Milan

Our overnight train from Barcelona that departed the night before took us in darkness throughout southern France, and deposited us in Milan by midmorning. I can’t remember if I mentioned earlier that we were roped into buying sleeper-car tickets because regular seats had sold out. Unfortunately, these quarters were even more cramped than the seats would have been, and Stacey and I were both happy to breathe some fresh air and stretch our legs.

We didn’t have a lot of time in Milan – really only a couple hours before again moving further south toward Florence. We headed downtown to see the Duomo, which was really an impressive piece of gothic architecture from the outside. We were unable to go in. Next to the Duomo was an upscale shopping center that had elegant glass-domed roof sections that made for a unique experience as we walked around.

Surprisingly, the most memorable part of Milan had to be the gelato we bought. I’m sure Stacey’s done a better job of describing it than I could. It was pretty amazing, and I'm not the biggest gelato fan.