Milan

Over the past two days, July 13 and 14, I have traveled around the Italian city of Milan. The first day was rather overcast and rained during the morning hours but the second day was sunny and beautiful. The first stop in the city was Duomo Square which houses the largest of the many cathedrals in Milan.

Tourists are also allowed to climb to the roof and navigate their way through the spires to get a great view of the rest of the city.

After spending a number of hours around the square, I explored numerous other areas of the city including the Scala Opera House, the Brera Art Museum and the Galleria pictured below.

As sunset neared, I returned to the Duomo Square to capture some night shots. The sunset was very pretty over the Duomo but unfortunately the pictures did not give it justice. However the nights shots more than made up for it.

The next day was spent traveling the west side of Milan that I did not get a chance to see the previous day. That included San Lorenzo's Basilica, the Sforzesco Castle and the Navigli Canals as shown below.

Tomorrow I have an early train (6:55am ugghhh) to Venice. The Festival of Redentore takes place on Saturday and Sunday so there will be another post (with lots of pictures) following that.

Zurich

After a whirlwind tour starting at 8:00 am in Hartford, Connecticut that included a stop in 5 major cities in 3 countries, I found myself some 36 hours later in a hostel in Milan, Italy.  The highlight of this 36-hour adventure, was spending a day exploring Zurich, Switzerland.  Built right on Lake Zurich, the city has amazing views.

The old part of the city was rather small and surrounded by modern banking and shopping centers but was very unique. This historic section of the city was very cool and included a number of churches built right on the Limmat River.

Eight hours later I left the Zurich on a 3 1/2 hour train ride through the alps to Milan.  I slept most of the time but what I remember from being awake, there were a lot of mountains, a couple of plummeting drops off the sides of the tracks and a number of cool villages nested into the mountain valleys.

Today was spend exploring Milan and the Duomo/downtown area. It was very enjoyable but I will have save the details and pictures for the next post.

Trip Details

On Monday, July 11, I will begin a backpacking trip covering many parts of Central and Eastern Europe.  In the course of a month, I will travel to sixteen major cities in ten countries.  I will cover about 2,500 miles by bus, boat and train through the Alps,across the Adriatic Sea and up through the Balkans into Central Europe.  My trip will also include a notable stop in Venice during the festival of Redentore (think the Fourth of July, multiply it by ten and put it in Venice).

Barring getting lost or spending all of my money on beer, my travels will take me on the following path:

Zurich, Switzerland
Milan, Italy
Venice, Italy
San Marino, San Marino
Bari, Italy
Dubrovnik, Croatia
Kotor, Montenegro
Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Belgrade, Serbia
Novi Sad, Serbia
Budapest, Hungary
Vienna, Austria
Prague, Czech Republic
Berlin, Germany
Munich, Germany

Below is a map of my intended travels over the course of the next month:



View My Trip in a larger map