ANDIAMO A MILANO

Friday, May 30th - 

Nick and I hopped in our car and drove to Milan on a whim. One of Nick's squadron mates had been mugged in Milan the previous weekend. He'd taken a pretty big blow to the head, so the doctors weren't going to release him. We volunteered to go down and stay with him for the weekend. In less than 30 minutes, we packed and were out the door. On our drive down, we booked a room at the Windsor Hotel across the street from the hospital. 

We arrived late at night, and walked over to see our friend. The facility was not in great shape, but their food looked amazing! Technically, we weren't supposed to be there because it was after visiting hours, so we were kicked out fairly quickly. 

Saturday, May 31st - 

The next morning we sat and all played cards. We had expected to be with our friend all day, but after a few hints we realized that he actually was tired. He told us to go visit the downtown area of Milan...doesn't take much to twist my arm!

We rode the subway a few stops over to the main square. There was a big music event happening, so we tried to escape and get some food  and do some people watching in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Don't judge, but Rick Steves' recommended people watching from the McDonalds. Dah! We both had a nice Italian McDonald's burger and fries! Haha! The people watching was top notch. There were so many well-dressed men and women. On the opposite spectrum, there were also a considerable amount of beggars.

I had to ask this policeman to take a photo with me. I loved his hat! I was slightly intimidated at first because I had recently asked a man in Switzerland to take a photo with me and he refused. He couldn't take a photo with me because he was working; whereas, the Italians don't work too hard, so he was happy to take one with me. Haha!

Afterward, we stood in line for 30 minutes at the Duomo to visit the rooftop. It was totally worth the wait!

This Basilica is the 5th largest in Europe. It was built to show just how much money and power Milan had. Oy.

Quasimodo? No, just Nick! :P

For some reason, the band that was playing kept repeating the same song over and over in the square below us. 

It was so neat thinking we were up on top of a roof! They even hold concerts up here! I don't think anything like this would fly in the States. 

You can see in this photo where they had just cleaned. Dirty church!

I dared Nick to do his best impression of this statue. :) Heehee:)

And last, we tried to get inside the church. I was dressed appropriately, but Nick was wearing shorts. (Gasp!) He hid behind me and a few others as we walked in. It worked!

Not long after we entered, they were ushering people out for a service. Glad we got to see just a little of it!

We stopped for a quick snack on the way back. We had some delicious coffee. Nick had a tirimisu and I had a slice of chocolate and pear pie. YUM!!

We went back to visit our friend that night. I think we was grateful for the nap he took while we were gone. :)

Sunday, June 1st

We spent some time in the morning with our friend again. He seemed to be doing much better. At his afternoon nap time, Nick and I walked down the street to a little brunch spot. 

This was our sweet view. 

After lunch, walked down a little farther to the public garden. 

There were people everywhere! And there were a few people with very little clothing on. 

We walked back and bid adieu to our friend. Another squadron member was arriving shortly, and Nick had to get back to do some studying. 

I had tried to convince Nick to go and see Milan a few times, but he never seemed interested. We were grateful to have been able to help our friend and get to see some great sites in Milan!