On top of the duomo

I'm beginning to suspect that the bottom portion of the scaffolding on the front of Milan's duomo is there for good. I believe it went up in 2003 or 2004, and it's still in place as of last weekend, sporting ads for Marie Claire and Elle magazines. Perhaps the church is using the advertising proceeds to pay off the latest victims of priestly indiscretions?

But I'll forgive them for keeping the facade covered, since at least I still get to wander around on the roof. Walking on the roof of Milan's duomo is one of my favorite things to do on a beautiful day in the city. You can take the stairs or (for a few extra euros) a teeny tiny elevator up. Like the rest of the duomo's facade, the roof is ornately decorated with thousands of statues.

When we lived in Milan, we required all of our visitors to have their picture taken in a particular spot on the duomo roof. Here's the latest photo for my cherub collection:
More duomo photos here.

My TravelBox articles

My four weeks at TravelBox on Slate.com are coming to an end. Here's a round-up of all my posts over there, for your reading pleasure:

Italy
A culinary layover in Milan
There's more to the Veneto than Venice

Austria
An Easter weekend in Vienna
Seeking out wine in Vienna (or Wein in Wien)

Switzerland
Switzerland's answer to Groundhog Day
Switzerland's off season

Germany
Discovering Berlin's divided past
Dresden rising

Heaven (in gelato form)

I spent last week in Italy, eating my way through a couple cities and visiting friends. The train connection afforded us a little layover in Milan, so I seized the opportunity to seek out that great mecca of gelato, Chocolat. As its name implies, they specialize in the chocolaty gelato flavors, including my all-time favorite, cioccolato al peperoncino.

I'm embarrassed to admit that in a year and a half of living in Milan, we never once made it to Chocolat. We had heard of the legendary great gelateria somewhere near Cadorna, and even wandered around the neighborhood hoping to stumble upon it once or twice, but our half-assed attempts always failed. We were just too busy devouring every other foodstuff that Milan had to offer, I suppose. But then I saw it mentioned on At Home in Rome a little while back, and took a sacred oath to find the place, dammit, on my next visit to Milan. And I did.

Chocolat didn't disappoint. You could tell the place was good by the steady stream of local customers coming in for their gelato fix even in the middle of a cold, drizzly afternoon. Many gelaterias in Milan stop serving during the winter months, but I'm pretty sure this place would do some mean business on top of a glacier in the middle of a blizzard. I considered moving in, but they probably wouldn't have appreciated that. But I'll be back.

Score one for Zurich…

In the great Milan v. Zurich smackdown, Milan has a lot of important victories in its corner: food, architecture, food, gelato, food, Sunday shopping, food, reasonably-priced wine and water, food...

But, Zurich does take a few points hands-down, namely: cleanliness, efficiency of public transportation, and bodies of water. I offer you exhibits A and B, my most recent pictures of….

A. Zurich’s lovely, clear lake

B. Milan’s “canal”

Anyone care to go for a swim?

My Milan

I love this city. I still can’t believe I avoided going back for a year, despite its proximity to our new home. I guess we needed some time to settle in and get on with our new life in our new country. When you have as many former homes as I do, sometimes it’s important to not be too sentimental when leaving a place.

But sentimental I was as we stepped off the train and I started seeing and experiencing all the familiar things – the dingy yet monumental station, the breathtaking architecture, the omnipresent bars and outdoor cafes (serving the most delicious coffee in the world), the duomo...

But we got off the train with a mission. With only three days to spend in Milan, our priorities were clear: eating, walking around soaking up atmosphere, eating, seeing our friends, eating, browsing in trendy little shops, eating, admiring the architecture, eating, taking in a little art, and eating. The only parts of the weekend that were pre-planned were the meals; everything else was merely killing time until the next eating opportunity.

The highlight of the weekend was a trip to my favorite restaurant of all time, Joia, but really all of our meals were fabulous. The brunch at the mozzarella bar Obika was delicious, as was the lunch back at one of our favorite pizzerias in our old neighborhood (where we discovered that our old palazzo is now completely covered with scaffolding – good thing we got out when we did!).

And then there was the gelato – it was cool and raining on and off for most of the weekend, but the gelato still tasted delicious – even though I’ve had it thousands of times, I’m still amazed at how good it is each time I taste it.

We didn't even get around to everything I would have liked to do (for example, we were so busy eating long meals and running around the city that we hardly had any time to sit at outdoor cafes and people-watch while sipping negronis and prosecco). Guess we'll have to go back again, soon.

Aaaaaah… Italia

How in the world is it that we hadn’t been back to Italy a single time since moving away over a year ago? We have no good excuse – Milan (our former home) is a mere three hours away by train. We don’t even have to change (changing trains in Italy might be considered a valid reason not to go). And the tickets aren’t even expensive. I’m very disappointed in us.

Anyway, we finally reached the point where we could do without real Italian food no longer, so here we are. All I can think is, wow, how did we stay away for so long? The gorgeous architecture, the insanely delicious food, the interesting shops, the gelato, the espresso…. Zurich seems so bland and sterile in comparison. (Shhhh… don’t tell Zurich I said that.) It’s good to be back.