Fall Break in Italy (Part 2 -- Milan)

On the train from Venice to Milan, they served drinks and snacks.  That was good, because we didn't have time to get lunch.  We arrived in Milan in the afternoon.  It was cloudy, but not raining.  We found our rental and dropped our bags.  Then we left for dinner at a vegan restaurant called Giardi.  We sat by the window and watched kids dressed up for Halloween walk by.  The food at the restaurant was really good.  I had the Mondegreen, which was lentil, potato, and broccoli fritters served over a vegan crema with roasted black kale.

Mondegreen at Giardi Restuarant

We walked back to our room after dinner, and on the way, we grabbed some food for breakfast.  Our place has a kitchen with snacks, coffee, and tea.  We had breakfast at our apartment before walking back to the business center to meet with Francy.  We left our backpacks in his apartment before heading out for our guided tour with Francy.

Apartment building known for it's exterior plant-life - Bosco Verticale

Business area and shopping center

Francy showed us the many sites as he caught us up on the almost 10 years since he lived with us in the U.S.  We saw a city shopping area, several gates to the cities, a coffee shop known for panettone Christmas cake, the Duomo Cathedral, the Galleria Vittoria Emanuele II, and the Castle Sforzesco.  We had lunch at a traditional Italian Restaurant complete with red and white checked tablecloths.  Thom and Francy had the traditional Milanese dish of Ossobuco with saffron risotto.

Portoa Garibaldi -- one of the city gates

Sculpture in museum courtyard

Fountain in front of the castle wall

Buildings encircling the castle

Palace gardens

Castle chapel

Inside the castle wall

Francy, Me and Thom at the castle fountain

Duomo Cathedral

Monumento a Giuseppe Garibaldi

Entrance to the Galleria

Statue of King Victor Emmanuel II

Inside the Gallaria

My pasta dish

Ossobuco and Saffron rice at the traditional Italian restaurant

After lunch we walked to the canal district of Milan and then to the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart).  This is where Francy went for his masters, which he recently finished.   In the canal district, we all had gelato.  Francy found a place that had vegan options.  I had lemon and pistachio on a cone.  At the shop, they shaped the gelato like a rose.

Porta Ticinese

The canal district of Milan

Locks on a bridge crossing the canal

Vegan gelato -- lemon middle with pistachio petals

Uniquely painted building

Stumbling stones in Milan

Catholic church at the university

Catholic church at the university

Walkway to the university -- trees in fall colors

University building

After our tour, we headed back to Francy's apartment to get our backpacks.  We also met his girlfriend, Julia.  After saying "goodbye", we walked to the train station to catch a train to the airport.  We stayed at the Sheraton at the airport, because our flight left early Sunday morning.  

We arrived back in Prishtina by 8 am and caught the airport bus to the bus station.  Unfortunately, the first bus to Ferizaj was at 10 am.  We walked to a cafe shop and had breakfast and then headed back to the bus station.  We met Danny at the bus station and caught the bus to Ferizaj.  Danny got in the night before a trip with some other volunteers to Kotor, Montenegro.  Bedri, the taxi driver we often use, was waiting for us to take us back to Koveçac and Kaçanik.