It’s Monday morning and we are off interailing again. After a slight admin snafu we are flying to Milan a day ahead of our southern based friends, Manchester to Milan leaving just after 9am.

Milano Centrale station is teeming with people. The express train from the airport lands on platform one which is narrow and so it takes a while for us to escape the huge station.

Our hotel is only five minutes walk away. Not really a hotel just a large apartment on the 2nd floor of a building. It has 4 bedrooms and a shared kitchen. We buy milk and share a slice of pizza and cake bought at a nearby cafe with a very welcome cuppa.

It’s a couple of miles into the centre so we enjoy a walk in. It’s hot, sunny and humid. We wonder what the huge building to our left is and realise it’s one end of the massive railway station Milano Centrale.

Onwards through the city and towering buildings until we arrive at the wonder that is Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. It’s a huge marbled arcade full of very expensive shops and restaurants. We enjoy window shopping only.

Literally walking out the other end of the galleries is the Duomo di Milan a truly awe inspiring gothic style cathedral. We don’t expect it to be there so it’s a wow moment. It took thousands of workers, a new canal system and over six centuries to complete starting in 1386. There’s a concert on today so we aren’t able to light a candle.

We find a restaurant and stop for a beer sitting outside in the shade. It’s very hot so lovely to get out of the sunshine with a cold beer even if they cost €9 each! Get talking to a NZ couple who are at the start of a four month world tour. They’ve already been to Dubai, Egypt and Italy and coincidentally they’re next trip is to Interlaken same as us.

Onto Castello Sforzesco which was an ever changing fortification between the 14c and 17c and is now a museum. We can wander through free and then out the other side into Sempione Park. We find a lovely bar sitting under an umbrella and enjoy cold beer and people watching for an hour.

We walk back to our apartment stopping at a restaurant for a meal and a local bar for a drink. It’s been a hot muggy day so take a lovely shower before a final shared beer and bed.