Ed and Annette's Excellent European Adventure: Off to Milano, Italy for a couple days of big city life

Leaving the small city of Lucca, we caught what B&B call a "chicken and goat train" (regional rail) to Florence in order to catch the high speed tain to Milan. We got to Florence and the women just couldn't resist a shopping expedition. We had 40 minutes so they ventured out from the station to shop in Florence which made me a bit nervous. Very happy and each with a bag in hand met us back at the station in time to get to our train.

A much nicer looking train from the outside; pleased us too on the inside. Great comfortable reclining seats with a table between us to hold the FREE drink and snacks provided (free is so unusual in Europe). Shortly after leaving the station we could feel the train pulling away. The on screen KPH showed us how fast we were going; not too long and we were at 300 KPH (186 MPH). The scenery was flying by and the cars on the road seemed to be standing still. Our ears were popping at the breakneck speed!

Arriving at the station we knew we were back in a big city (2nd largest in Italy). A very large station in a beautiful building. We found our way to the metro and took the short ride to our hotel.

After a quick settle in period we headed down the street to Doumo Piazza which seems to be the center of the historical district. Big beautiful old buildings, lots of cars, tons of pedestrians and a few bikes made this seem just like any big city in the world. As we walked we came across a large arch and a section of the old walled portion of the city. A little further we came upon the ruins of an old 2 BC church that sat about 10 feet beneath the current roads. This building was saved after being excavated during the rebuild after WWII.

A little further we came to the Doumo Piazza. What a sight. This huge gothic style church is so impressive, and even more so when we got inside. The piazza is a huge main gathering place with large buildings surrounding all with restaurants, bars and cafes. Off to one side under a huge archway was the galleria. An 1800's indoor mall with an iron and glass roof. The size of this would compare to a modern mall in America.

After a little break to watch people just off the main piazza we looked for a place to eat. We saw a place called Papa Francesco's. We met Papa, Mama and the darling grandson. They were very outgoing and very Italian! We had a great meal and enjoyed talking to them. Papa was happy to share how he made the dishes and some pictures from his phone. Lots of goodbyes with kisses we headed out to explore. However we didn't get too far (food barely digested) when Beth spotted a line out the door to an ice cream place (you know it has to be good). Maximo, a great place where you pick your toppings that they sprinkle on the dipped chocolate (white, milk or dark) bar and then drizzle it with more chocolate. We all had to have one; They were fantastic!!! (diet starts Monday when we return).

We walked back to the Duomo Piazza and saw Italian police in riot gear (looks exciting). But it was just a peaceful protest about the issues in Turkey. No real excitement. We watched the sun go down and the Doumo light up before we headed back to the hotel.