A nice morning flight down from Helsinki to Milan, over the Alps into Northern Italy. Nice and clear most the way down till it reach Italy and it was very smoggy or in the least a lot of haze in the air, we were thinking more the later after a hot summer and little rain.

We landed at Malpensa airport which is 50 km’s from Milan, a good hike into the city so we had to take the train which took another 40 minutes after it finally arrived, it was running late. A short trip carrying all our luggage on the metro and we were there. Our hotel was located on the Corso Buenos Aires, the main cheaper shopping strip of Milan. We got a room with a balcony overlooking the street to watch the endless procession of traffic on the road and footpath below.

We only had a few days in Milan as we managed to arrive in the middle of trade fair month and were lucky to get an inner city hotel for two nights at a price we could sort of afford. So as a piece of advice don’t visit Milan in September.

We didn’t have a lot planned for our trip here as we only had a day and half, the three main things we went to see was the Duomo Cathedral, the Galleria and DaVinci’s painting of The Last Supper. The Duomo is a massive Gothic cathedral that took over 500 years to be built. The exterior is elaborately dressed in all manner of objects. One of the most interesting things that sets this cathedral aside is the access to the roof. Whereas most allow you to climb to it peak and walk around the steeple, the roof of the Duomo is flattish and covered with walkways so you can move all over, very freely, a fairly unique experience and gives great views over the city. It was a definite highlight for us all.

The Galleria is located next to the main piazza and Duomo and is one of the premier shopping locations in the city. It started its life as a train station and is set out in a cross configuration with amazing glass ceilings and architecture along the arcades. To the North of the Galleria is the famous Scala Theatre that was rebuilt after a devastating fire in the 90’s.

Before leaving home we pre-booked tickets to the see Leonardo DaVinci’s painting of The Last Supper in Milan. Where you need to book in advance to see and arrive 10 minutes before your scheduled viewing time slot. You then after entering through a airlock system to protect the painting, you have 10 minutes to view the painting. Its pretty big about 15 feet across and shows his version of The Last Supper and now its involved in controversy from the DaVinci code and who the figures really are. Sorry no photos are allowed so just Google it to have a look.