Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan

Friday
Today we left the Cinque Terra and moved on to Milan for the weekend. We took the train from Vernazza to Levanto, the next resort just north of the Cinque Terra. Here we had quite a long wait for our connecting train to Milan, long enough to walk down into town and explore a bit. The only thing was there was nowhere we could leave our suitcases, but Laura said she was quite happy to stay with them, so Jen, Roger and I set off for a wander -first of all down to the coast, along the shore, and then wandering round the town, where we came across an attractive church I have put in as an extra. While we were in town, we bought some sandwiches for us to eat on the train. As the crow flies, it’s not far to Milan, but some mountains get in the way, so our train journey took a little over three hours. We were being joined in Milan by Jen’s friend Magali - their friendship goes back to their school days in France - almost 30 years ago! Magali lives and works in Geneva, and was taking the train after work, so arriving late - about 10.40, so Roger had chosen a hotel fairly near the station. This also worked well, since Jen unfortunately was leaving first thing Sunday morning to return to the U.S. so not the best reunion for them, being so short, but the best they could work out this trip, given our other commitments while we were in England.
Having checked into our hotel, we set off to explore. We walked first towards a park we could see on the map, and then continued into the centre. Milan is chiefly a business, fashion and shopping city, with less in the way of tourist attractions than many other large European cities, but the two highlights, are its magnificent cathedral - see extra - and the spectacular Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele II. It was designed in 1861 and built by architect Giuseppe Mengoni between 1865 and 1867.
The structure consists of two glass-vaulted arcades, intersecting in an octagon covering the street connecting Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square) to Piazza della Scala (La Scala Opera House). The street is covered by an arching glass and cast iron roof, a popular design for 19th-century arcades, The Galleria now contains high end luxury stores such as Prada, Gucci and Louis Vuitton, as well as numerous well-decorated restaurants, including some of the oldest establishments of Milan. The cathedral was closed by this time, but looked amazing in the late afternoon sun. We found a great restaurant in the area for dinner, then walked back to our hotel, and then out to meet Magali at the train station. It had been several years since we had seen her - last year Jen met up with her in Geneva - so it was great to see her again!