We left the Zum Guten Glueck pension in Zurich in Saturday, July 9th, and took a train to Milan. The journey through the Swiss/Italian Alps was, in a word, breathtaking. The train followed a path around the mountains and along several glacial lakes, and for four hours it felt like we were traveling through a Ricola commercial. It was also fascinating to me, from a linguistic perspective, to see the language change from German (in and around Zurich) to Italian (southern Switzerland and, of course, Italy) on the signage as we rolled past city after city and all the little factories and loading docks and tiny hamlets in between.
After arriving in Milan, we ate dinner at a fantastic little organic restaurant/HFS combo called BioSapori. They had live music, and our waitress was adorable and so sweet. Despite our communication barriers, she made sure that everyone's dietary needs were accommodated. The chef himself even came out to tell us what on the menu was vegetarian/vegan. His English was flawless, and we found out that he lived in NYC and Miami for a few years. After we finished eating, we took full advantage of the health food section and got soymilk, two kinds of muesli, and some snacks (they actually had vegan croissants!). We couldn't have asked for a better experience. So if you're ever in Milan, make sure to stop by BioSapori.
Our apartment in Milan was cute, but it was kind of out in the 'burbs and not really close to anything. I'm uploading a video of the Milan apartment right now on YouTube and will link to it as soon as it finishes. Despite the fact that our apartment was a bit far away from the action, the city fortunately has an excellent and very affordable public transit system. We were able to take tram line 5 straight from the apartment to the main train station and then take the metro (subway) into the center of the city. Milan surprisingly doesn't have a lot of charm, as the main things it has going for it are the Duomo, a very affordabile cost of living (more on this in a minute), and excellent publilc transit. So I can't really se myself coming back to Milan anytime soon, or possibly at all. But if I do go back, I'll definitely stay closer to the center of the city.
Our first full day in Milan, Sunday the 10th, we went into the city center and checked out the Duomo. Eric and I opted to pay €6 and walk onto the roof (my guidebook highly recommended it), and I was able to take some of the most fantastic photos as we walked through the buttresses and right up to the gargoyles and intricate statues and carvings. I've always wanted to walk on the roof of a Gothic cathedral, and I finally got to do it!
The next day, we went hunting for flea markets but sadly turned up empty-handed. We also found out that Milan residents like to extend their weekend until 3 pm on Monday, so most stores we happened upon that morning and early afternoon were closed. No matter, though, because we ate lunch at a fantastic vegetarian restaurant and, finding ourselves mysteriously in the center of the fashion house district (with the talent agencies, photography/design studios, and tall, waif-like women wearing large sunglasses flitting past), we decided to go shopping. What else are you going to do with a free afternoon in one of the world's fashion capitals? :)
Milan doesn't have too many veg*n restaurants, and we're generally down with saving money, so we all opted to fix dinner at home the second and third nights there. It worked out great.
The street fashion in Milan definitely had an urban and piecemeal feel, as in Barcelona; but overall it seems far more deliberate and put-together, and not as "distressed." I saw a lot of the same colors in Milan as in Barcelona: black, ivory, mauve, gray. I also saw quite a bit of navy blue. The dresses were almost all knee-length or shorter. I also saw a lot of loose/flowy tank tops, tight legging-jeans, and Italian loafers on everyone. Hair in Milan was either very short (the most common short haircut on people of all genders seemed to be close-cropped on the sides with a longer swath in the middle, kind of like mine is right now), or else very long.
Something I wasn't expecting at all about Milan is how affordable it is. We went to the grocery on Sunday -- not a health food store, just a regular grocery -- and got two bags of pasta, a HUGE jar of tomato sauce (€2 for a liter), two jars of organic chickpeas, a small bottle of garlic-infused olive oil (they had an entire aisle devoted to olive oil, no joke), balsamic vinegar, juice, two large bags of mixed greens, and some fruit, and the whole thing cost €16. Eating out was extremely affordable as well. I had always just assumed that, as a world fashion hub, Milan would be expensive. But it's not. It's cheap.
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