Italy - Milan

14 Oct (Tue)
Though our hotel in Milan is about 10 mins walk from the train station, it took us a while to find it. The room was simple and clean but colour theme was terrible. Could hear people at the nearby bar and neighbours upstairs walking & dragging their luggage in the wee hours =(
After dropping our luggage at the hotel, we followed the recommendations of the hotel staff, to walk along the shopping Corso Buoenos Aires towards Duomo. Walked passed a park and enjoyed the serenity and autumn colours...
Decided to relax so we stopped by at a cafe along the street. I order tea while Gerald ordered a hot chocolate. The hot chocolate turned out to be extremely thick, basically a cup of thick choco fondue! One man's poison is another man's gold. I happily savour everything. Even if i wake up tmr with a terrible sore throat plus all the additional calories, it's all worth it. :)Vittorio Emanuele II, where all the big brands are.
Duomo in Milano was very grand.

People watching in Piazza del Duomo.
We decided to take the Metro back to the hotel area & have dinner at the restaurant owned by the hotel staff's friend. We got the 24 hour train ticket at Eur 3 which was much more worth it than single trip tickets at Eur 1.

The restuarant owner was super friendly. He claimed that he had a Gf in Singapore and even showed us a postcard from her. We order the set meal and at Eur 38 for 2 person after discount, we were fed many servings from bread, to delicious pizza crust, cold meat cuts, creamy risotto, tomota penne, grilled pork slices, lemon sorbet, raisin butter cake & hazelnut chocolate cream puff dessert and 2 shots of strong lemon liqour on the house. A nice restuarant along a quiet street.

Took a deep breathe & with my eyes shut, was hoping that time would just freeze at that moment. Vacation would be ending in another 5 days...

15 Oct (Wed)
After breakfast in the hotel, we're headed for San Siro, the football stadium of InterMilan & AC Milan. Followed the instructions of our hotel staff and took the Metro red line to Lotto Station. After a long walk & asking almost everyone we saw along the road for directions, we finally reached San Siro!We did the stadium & museum tour where the guide showed us around the stadium & changing rooms of both clubs & explained how things are during a match day.
Gerald happily got some souvenirs from the SanSiro store.

Decide to take the Metro to Ponte Geneva, a place recommended by the hotel staff for its nice restuarants. However many of the resturants or their kitchen are closed so we settle for pizza & calzone at a pizzeria. Can't go wrong with nice piping hot cheesy pizza.

Headed back to Duomo area for coffee & people watching. We settled for Tre Gazelle along Vittorio Emanuele, a stretch lined with chic Cafes.
I ordered their chocolate crepe which comes with 3 scoops of chocolate gelato topped with chocolate sauce, coco power & chocolate pieces. Huge & super chocolata! Realized my love for chocolate has deepened in Milan. Decided to skip dinner after the super sinful indulgence. 16 Oct (Thur)

Woke up early today for breakfast & to confirm how we could got the Tax Refund form stamped since we're travelling to Switzerland via train.

Was told in Milan train station that ticket officers on the train could stamp the form for us. We took the 1120 train, scheduled to reach Interlaken by 1430. While on the train, the ticket officer came, a nice patient lady (in fact, the nicest we've seen so far) explained that we'll need to stop at Domodossola to get the form stamped. The train only makes a quick 1 min stop which means we would have to hop on the next train.
We made a quick dash for it and luckily was able to make it back for the same train, thanks to the customs officer who waved at me and did the stamping quickly.

The ride to Switzerland was scenic... Looking forward to Schweiz!