Lake Como and Bellagio

The night before, Beth had told me that there was a guy from Scotland named Michael who wanted to go to Lake Como but didn't have anyone to go with. By chance, he was also at the same place we all went to on the Navigli. We talked and agreed to meet at 8:30am the next morning. He had found out about a deal for 15 euros that included train fare and boat fare for once we got to Lake Como.

Unfortunately I still didn't have a voice the next morning, but it was my last day in Italy and I had been wanting to go to Lake Como the whole week. I got myself out of bed and we met in the lobby of Ostello Bello. Though we hadn't talked too much the night before, we got along well pretty much right away. Michael is a pharmacy technician and works in the pediatrics of a hospital. He had just turned in a huge project and was celebrating being done with it on a short vacation to Milan.

We walked to the train station and got our tickets. We weren't entirely sure we were on the right train, but we hoped for the best and hopped on. The ride was about 45 minutes and when we got off the train we realized we had just had missed the ferry around Lake Como. Luckily, the wait was only about 30 minutes so we got gelato and sat in the city.

The boat was nice, it was a long trip to Bellagio but it was incredibly scenic. The lake is completely surrounded by mountains and there are little cities filled with villas all along the coast.

One of the biggest villas - we saw a painting of it in Bellagio!

Everything was so colorful and beautiful!

The boat ride was about an hour and a half and we were tired from getting up so early, so we took turns taking power naps inside the boat. 

When we got to Bellagio, I immediately fell in love. I think when I planned my trip to Italy, I had imagined this quaint little town more than I had imagined the huge, industrial city of Milan (granted, I loved both).

There were plants and cobblestone and tiny narrow streets everywhere. I was pretty much in heaven walking around. 

 We stopped on the stairs below this to look in Michael's guidebook for restaurant recommendations. Weirdly enough, there was a picture in the guidebook that was of EXACTLY where we had stopped.

 Michael's head made it into the picture...ha. 

 Even the drinking fountains are beautiful 

 So so happy :)

We ate a delicious lunch (pasta of course) right by the water. After walking around a bit we got back on the boat and headed back to where we would take the train back. We got a little lost, of course, but we eventually made it back to Milan. 

Such an amazing last day in Italy! I can't believe how fortunate I was to meet the people I did and to see the beautiful places I saw. :)

Wandering with Beth

I didn't really have any set plans for today in Milan, besides that I finally wanted to get atop the roof of Duomo di Milano. In the morning, I met one of my many new roommates, Beth. She is a teaching assistant who was originally from England, but was currently living in Switzerland and had taken a weekend to travel down to Milan. We ate breakfast together and she decided to visit Il Duomo too, so we headed out in that direction.

It was 7 euros to climb by stairs to the top of the cathedral and 12 euros to take the elevator (lift, as the English would call it). We took the stairs, which were cramped with teeny tiny windows. The climb wasn't as long as I expected - about 919 steps and it only took around 5 minutes. The view from the top was absolutely amazing.

 Every single statue or surface was incredibly intricate and detailed. 

 The city of Milan!

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but parts of the roof were very steep. It was also about a million degrees. 

 The sky was very blue that day too :)

Beth! 

Afterwards, we walked to find lunch since neither of us had eaten a big breakfast. We found a place near where my first tour had started (it had been recommended by my tour guide). 

We couldn't decide whether we should have pasta or pizza, so we each ordered a pasta (I had gnocchi) and then a pizza to split. The food was AMAZING and I was incredibly full by the end. 

Since I had no plans, I wandered around the streets with Beth for most of the day and pointed out the things that I knew about. We walked down one street that had LITERALLY every designer that I have ever heard of plus more. We started to head back and when we passed the castle, we heard a lot of cheering and yelling. We walked over a few blocks and saw an Egyptian protest. Their signs said "Morsi è il nostro presidente" or "Morsi is our president." We guessed that they were protesting the army that had overthrown Morsi and the interim president. Many of the signs were really graphic, but there were children everywhere. It was a pretty peaceful protest, besides all of the impassioned yelling, but we still kept our distance and didn't stay long. 

