It was a bit drizzly and rainy our first day in Italy, but not a washout. Milan has the oldest tram system in the world. We boarded an older orange tram and headed downtown to the Duomo Piazza. The main square in Milan was beautiful. The gothic Duomo Cathedral sprawled across the one side of the piazza. The oldest shopping mall/arcade in the world was just to the left. Milan is considered the fashion capital of the world followed closely by Paris.

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Unfortunately the Duomo had a waiting line of over 2 hours and several rules to go inside, so we opted to stroll around the outside and take in the architecture of the cathedral. I particularly liked the stone alcoves that portrayed various Bible stories and we found the evil serpent on the front façade as well!

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After meandering around the piazza we headed through the large four-story open-air arch into the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. It was shaped like a cross with a large circle in the middle, a typical design for 1861. There were only shops on the main floor some of which were two stories tall. The third/fourth floors were private businesses or apartments. It was fun playing the rich and famous as we explored the various shops, which included Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Gucchi. There was one shop that actually had items that a normal person could afford called A&D Andrew’s Ties Robert and the boys bought ties, silk handkerchiefs, and Liam even got a nice shirt there!

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At the far end of the mall there was a museum dedicated to the great painter and inventor Leonardo DaVinci. He lived most of his life in Milan. Inside the museum engineers and artists had recreated many of his inventions including many of his famous flying machines! They were all life sized and the interactive computer displays were fun for the kids.

Outside the museum and at the opposite entrance to the mall was a little square with a statue of Leonardo DaVinci! Across from the mini park was La Scala. Built in 1778 it is known in Italian as the Teatro alla Scala named after an old ruined church that used to reside on the spot, Santa Maria alla Scala. So what is La Scala? It is the premier opera house in the world. If you get cast in an opera at La Scala you have made it to the top as an opera singer! Unfortunately we couldn’t go inside due to rehearsals, but the outside was a beautiful example of neoclassical design.

Just behind the opera house was the golden triangle. This area is the other important shopping district in Milan. Oddly enough we came across a British woolen shop and went inside to explore. The clerks were very friendly and they carried traditional clothing items from Italy as well. Robert even found a traditional Milanese fedora hat.

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Grabbing some more food at the local market we headed back to our little apartment and Robert whipped up another delicious meal. Milan is a big city, but the food and people were very nice. We chatted about our favorite things that day and we all agreed that eating an incredible authentic Italian meal at Gino’s and then shopping at the Ferrari Store across the way was lots of fun!