More Eating and Drinking in Milan than Exploring

Hi Guys!

See I told you I'd have Milan done for you today!

I was really sad to leave Rome because I'd meet some amazing people there who I plan to keep in contact with and it was a truly beautiful city. I don't think anywhere else I've ever been can compare. You'd walk down a busy commercial street and BANG in the middle of it all suddenly there will be a site full of ancient columns and relics. It was mind-blowing.

That being said I was sooooo excited to go to Milan because my best best best friend was meeting me out there - Louise! I've known Lou since I was six years old and there's no way she's ever getting rid of me! We went Brownies together (the littler version of girl guiding), secondary school together and university where we lived together for two years (I'm so sorry Lou for that, I know I was a nightmare to put up with haha). Despite meeting some great people on my travels so far it's not quite the same as having your best bud with you. You don't have to exchange pleasantries every time you meet or fill them in on your life, you just pick up where you left off!

Louise met me on the Sunday morning but I actually arrived in Milan on Saturday and Oh My God, I definitely have the super power of picking the world's worst hostels ever! Online the hostel had (well from the photos they gave you) open clean looking bunk bed dorms so I felt pretty sure about this one HOWEVER when i get there I'm ushered into a room that was clearly meant to be a private double room and they've managed to squeeze 4 single beds into the room and there was literally a foot between each one - no room to put your bags, or lockers. To top it off - again- the room didn't lock nor did the bathroom door, there was about an inch between the door and the frame so everyone could see you pee or worse hear you sneakily try and let one off. I swallowed my pride and decided to stay one night, Louise was arriving the next day so I booked us a private room in another hostel down the road with our own bathroom that hopefully locked.

Louise arrived a my hostel at 9 in the morning and we couldn't check into out new place until 2 o'clock however they kindly let us store our bags there so we could go and explore the city! We got the metro straight into the centre of Milan and as soon we we hit the surface we're greeted by the ginormous Duomo Cathedral in Milan. It didn't compete with the St.Stephen's Basilica in Vienna in terms of size but in terms of the overall exterior appearance it definitely knocks it out the park. Undoubtedly, me and Lou wanted a snap in front of it. Haha (crying just as i write this lol) Louise being the more confident one out of the two of us (you know since she's a model) asked an Asian guy who was approaching us to kindly take a picture, but hell no he was he having any of it. He full on gave her the hand and continued to strut by with his rolly suitcase as if he was the Queen of Sheba haha. It was too funny, the look on Louise's face was pure shock. I can't even describe the look of smugness on this guy's face. He was not stepping down from his pedestal to take a picture of us no way. Luckily the next Asian guy that came along was more than happy to oblige. He even had the photography skills we needed by going down on one knee and re-positioning himself to try and get the perfect shot for us bless him!. I don't think I've mentioned yet in these blogs how professional some tourists are at taking pictures- I saw this Korean girl in Venice having a full on photo shoot with her father on one of the bridges in an attempt to get the ultimate snap.

We then went inside the cathedral (look in the gallery for more pictures) and again I was shocked by the size. I've seen a lot of them on this trip so I have to say that the interior of the Duomo despite having beautiful stained glass windows doesn't compare to some of the more picturesque ones I've seen. That being said, that doesn't mean it's not worth the visit.

By now it was about time to head to check into our hostel. I cannot tell you how great the feeling was to take a proper shower, you know one where the water doesn't dribble out! And to wash my hair! (I won't tell how long it had been haha). I then slapped on a full face of make up because we were going to head out for a meal (a hot one yayyy) and to get smashed - I haven't really had much alcohol on this trip which would come to a big surprise to my friends back home! We wandered around a little bit and stumbled upon this place that kind of reminded me of a wetherspoons back home. I got a plain old tuna panini and Lou got a Tuna Steak burger (which you could tell from a mile off was way overcooked but I guess that's what you get for eating in the Milan equivalent of a spoons!)

After the very short meal we googled good places to drink in Milan. The first thing that came up was the Nottingham Forest Bar, looking at the reviews it said it had consistently been in the top 50 bars in the world. And at happy hour 6-9pm, all cocktails were 10 euros and they were well worth the money! It was a half an hour walk away but me and Lou wanted to experience the trams in the city so decided to hop on one. If only life was that simple. Italy being a fairly religious country means that on a Sunday everything is pretty much closed. In order to jump on a tram you need to purchase a ticket from one of the 'Tabachi' shops which on a Sunday was actually impossible. We had to walk to the nearest train station to get the ticket, thankfully this was en-route to the bar anyway. So, once we managed to get our ticket and boarded the tram, we were on our way to the infamous Nottingham Forest Bar.

Now when we rocked up, we weren't expecting to be told that it was fully packed and we were going to have to wait to get in. Remember this isn't a club or a night bar - it was only 6 o'clock in the evening! After all that effort to get here and we had to wait, but we weren't going to surrender to defeat so we queued with patience - we needed to know what all the big fuss was about. Luckily it was only half an hour or so before we entered the den. OMG wasn't it amazing inside?! At first you think it's a kind of tiki bar as it mainly made of wood and there's herbs and smoke coming from behind the bar but there were Chinese calligraphy all over the walls, as well as some African sculptures and animal artefacts. We were seated at a table and handed a menu. OMG AGAIN, even just flicking through you could see how much effort and detail they put into the construction of the menu, there were cocktails inspired by TV shows (Dexter, True Blood, Lost), Japanese Culture (Feng Shui, composed with flowers and river stones), Thai Culture (Chang Mai, made with real gold) and I could go on but literally nothing was spared when they created this bar which has been around for 47 years. If I were to open up my own place it would be this!

True Blood

Chang Mai

Message in a Bottle

As I said Happy Hour was 6-9 where it was 10 euros a drink and from 9-1 (I think) it was 12 euros a cocktail, how much they are outside of those hours I haven't got a clue but it's well worth it. If you go to a cocktail bar back in London (which I have...alot) you can't but notice that they're watered down through sight and taste. Now upon tasting these cocktails you can taste the booze but again we thought the price was more to do with the theme and feel of the place rather than the alcohol content. Oh no no no! Me and Louise were pretty smashed after only 3 drinks each! We were shocked! We now understood why they gave you complimentary nibbles per order of cocktails - to try and keep you sober! Now before you say we must be a bunch of lightweights I used to be an Assistant General Manager of a pub and Louise is a model who has to go out socialising often with clients and agents - both of which includes loads and loads of drinking. So, we had no other alternative after these 3 cocktails than to drag our drunk ar*es home where we passed out at the pathetic time of `10 o'clock in the evening haha!