{"id":64,"date":"2015-06-26T22:26:38","date_gmt":"2015-06-26T22:26:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.boomerbabelife.com\/?p=64"},"modified":"2015-07-01T06:07:59","modified_gmt":"2015-07-01T06:07:59","slug":"adventures-in-milan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boomerbabelife.com\/?p=64","title":{"rendered":"Adventures in Milan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.boomerbabelife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/876MilanoDuomo.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-96 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.boomerbabelife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/876MilanoDuomo.jpg\" alt=\"876MilanoDuomo\" width=\"800\" height=\"588\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.boomerbabelife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/876MilanoDuomo.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.boomerbabelife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/876MilanoDuomo-300x221.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>When my fashionista friend Mary suggested a trip to\u00a0Milan &#8212; the undisputed Fashion Capital of the world &#8212; my response was Yes! Now that I&#8217;m back, was it worth it? YES a hundred times over. It did not disappoint. Not at all.<\/p>\n<p>Negatives:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It was very expensive (especially bling, and sitting in people-watching cafes)<\/li>\n<li>Noisy, because of the tram tracks everywhere, and trams going non-stop<\/li>\n<li>Difficulty walking over the cobblestone walkways<\/li>\n<li>The HEAT! Too damn hot for me! I bought a fan and always carried water.<\/li>\n<li>The Italians speak English like I speak Italian &#8212; I don&#8217;t!! Learn some Italian before you go.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Positives:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Everything else&#8230;<\/li>\n<li>Delicious cappuccinos<\/li>\n<li>Glamour, glitz and FASHION\u00a024\/7\u00a0like you&#8217;ve never before seen!<\/li>\n<li>Emmanuel Vittoria Centre &#8212; the best people-watching mall in the world<\/li>\n<li>Via Montenapoleone (where all the big name shops are\u00a0located) &#8212; Gucci, Prada, etc.<\/li>\n<li>La Scala Opera House (Teatro alla scala) the biggest opera house in Europe<\/li>\n<li>Duomo Cathedral &#8212; an oasis of calm with\u00a0magnificent architecture (cover shoulders)<\/li>\n<li>Duoma Square &#8212; the heart of Milan, in my estimation<\/li>\n<li>BRERA (the artsy area, and one of my favourite for eating and parading)<\/li>\n<li>Bastianello Pasticceria, Via Borgogna 5, 20122 Milan &#8212; BEST gelato in town!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.boomerbabelife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/3497260970_86c1ba7634_o.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-97 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.boomerbabelife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/3497260970_86c1ba7634_o.jpg\" alt=\"milano :: 14mm\" width=\"4160\" height=\"2767\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.boomerbabelife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/3497260970_86c1ba7634_o.jpg 4160w, https:\/\/www.boomerbabelife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/3497260970_86c1ba7634_o-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.boomerbabelife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/3497260970_86c1ba7634_o-1024x681.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 4160px) 100vw, 4160px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In fairness, I was only there for a few days. We devoted almost two days to Venice, a day for Verona, and a day for Lake Como, all of which were totally worth the time investment. So, I had to be fast and furious in getting a feel for Milan and the mad Milanesi. It was my third visit to Italy. I was in the North of Italy many years ago, then Roma for my 50th, and now Milan. And it was third time lucky&#8230;with the gelato that is. In prior visits I was frustrated, to say the least, that I could not get a decent gelato to satisfy my ever-so-fussy tastebuds. And it happened in the final hour, Hurrah!! I found\u00a0 &#8216;The One&#8217; on my last day in Milan. A lot came together in the\u00a0final day. I found a terrific restaurant which served me the best salad I had eaten in my 8 Italian days. It was aptly named the &#8216;Victory Milano&#8217;, Via Borgogna 5 &#8211; 20122 Milano. It heralded Victory for me in the food and gelato department.