Our final stop on the Fast-Travel-Through-Italy-Like-We-Are-Running-From-The-Law Tour was Milan. Here’s a photographic journey of what we did in Milan.
Wait, what? One picture in all of Milan? Yes. Because taking pictures of girls doing homework, ordering dinner to be delivered to our comfy apartment, getting gelato, being re-united with our suitcases that we sent ahead from Spain and packing for Thailand is just not blog-worthy. Seeing The Last Supper was the one and only thing we did that was similar to education and at all worth mentioning. The gelato near our apartment was a close second.
In our defense, Milan was not on the original itinerary, which was planned to end in Venice. But when we looked into tickets to Thailand, they were cheaper from Milan. So Milan it is! We only had one full day there, not including arrival and departure days. But it was enough to enjoy the city. Milan had a nice amount of old world charm but modern conveniences, real Italians going about their daily lives but still services that allow the traveler or foreigner to be comfortable. It was less chaotic than other Italian cities and much less touristy. Dan and I both really enjoyed Milan and the vibe there.
Italy, In Conclusion
So that wraps up our Great Italian Journey of 2017. We learned a lot on this trip, not only stuff that we saw in museums and on tours but we learned stuff about ourselves. Here are just a few things:
- We like traveling lighter, with just one smaller suitcase each.
- We missed the comforts in our big suitcases, though, like eye pillows and blankets and favorite water bottles and stuffed animals and math books. Zoe does not agree with the math books statement. Dan says he doesn’t even remember what was in his big suitcase so he is the exception.
- Fast traveling is fine… for awhile. Less than 3 weeks is better than more than 3 weeks.
- Having a car was so helpful. The few times we tried to take public transportation it ended in family members so cranky it took hours to recover. Navigating 5 cities in 3 weeks was much more manageable with our own vehicle.
- All those museums… they were important but wow… that’s a lot of stuff to think about. We are glad that we won’t duplicate that anywhere else. Sure, there are other places we want to go that have museums but none with the intensity that is Italy.
- Connections are now being made constantly, to da Vinci, Michelangelo, gelato and everything else. We like connections. Italy played a big role in… well.. the history of everything. So the girls are going to be connecting the dots for years to come. Turns out all roads DO lead to Rome!
City Faves
Here is how we all rank the 5 cities we visited, from favorite to “notsomuch”.
Haley: Rome, Venice, Florence, Milan, Naples (this is a big deal from a girl who is exhausted in big cities – Rome really struck a chord of wonderment for her)
Zoe: Florence, Rome, Milan, Venice, Naples
Allison: Florence, Rome, Milan, Venice, Naples (extrovert fist bump with the Zo-Zo)
Daniel: The “Non-Smoking-Big-Coke-Light-With-Ice” region. In other words, they were all the same.
So, that’s officially a wrap, folks! We are done with the Schengen zone for awhile and it’s time to change continents and currencies. Thanks for following along on our fast travels through Italy. Stick with us for the next chapter: Thailand!
