Milaneed To Sit Down Now

Despite our intentions to go around Pavia today, on a spur of the moment decision, guided by everything being inexplicably closed in Pavia on a Tuesday, we decided to catch the train into Milan

Quick pancakes to start the eponymous day, despite more than a few mishaps, a good hearty breakfast for a busy day

After getting off the train in Milan we were treated to what is likely my favourite train station ever. Kitted out with SPQRs, this frieze of Romulus and Remus, and Mosaics of Milan from different periods and angles. It really shows also how much of Italy's fascist past survived: this building being built in the 1930s was still adorned with plenty of Fasces, Roman salutes, and classical imagery.

Immediately outside we were confronted with some of the modern history of Milan, it's charming 1920s street cars.

Finally after days we made it back to a history museum! This time it was the history of the unification, or Risorgimento, of Italy. A confusing narrative even before trying to google translate every information board into garbled English. My personal favourite was this episode from the 1848 uprising in which a famous collector of weaponry had his house sacked by rebels trying to arm themselves. Seems like he could have seen that one coming in mid-19th century Milan but who knows

Quick stop for a classy shower. Despite the hordes of scarf and coat wearing Italians it was in fact quite a warm day

Heading through the centre, A.K.A. where we can't afford anything, we came across the Victor Emanuel II shopping centre. I had no idea how popular this king was given his grandson Victor Emanuel III was the unreputable king during both world wars and the periods of Italian Fascism. Still, cool building though

Right next door was the big pointy and famous Duomo in Milan. Were it not for the enormous crowds, on a Tuesday afternoon, we might've seen inside

Now making our way back around the city we stumbled across an absolute gem of Milan, this imperial palace. Unlike Trier last week, Milan's history as the imperial capital of the Roman empire was not particularly well preserved since it went on to be the capital of Ostrogoth, Lombard, and Habsburg Italy so many of the classical structures have been built over. Still, this slice of it's imperial past, inhabited by many stray cats, gave a wonderful additional flavour of the city's long history.

Finally quick wander through the Sforza Castle, an imposing building once on the edge of Milan which had at various times been a medieval castle, early modern star fort, a weapons depot, and a Citadel for the Habsburgs.

With the need to hop on a train back to Pavia and some other house keeping jobs to do we headed back to the station in Milan after a very busy, but satisfyingly historical day (23,000 steps and very tired legs). Only when getting on the train did I even realise that da Vinci's Last Supper was in a free museum we had only just walked past! Maybe next time Milan

Rob's favourite fact of the day: Garibaldi's wife, Anita, whilst pregnant helped to defend Rome from French troops. Although she did later die of exertion

Danni's favourite fact of the day: A secret revolutionary group fighting for Italian unification were called the Carbonari. This is sadly not because they loved Carbonara