Milan is arguably the shopping capital of Europe, so it is a touch surprising Mer decided to bring Mr. Spendthrift here. But I get ahead of myself…

I had a very rough sleep last night, and Mer and I got up around 8:30 for a 10:00 checkout from our hotel in Corniglia. We got ready in a leisurely manner, and checked out about 9:45. Happily, Caitlin was checking out at the same time, so we were able to say goodbye to her. She was a gem of a person with whom to hang out, and I hope she has great times ahead in Florence, her next stop.

The store at which we wanted to get breakfast did not open until 10:00, so we went back down to the terrace overlook to look at the ocean and the coast in the bright sunshine (because it was sunny, but hazy). That did the trick, and we were able to get our morning fix of focaccia, which we got to go so we could get to the train. We caught the shuttle bus just before it was to leave (it only runs about every forty-five minutes), and we caught our train right away as well. We had to take a short hop on the train to the last Cinque Terre station, Monterosso, since Corniglia’s train station was so small it only took cash for train tickets, and train fare to Milan was over fifty euros. We bought our tickets to Milan and had to wait about twenty minutes, so we took the opportunity to eat breakfast.

The train ride went smoothly, and was very scenic. The first half of the trip or so was along the mountainous coast, so that when we were not in a tunnel, we had a hard time knowing where to look – there were mountains to the right and ocean to the left. The train was very nice, with a compartment of six comfortable seats. We had two Italian women as companions for the trip, with three other people who came and went for short hops.

Once in Milan, we knew it, since the train station level down to the Metro level of the station was separated by four levels of shopping. Mer bought us a two-day pass metro to near our hotel. The hotel was about a ten-minute walk from the metro station, and we had no trouble finding it. We checked in, dumped the luggage, and headed back out into the city.

Mer’s first destination was Milan’s castle, Sforza Castle. The Sforza family was the most influential family in Milan during the fifteenth and sixeenth centuries, and they lived in this very impressive fortification along the Milan city wall. It now houses museums. Mer knew from her Rick Steves guidebook that you can get in for free after 4:30, so that is what we were aiming to do – Mer mostly wanted to see an unfinished Michelangelo Pieta sculpture, so that did not require a full day and full admission price.

The castle was very cool, but what was not cool were all the hucksters and scam artists around. They worked the crowd in a pack, so it was hard to shake them. That turned out to be a theme of the evening at both the major sites to which we went – lots of scam artists about, which is a shame, since people should have the right to see these things without being harassed. On the plus side, we were looking at some round stones in a ditch and wondering if they were meant to be cannon balls when we both spotted a tiger-colored kitten. He was adorable, including washing himself so hard he fell off the rock (no harm done). We also saw the mother cat and, later, two other cats, all in the ditch/moat area. That cheered us up from the irritating people.

Since we had some time before 4:30, we wandered out the other side of the castle into a huge and beautiful park. On the far side of the park is a huge arch in celebration of Napoleon, whom the locals mistakenly thought would liberate them from tyranny. When they found out Napoleon was a tyrant, they turned the horses on the arch around so the rear ends faced France.

The park was a great place in which to wander, and the local sun-seekers were out in force, both men and women. We also got several displays of varying degrees of Public Displays of Affection, which would also be a theme of the evening. Mer and I wandered to the far end of the park and back, and then reentered the castle to find the specific museum that housed the Michelangelo. There are several small museums, and we could not find the right door. We tried one upstairs – wrong. The told us where it was, so we tried downstairs. Wrong. They told us where it was, so we finally found it, and worked our way through several labyrinthine galleries to find the statue. We found it, only to discover it was closed for today because of technical issues. Sigh. We used the bathrooms and left the museum.

We then fueled up on wonderful chocolate muffins from a nearby bakery before we used the metro to head over to the Duomo. Milan’s Duomo is considered THE example of “flamboyant gothic” architecture. It is really over the top as far as decorations go. Mer and I were a bit horrified to step off the metro and be greeted by a huge TV screen showing ads for Samsung on one side of the Duomo. Even in the U.S. we have not stooped to ads on churches. We later guessed and hoped that Samsung was sponsoring the extensive renovation work on that side of the cathedral, and we are hoping the ad will go away when the renovations are complete.

We are saving the inside of the Duomo for tomorrow, when Mer will not have bare shoulders and I will not be in shorts (there is a dress code for the church). We admired the outside, and then wandered into the adjacent Galleria – a two-block-long shopping area all under a glass roof. In the middle of the shopping area is an extensive mural which depicts important regional cities, like Rome. The symbol for the city of Torino is a bull, and somehow it has become a tradition for people to plant their heel in the bull’s private parts and spin around three times. This is supposed to bring you good luck, and Mer did try it. The poor bull’s nether regions have to be replaced every few years because the tradition wears them out – there was a definite divot in the floor when Mer tried it.

We finished wandering around the square and the Duomo, during which we found and watched a street performer manipulate six glass balls in his hands and along his arms – it was like juggling, but the balls never left his body. It was pretty fascinating to watch, and we tipped him a couple of euros. We went off to supper after finishing our square tour. Mer was looking for a specific restaurant, and we found it along a flower-lined street. The staff there took wonderful care of us, bringing us a full pitcher of water (unusual in Italy) with ice (unheard of in Italy) when we both asked for water. The food was excellent, including three different types of made-in-house bread.

We ended the evening by heading back to the Duomo area to get gelato from a stand down a side street. After the ice cream, we walked back to the hotel, and I was pleased to get us launched by remembering that cathedrals almost always put the altar of the church in the east side of the church, so we were able to figure out which was way was south, which helped us find our streets.