on the steps up to the cathedral. I sat and watched the masses of people walk by. The old women teetering along in high heels behind striding tourist guides with their flags stuck into their bagpack. Bikes and cars weaving between people in the pedestrian only zones and endless vendors of selfie sticks, books and any other crap they could carry around! While sitting on these steps one of the vendors came up to me and hassled me with a selfie stick. I repeated said no but he was being very persistent, until a guy next to me said, in Italian, "she doesn't need that, she's got me to take pictures for her". It was smooth. I thanked him and he asked where I was from (apparently my Italian accent is obviously not Italian!), we then spoke for a while and he asked what I'd seen in Milan. We got a coffee and had a walk round some of the tourist sights, the castle and churches. It was lovely, so friendly and very Italian. When travelling alone it's a very good idea to lie sometimes. It will get you out of situations and give you a bit of security. With this in mind I told him I was meeting a friend at the train station soon and should probably go! I was appreciative of his tour but am not so reckless to give the wrong impression. I wandered back up to my hotel.
I had planned to meet some new tutors in the middle of Milan so had a quick nap and headed back into the centre (30 minutes late, adopting the Italian way of life!) So after a blind date type meeting in the busiest squares in Milan I was reminded once again of the frustrating, Italian ritual of walking and standing and walking and standing and walking and standing for hours before finding somewhere to eat which is actually exactly the same as the 1,000 pizzerias you walked past. Oh Italy.
After one too many cocktail I decided to tackle the Milanese public transport system, which in fact wasn't as bad as I expected. Crawled into bed, FaceTimed my wonderful boyfriend, deciding that FaceTime is the best invention ever, and crashed out.
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