When we finally made it back I had basically lost my voice. I had apertivo in the hostel, then hung out with Grig and a few of the people he had met at the new hostel he was staying at (Ostello Bello was full). We went to Navigli to hang out, but I left early since my voice was still gone. Grig and I got majorly lost on the way back, but we eventually made it back to the hostel. 

My Local Tour of Milan

I started today by going to Museo Teatrale Alla Scala. My tour yesterday was supposed to include the theater, but since it was Ferragosto it had been closed for entry. Instead they gave us tickets for entry the next day. There are still plays and operas that are performed in this theater today, but it is extremely hard to get tickets and there aren't any performances during August. There were lots of costumes displayed; most seemed to be from an Egyptian play (I can't remember the name now). The theater itself was stunning - we were allowed to enter through some of the boxes. Unfortunately, there was construction going on in the theater so it probably wasn't as stunning as usual. There were also large ballrooms with huge chandeliers right outside the theater.

After the theater, I still had some time before I was supposed to meet Nicla, so I went and got a cappuccino (around 2pm). Apparently, Italians ONLY drink cappuccinos with breakfast, which I didn't find out until later, so I probably stuck out. I was confused on how to order - I think you were supposed to pay first, then take your receipt up to the bar for them to make your drink, but I'm still not totally sure. I don't usually like coffee very much and I drank really quickly standing among all these businessmen having espressos, but I enjoyed my little cappuccino.

After my cappuccino, I met Nicla outside Il Duomo and we started walking. She was SO wonderful to show me around - I saw so many more little things than I ever would have on a tourist-y tour. What I didn't know before was that she and her boyfriend are the founders of a popular website called "Milanoize," which shares events, cool places and music from Milan. Nicla truly loves her city - she talked a lot on our "tour" about how so many people live in Milan but don't know all of the history that is really here. She showed me too many places to really list, but some of them are below: 

The first thing we did was stop in a little cafe so I could have my first Italian espresso shot (I mentioned I had espresso in London, but that's completely different)

 Nicla! 

First we walked over to Brera, a beautiful district of Milan. We saw Pinoteca di Brera, a public art gallery. 

Next we met up with Alessandro, then stopped where Nicla goes to school and where Katherine will be studying abroad, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. It's the largest Catholic University in the world and it was beautiful! Nicla told me how she sometimes irreverently runs through the chapel when she's late for class :) We couldn't actually get on the campus, or into the garden where only girls are allowed (they told me it used to be only virgins allowed, but if that rule still stood then no one would be allowed in), so I only got to peek through some gates. The outside was very nice though as you can see below:  

Next we walked to arguably my favorite place in Milan - Cimetero Monumentale. It is one of the largest cemeteries in Milan and it was the most beautiful cemetery I have ever seen. Inside were some famous Italian graves (Giuseppe Verdi, Alessandro Manzoni, etc) and outside there were large structures for whole Italian families. Some of the graves you could even walk down stairs into - some families chose to build down more than up. 

We walked around for awhile - the cemetery was SO peaceful and every structure was incredible to see. Alessandro told me how Nicla had suggested this place for one of their first dates, and he thought she was a little crazy until they actually came and walked around. I don't know if I would go on a date there, but I could definitely spend a few days just wandering around. 

 Next, they taught me how to use the Metro and we took it (plus a tram) down to Navigli, the canals in Milan. Originally, the canals had run throughout the entire city and were used to transport the marble used to build the Duomo, but most of them have been covered and are now roads. 

As you can see, they were beautiful: 

It was happy hour, so we had drinks and apertivo right next to the canals. Nicla had told her dad that she was with someone from the US and he was excited so he came to meet me briefly :) it was very sweet. He's a cab driver in Milan (apparently a difficult job in August when there is basically no one in the city), so he drove me back to the hostel. 

Thank you Nicla and Alessandro for an amazing day!! :)