I have been very pleasantly surprised by Milan. As I mentioned, I visited many years ago, and although I took away no bad impressions, nothing really bowled me over. I guess after Venice, Florence, and Rome, I was getting tired and/or complacent.

But this time, I've been very struck by this vibrant northern city.

Day 6 (1 June)

We started by clunking along on one of Milan's delightful old trams (reportedly "the oldest-running public transport vehicles in the world", though I'm not sure of the definitions here). If you buy a 24-hour ticket (for EUR 4.50), you can ride around to your heart's content on the trams (old and new), buses, and metro.



We got off at Parco Sempione. This is a very pleasant park, full of locals enjoying the sunshine in various ways. At the far end, Castello Sforzesco draws hordes of tourists. We threaded our way through the crowds in the courtyards, but did not fork out for any of its many museums, fascinating though they sound.











Another short tram ride, and we were eating lunch at Le Striatelle di Nonna Mafalda. Striatelle are a kind of piadina, but yeasted, giving them a softer, fluffier consistency. Mine contained prosciutto (the crudo variety), gorgonzola, turnip tops (cima de rapa), and orange peel. Delicious, and surprisingly sustaining.



We walked some canals (as it seems we always do).



And we visited the Basilica de Sant'Ambrogio, which was built at the end of the 4th century, and is rich in both architecture and atmosphere.








Two tram rides later, we were home, having picked up some food and a bottle of wine for tea.

Day 7 (2 June)

We breakfasted off puccia, another Italian member of the world's vast family of flat bread. Probably not traditional to stuff a fried egg inside, but it tasted pretty good.

Then we took the final tram ride of our 24-hour allocation (on a bilious-green new tram) to the Porta Ticinese area. Starting here you can walk the narrow streets of the picturesque and historic centre of Milan:








We interrupted our sight-seeing to have a real Italian cappuccino at one of Milan's multiplicity of bars. (This was carefully timed in accordance with the no-milky-coffee-after-11 o'clock rule.) Delicious. Sweet and strong at the bottom, creamy and fluffy at the top. Why don't they make them like this in other places?

On a side note, what's even more ubiquitous in Milan than bars/cafes? The type of embellishment that you could loosely describe as street art. It ranges from tags and bubbles to huge murals.





Resuming, we stared at the remains of the Roman circus, and made our way to the cathedral:








We didn't attempt to go into the cathedral. When I research a destination and find advice on "how to skip the line", I always start to lose interest. And sure enough, the front of the building was swarming with Sunday tourists (whereas just a few streets back, we'd been pretty much the only ones admiring the notable buildings).

Instead, we headed for the pretty Indro Montanelli gardens to eat our cherry jam sandwiches, and people-watch.

Tomorrow we head south. Way further south than I have ever been in Italy. But I will take with me warm memories of Milan, which has offered a superb (re)introduction to this amazing country.