A fashionably fast trip to Milan

Milan Duomo

Last weekend BK and I contemplated a weekend getaway. And of course, when I say weekend getaway, Baby K was invited as well. Nothing too crazy over here, don't worry! BK first suggested that we go into the mountains somewhere. That way we could get out and do active stuff all weekend, hiking and taking in the views. This was a good idea, but then, selfishly, I suggested we go to Milan.

For those of you who don't know, BK's birthday is right around the corner and Baby K and I are getting him some new dress shoes...exciting right? The shopping is not so great in Switzerland, so we thought we would go and see what all the hub-bub was about Milan. Italy is known for leather goods, so we figured, why not? Not to mention that the dollar, euro and Swiss franc have all essentially become equal, which is great news for us!

Milan is a quick three hour (direct!) train from Montreux. We grabbed the train Saturday morning and arrived in Milan just before lunch time. Baby K was great on the train; so great in fact, that BK was able to spend all three hours doing continuing education out of the way, without me getting frustrated at all. If you're a mom, you know what I mean, and how I feel.

One smart thing we did, and I would highly recommend, was buy Baby K her own seat. On Swiss trains you are not required to make a seat reservation, but on Italian trains you are. It was so much better for her to have her own seat. It gave us all a little bit more room to move around, and we controlled the table, so she could color or do whatever we needed her to do.

Statue of Leonardo

It's crazy how much the weather can impact your impression of a city. It was grey, drizzly and chilly all weekend, which wasn't great to walk around in all day. But, as a result of living in Europe, we've learned to adapt, wear proper clothing, and go on about our way. It really reminded us when we went to Paris the first weekend we lived in Europe. I don't know why, but it just makes a difference.

Entrance to our hotel/apartment- a mini door in the door

We stayed at an awesome apartment-hotel type thing called Le Suite de Palazzo Segreti. It is a group of apartments, but run by a hotel, so there is still concierge service to help us around the city, as well as breakfast and some other amenities. We also prefer for Baby K to have her own room when we go somewhere so BK and I can actually interact after 7:30pm when she goes to bed. We also wanted a living room type situation as well so we could watch the Frogs that night too. And yes, we took the AppleTV with us so we could watch American football while in Milan. The place was perfect for us for the weekend!

Living room and hall to bedrooms

I'm sorry to say we did not do so well on the shopping front, as we came home empty handed. We couldn't wrap our minds around how there were possibly enough people in the world to justify the sheer number of luxury stores in Milan. I can't tell you the number of places we passed with shoes that were thousands of dollars. I mean, really? Why? And please know, this was not what we were looking for!

The shopping streets of Milan

After our failed attempts at shopping, we stopped at duomo square to have a quick look around, then headed back to our apartment for the evening. Milan is very easy to get around, with buses, trams and a subway that are easily navigable. Baby K was also dying to get out and run around, so the apartment was ideal for that as well.

The next morning we got up at regular Baby K time (7 to 7:30am), had breakfast, then headed out to go to the duomo. I wish we could have gone to see The Last Supper, but you have to book that months in advance, which obviously we did not do.

Yes we brought the dog- it's how you really get her to go!

Inside the Duomo

Down the center aisle

The Milan duomo is very impressive. One thing that makes it really beautiful is that it appears to have recently been cleaned, so you can see all of the colors in the marble facade. There is still some scaffolding, but compared to the size of the duomo, it seems insignificant. The opulence of Cathedrals in Europe gets me every time, and Milan's duomo was no exception.

Her favorite part of the Duomo

We left Milan around noon, with high hopes that Baby K would nap on the way back home. Unfortunately that did not happen, but she was manageable. Sometimes I get a bit frustrated when things don't go as planned/how they need to go with Baby K, but BK has learned to read my mind and took her to walk around the train when this happened. He's good like that.

That's about it for Milan- honestly, nothing too excited, but actually a nice getaway for us. Baby K napped for almost two hours while we shopped, and it was nice for BK and I to get to wander around chatting, with no real agenda.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and we have a couple of celebrations coming up. My sister and her husband also get here on Monday, which I'm super excited about! Then in no time, we'll be back in the US for our Christmas visit! Time flies when you're having fun!