Although my first trip to Milano lasted for only two days, the city told me many wonderful or interesting things in such a short time. Stepping off the Frecciarossa express train from Rome (It gets you to Milano in under 3 hours!), and onto the metro– the differences between Rome and Milan were already clearly evident. The Milano metro was so much cleaner smelling! And had better service. All of these ideas about the wonderful Milanese vs. Roman way of public transportation went crushed under a rock the next day- when the entire public transport system (Taxi’s, underground, buses, trams) went on strike! Nothing is perfect after all.
Another note about public transportation in Milano– when eyeing the old orange street trams- I was reminded of the many street trams that I would see back home in San Francisco- they even had the same city insignia- the trams in San Francisco must have come from Milan! And sure enough, after some online research, they did! It seems that a man by the name of Peter Witt decided to import the trams from Milano to San Francisco around the 1950’s-and they’re still running the F line of the San Francisco Muni today! Fancy that.
Now here’s a short list of things to do in the fair city of Milano nestled by mountains (That make smog and heat hang about the city on particularly windless days):
1) Grind the bull’s bollocks with the heel of your foot in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II for good luck
2) Grab a panzerotto or two from Luini’s by Piazza del Duomo
3) Go on top of the Duomo
4) Have drinks with friends by the colonne across Basilica di San Lorenzo (Don’t forget to use plastic cups!).
5) If you’re into the fashion scene, walk around the Ticinese neighbourhood or get off the metro at Montenapoleone
Milano was just as good or even better than my favourite Pepperidge Farm cookie!