Milan

Buying train tickets
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Off to Milan. We managed to find an easier route back to the train station in venice so we just had 1 set of steps to surmount on our departure instead of 5! Of course, little did we know that this was just the beginning of our STAIR odyssey. Should have stopped in Pompei!!

For some reason, there were ZERO escalators/elevators in sight when we arrived in Milan. I had figured if we were in a hotel near a metro stop, it would be no problem. Well, all I can say is there were plenty of stairs to go up and down. We had to transfer between lines, so up and down more stairs! Ugh! We did find some escalators. We also found out that they are motion sensor enabled, so even if one looked out of order, it would work if you stepped on it. But they only worked mostly upstairs, not down (if you could find where they were). I can say that by the end of our stay in Milan, we did figure out where most of the escalators and elevators were. Of course, never at the same time as when we had our luggage with us!

Coby pulling his weight
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In Milan, we walked through town and went to their Duomo. It's claim to fame being the largest gothic church in the world. We took the elevator to the top and ran around on the roof. The best part was going inside. WOW is all I can say. You'll never see a larger church in your life. It was textbook perfect Gothic architecture. Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend too much time in it as it closed shortly after we arrived. Geee, getting booted out of church!

Next door was a nice department store with a BATHROOM! Mine had an attendant that scrubbed the stall after you used it. So now I go off on my tangent on Italy and bathrooms... OK, so why is it that there are no toilet seats in the public bathrooms, AND no toilet paper! Hello Italy! I swear, once I went into a restaurant and saw that the men's toilet had a seat and paper and the women's no seat and no paper. I was totally steamed. Come on, the guys pee all over the seat. Why do they have one????? This is the one thing I will not miss about Italy!!!! Even Coby had a hard time when he had to go poopy. Luckily, I had brought disinfectant wipes to wipe the rim with at least so he could sit on that instead. Don't know how little kids do it in europe. The boys did have the most fun w/the standup type where there are two raised footprints on a shallow basin. Brevan tried it out. He thought it was cool when he flushed and the water rushed around his feet. Alex couldn't for the life of him figure out how you'd poop there though! He'd later find one where someone did poop and did not flush. Yes, grossssssss. How about a bizarre toilets show?

What to do if a gypsy tries to take your luggage
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After the Duomo, we went next door to the Galleria. It is an open air shopping lane. No stores of note there but the architecture is quite stunning. In the center is a mosaic of a bull on the floor. They say if you step on it's "nuts" and spin around, it will be good luck and ensure your return to Milan. Well, our buddy, curtis, thought that was an awfully bad idea and declined. The kids had fun doing it. In the end, at least for us, it ensured our return, but on the WRONG day. You'll see this as we attempt to leave for Interlaken through Milan...

Milan train station architecture
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Anyhow, back to Milan. Next we went over to the church where the last supper is. We knew we wouldn't be able to go inside and see it as all the tickets were sold out months in advance. It was closed when we got there. Very small little wing off of the main church. Then we attempted to go to the outskirts of town in a tram to see a leonardo horse, but got on the tram the wrong way. I took that as a bad omen and we called it a day and headed back to the hotel instead.