<\/p>\n<p>Sitting in the cool, sophisticated, and shady VM restaurant, surrounded by suave business people, being perfectly fussed over\u00a0by immaculately dressed waiters, I spied with my little eye all these gorgeous Armani-clad fellows strolling by,\u00a0dribbling and licking their gelatos in a way that told me they were &#8216;special&#8217; (the gelatos I mean). As soon as we finished our lunch I followed them, and lo and behold, they led me to the &#8216;Harrods&#8217; of Milan, namely Bastianello Pasticerria, Via Borgogna 5, 20122, Milano. Google them and see what I mean. You can only fantasize, I know. Please do not bother with any other gelato shop in Milan. If you want to taste what\u00a0<em>real<\/em>\u00a0gelato tastes like, visit the mama and papa of gelatos, and see what I mean. They have the largest selection in town. The presentation and quality is a Harrods food hall experience without the exhorbitant prices I am happy to say!<\/p>\n<p>Food-wise,\u00a0unlike other cities in Italy, Milan is not all about the pasta. No. In fact some of Milan&#8217;s staple dishes don&#8217;t even include pasta. The Milanesi are famous for their &#8216;Risotto alla Milanese&#8217; which is a yellow-saffron rice. I&#8217;m not big into risotto so it was wasted on me. I did, however, enjoy the seafood tagliatelle and stuck with that. I know what I like and am not hugely into experimentation with food. Boring? Perhaps. Since we&#8217;re still talking food, did you know it was the Milanesi folk who actually started the &#8216;Apertivo&#8217;, also known as the &#8216;Happy Hour&#8217;? In other words, free finger-food to keep you thirsty so you will drink loads and loads of fine wine and beer. It works. By finger-food I mean olives (the black being tastier than the green ones), tasteless crisps, prawns (in some swish establishments), and various bits and bobs of salty food.<\/p>\n<p>Last but not least: shopping in Milan was expensive. I avoided the generic clothes\u00a0shops you see everywhere in the world as time was precious, and I wanted to experience &#8216;The Real-Deal&#8217; fashion experience &#8212; just to gawk and educate myself. By golly what pleasure! I did Prada, Armani, Ralph Lauren, Gucci, Dolce &amp; Gabbana, Massimo Dutti, Louis Vuitton, and\u00a0Vivienne Westwood, to name but a juicy few. When you enter these pleasure-palaces you are greeted by a host of beautiful shop assistants, mostly gay men (quelle surprise). They give you a polite 2 second lookover from the shoes up. They know in an instant whether you are going to shop or not. Despite my obvious poverty, I found them very pleasant and chatty, unlike similar establishments in Canada. They all have their &#8216;Sheiks Corner&#8217; at the back of the shop where the Sheiks sit in velvet splendour while their many wives shop til they drop. If you are a Sheik or have won the lotto, personal shoppers will accompany you in stretch limousines to such pleasure domes. Just thought you&#8217;d like this bit of useless info.<\/p>\n<p>Last, but not least, do you like soccer? If so, Milan is the place for you. It is home to two of the strongest soccer teams in the Italian League, namely &#8216;Inter&#8217; and &#8216;A.C. Milan&#8217;. They are soccer krazeeee in this town.<\/p>\n<p>My favourite and abiding memory of Milan is walking around Duoma Square in the cool of the evening, watching all the kids playing and chasing the birds, grown-ups linking each other; people eating gelato, newlyweds all around, everybody happy and smiling and joyful. It would appear nobody goes to bed around here until after 1.00 a.m. I was lining up at 12.45 AM (yes quarter to one in the morning) for a gelato, and kids aged around 7 or 8 were lining up beside me. It wouldn&#8217;t happen in Ireland or Canada for that matter!<\/p>\n<p>So there you have it me darlings&#8230;some of the things that moved me in Milan!<\/p>\n<p>Love,<\/p>\n<p>Patricia xxx<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When my fashionista friend Mary suggested a trip to\u00a0Milan &#8212; the undisputed Fashion Capital of the world &#8212; my response was Yes! Now that I&#8217;m back, was it worth it? YES a hundred times over. It did not&#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boomerbabelife.com\/?p=64\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boomerbabelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boomerbabelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boomerbabelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boomerbabelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boomerbabelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.boomerbabelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99,"href":"https:\/\/www.boomerbabelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions\/99"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boomerbabelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boomerbabelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boomerbabelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}