We began our day in Milan by sleeping in, we didn't get out of the hotel until around 11:30. This sleep was lovely and we all needed it. We started the day with our first Italian meal at Parma & Co. We shared a parmesan cheese platter and got free bread and fried dough. Cal got an eggplant dish while Sam and I each had pasta. The owner of the shop was very concerned with how we liked our food and it was so refreshing to be cared about at a resturaunt. He had real pride in his food and it paid off, the meal was amazing.
We continued down the street from the restaurant and stumbled upon the Duomo. This large church reminded me slightly of La Sagrada Familia with it's pointy towers. The interesting thing about this area was that people selling selfie sticks and things on the street wouldn't leave you alone. These people exist all over Europe at main tourist attractions but when you say no seriously they leave you alone. Here they would not leave unless you physically removed yourself from the situation. For this reason we snapped a few quick photos and walked away into a shopping area.
We walked right into one of the worlds oldest shopping malls, Galleria Vittorio Emmanuel II. It was built in 1867 and continues to be used today as a major shopping area. Most of the stores here are very high end designers so we just window-shopped and walked around. I must also note that this area was crawling with other tourists so we decided to find a less crowded area to walk around.
We spent around 4-5 hours wandering in and out of stores. We were on our way back towards the hotel when we saw a Tory Burch store. She's my favorite shoe and handbag designer so I couldn't help but go in. Once we walked into the store we were informed that everything on the main floor was 50% off. Cal and I looked at each other and knew we were in trouble. I walked around and had my eye on a beautiful brown wallet and Cal also found something she loved. We decided that while in the fashion capital of the world we couldn't resist. There goes the money I made working before we left for Europe but I think its worth it!
On the way back to the hotel we got lost, so we flagged down a cab which took us back to the hotel. We dropped of some of our stuff and cooled off for a bit in the room. Then we headed back out to explore the shops closer the the hotel. We found this amazing market/food mega store called Eataly! I was in food heaven full of food, cookbooks and cooking tools. We just wandered the three floors in awe and of course tasted some samples. Can I just take a moment to point out the top right hand corner photo? Yes, that is a fresh pasta counter! If I lived here I would definitely be fifty pounds heavier, but oh so happy.
We just walked around for a few more hours. Stopping for more gelato and a caprese salad for Cal and I. I'm already loving the food here! We went back to the hotel when we started to be eaten by mosquitos and decided to turn in for the night.
What a wonderful first day in Italy!
<3 Morg
So happy you found EATALY. Isn't it so cool?
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