Italy: Milan

All the language assistants in Bremen were given a five-day weekend at the beginning of January to coincide with a couple of German bank holidays, so me and my American friend Will decided we’d make the most of it by escaping to somewhere that we could survive without wearing two winter jackets – we decided on Milan.

We headed off to the airport and sat waiting for our flight – what followed was one of the biggest (and most fortunate) coincidences I’ve ever experienced. The queue started to form to board when we heard some familiar sounding voices. Our friends and fellow language assistants, Joe and Katie, happened to be on the same flight with their friend and they’d hired a car in Milan. We immediately decided we’d be tagging along on their day trip to Pisa and Florence.

We picked up the car and made our way to Milan (typically the airport that ryanair had advertised as Milan was in fact a two hour drive away). Unfortunately our sat-nav lead us down a dead-end and nobody could work out how to put the car into reverse, which is why Will and I ended up pushing from the front.

Our hostel was, to be honest, a bit of a dive. We had to share a double bed with fetching pink sheets and a choice few stains.

After a quick shower and change we headed out – the Duomo is easily one of the most intricate, beautiful buildings I’ve ever seen.

Of course what visit to Milan would be complete without a hint of Leonarda da Vinci? We were lucky enough to get tickets to see his Last Supper, but they wouldn’t let me take a photo…

Pizza and beer made it a lot better though…

Then it was on to the bar to plan the next day: Pisa and Florence.