Milan is a disease—at least it appeared that way on Saturday afternoon when we arrived from Switzerland, after a dramatic railway journey through the St. Gothard Pass. The Milanese and visitors were in a frenzy of buying. Thankfully, things have only improved since then: today is Monday and most of the shops and museums are closed although we did visit the Museo Teatrale alla Scala in lieu of the scheduled concert (Valery Gergiev’s Mariinsky Orchestra which we saw in Paris) and the opera (Carmen) which were both booked out. On Sunday we were able to visit the Pinacoteca di Brera which has some wonderful Renaissance and twentieth century paintings.
As our introduction to Italian food we have had two wonderful meals, both very authentic and reasonably priced. Our first dinner in Milan was at a Sardinian restaurant, where the dishes were flavoured with fresh myrtle and the desert with wild honey was superb and today a light lunch of stuffed eggplant and zuchhini flavoured with fresh rosemary and cheaper than the coffee we had earlier in the not to be missed and very stylish Gallerie, near the Duomo. Prior to becoming designer label heaven it was a place where Milan’s café society met. It is still a nice place to have a coffee. However there is danger that the communal values once celebrated are fast becoming excuses for the Gucci’s of this world to seduce locals and tourists with dubious, overpriced merchandise, and all this opposite the Duomo—a celebration of religiosity on a gargantuan scale, enrobed not in designer clothes but stone flesh.
We are only here for two days and have probably not planned the best two to fit in all we should have. However the Hotel Regina is comfortable and well located (has three stars in the Michelin Guide) and we are using the efficient and economical trams to move around the city.
*A propensity to shop at all costs.
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