More Italy!
On our first full day in Italy, we explored Milan and a farm outside of Milan. The pictures in my collection again went in reverse chronological order, and they are only mine--I can't figure out how to import the Whatsapp photos that other people added!
Overall observations: I had never been to Milan before and it was really cool. They consider Milan the economic capital of Italy, and it seemed filled with busy professionals and the occasional tourist (while Florence and Rome, by contrast, seemed dominated by tourists and the locals appeared less visible). We took a guided walking tour given by a Milanese woman of three generations. She was an incredible story teller and had a tidbit for almost everything. Another big learning for me was the fact that the further north in Italy, the more involvement in WWII. The southern part of the country was less affected, but there were a lot of areas around Milan where people retreated during the war to escape the big city and make themselves less of a target. We visited a small farm that started as a hobby-farm and has been in the family for 3 generations. They make cheese from the raw milk they get from the small amount of dairy cows they keep on the property.
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| A statue on the property of the farm that we visited |
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| Romeo the cat along with Yvonn (L) and Diane (R) and Ruby in the middle |
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| deconstructed cheese cake with cream cheese from the farm |
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| Half-eaten plate of spinach, fresh tomatoes and the primo sale cheese that is crafted at the farm |
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| Pickled vegetables |
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| The farm that we visited had the most gorgeous property |
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| Please observe the tree growing through the roof |
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| Scout and Clara |
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| The farm even had a water wheel |
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| Making primo sale cheese |
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| Inside the milking area |
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| These calves were about 2 weeks old |
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| The hearth that was outside the farm in a separate building |
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| The biggest magnolia trees! |
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| Part of the farm property |
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| The pastry window of the gelateria |
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| Scout and her delicious gelato |
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| A square in Milan where we sat on a bench and chilled out with our gelato. The sculpture depicts Leonardo DaVinci |
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| Jessica and Ruby in the center of the galleria (Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II) |
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| An open galleria in Milan where they had every fancy store you could think of |
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| The duomo |
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| Note our tour group all wearing our headsets so that we could hear the tour guide |
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| Scout, Ruby and Molly |
We started our walking tour in a park that was adjacent to the Sforzesco Castle. This fortified structure dates back to medieval times. Some of it has been preserved, but in parts you could see that the entire structure was probably covered in paintings.
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| I think that Clara took this one--of the girls staring out into the gardens at the palace before we started the walking tour |
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| Valeria (tour director) and Gennaro (bus driver) front and center of our whole group at the farm when we sat down to sample the food |
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| Abbey, Scott and Jayme at the Montreal airport dining option (this was actually on June 2) |
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| Just a pic of what we covered in Milan--we walked from the Castello to the Duomo |
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