Wow! Venice is so GREAT! Here we are being a little cheesy at Piazzo San Marco right near the Bascilica in Venice. The grand canal was so interesting from the water perspective (we took the ‘water bus’ today). It really is the ‘main street’ of this ancient and unique city. For lunch we found a nice little streetside place and dined al fresco again, excellent Lasagna for me and great Gnocchi for Michele :)
After a morning and early afternoon of Venice, we set out for Milan(o) on the A4 Auto-estrada which while technically *has* speed limits “they’re more guidelines, really” to quote the great Captain Barbosa of pirate lore. I had fun driving fast in a very Italian manner.
Milan is a big city that reminds me a great deal of Lisbon without the Tejo river. We visited the Duomo (a MASIVE) cathedral and the Castello Sforzesco before checking into our digs at the Best Western, Milano. I didn’t get picture of it but I had the BEST pizza ever for dinner at a very nice local place near the hotel, best ever. Now I can never eat pizza in the states or anywhere else again. (Great “house” wine at this place too). ~S
Today was a great day! We woke up almost on time and checked out of our hotel around 9:30 am. Instead of taking the bus to Venice today, we opted to drive and park so that our car would be close to us and easy to access upon our need to head to Milan. The first parking garage we came to charged a flat $20 Euros and wanted us to leave our key in the car... um...NO! So we found a cheaper lot down the way, parked and walked to the Water Bus line. This was an extremely crowded mode of transportation, lots of people crammed together in a sort of ferry boat that took us up the Grand Canal and stopped at many locations along the way. We rode the Water Bus all the way to the end of the line at San Marco Plaza and experiencing the canal from the water side was simply amazing. You get a view of Venice from the water that you otherwise would not experience by foot. The buildings, the fascia, the docks, the gondolas and boats... it was all so beautiful. Venice is simply an amazing and beautiful place that has remained ancient through the years. Stanley and I were discussing how this city does not have any new development... no new structures or buildings, shopping malls or giant Wal-Marts... the entire place is now as it was in early days, very cool. We did happen to find a McDonalds along a street we walked down, I guess you can find one everywhere!
In Venice, we dined at a lovely outdoor restaurant while the hustle and bustle of people passed us by. The food was so great - Stanley’s lasagna was some of the best I think I’ve ever tasted and my Gnocchi was by far the yummiest ever! We enjoyed also an amazing taste of Tiramisu and Cafe Latte. Very nice! After dining, we visited some of the shops in the Venetian streets, then hopped back on a Water Bus to make our way to Milan. Goodbye Venice - we’ll miss you so much!!!
The Auto-Estrada is a very clean, very fast freeway. Posted speed limits are 130 kph, which translates to 80 mph I think... but mostly everyone in the fast lane was going much faster. Our fastest speed today was 150-160 kph... it was fast :) Like Portugal, the freeways here are very clean and you have to pay a toll. From Venice to Milan (a distance of about 250 kilometers) was $14 Euros. Not bad. Along the way we saw some very cool villages and towns, with some really awesome castles and churches. I tried to snap some good photos while speeding down the road... they actually turned out nice.
We arrived in Milan late in the afternoon. We drove along the streets looking for signs for the Duomo, the worlds third largest cathedral. We finally found it and parked next to a lovely little park and walked down. This place was very cool. It is a gothic cathedral and it was very impressive. The inside when we first arrived was in service, but they let us in and we looked around quietly until it was over. The windows in here were gorgeous stained glass, difficult to take clear pictures of, but beautiful like you couldn’t believe. The columns were huge! And the floor was really beautiful too. I really liked this Duomo. Afterward we enjoyed a sandwich snack while we walked back to our car. We then made our way to a very cool castle which was huge and had an impressive moat. The funniest thing was the moat was filled with stray cats. Almost everywhere you looked in the moat was a tender little kitty, waiting to attack anyone who dared enter.
After exploring the castle, we made our way to the hotel. The Best Western in Milan is very nice, and very hip. There is a nice bed with a wooden headboard which has blue pleather padding as the main headboard piece. A nice yellow bedspread tops the bed to compliment the blue, and the floors are hard wood. The bathroom is nice too. The hotel clerk recommended a lovely restaurant to us which was a couple of blocks away. Stanley enjoyed the very best pizza we’ve ever tasted there... and my Gnocchi (yes, I ate it again), was yummy, but not as good as Venice. It has been a long day, but a fun one and we’re going to get some sleep so that we can venture out tomorrow rested and ready to go. Tomorrow’s itinerary is to see the “Last Supper” that Davinci painted at a convent here in Milan, then head to Genoa, and along the coast by Portofino to Pisa and Livorno, and finally ending up in Florence where we’ll stay the night. ~M
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