Snowy Milan

It is snowing! I need to buy wellies after school, my feet are freezing....but moaning over, look how pretty it is!

Christmas in Milan

 Milano's cathedral is my personal favourite. It is so, so beautiful and despite now seeing it regularly, it never fails to bring a smile of appreciation whenever you see it springing up (when you have a sense of direction like mine, it does actually spring up in what appears to be the strangest places!)

Piazza del duomo contains the cathedral and the beautiful gallery. It is a huge square, filled with tourists happily eating ice creams and taking selfies. For December, it welcomes Christmas markets and a huge Christmas tree. There is a lovely atmosphere. Milano's decoration were stunning. Gorgeous lights, lit up trams and an annual Advent Calendar.

Swarovski Christmas tree-love it!

Inside the Galleria

Damjan and I went to see the Advent Calendar on the 21st. The windows opened and out came 21 brass musicians who played Christmas carols for half an hour. It was so lovely! Next year I want to go again at the beginning of December as well, to really compare and see the orchestra building up.

Check out this awesome tram! Who says public transport isn't exciting?!

 

Helen came to stay :)

It was so lovely to see Helen, though not when we realised our friendship is now over two decades old. How did that happen?! We had a happy catch up over prosecco and tiramisu on Friday then spent Saturday sightseeing in Milan before going to watch some Welsh rugby. An apperitivo on the canals summed up our Milanese day nicely!

On Sunday it was a rather wet day but we headed over to Bergamo to go exploring. I randomly bumped into a couple of friends so we spent a few hours with them....I was very happy to realise that they both had an umbrella! Helen and I had zero! Bergamo is a beautiful hillside medieval town. It is so quaint and pretty.

 

Piazza Vechia

I definitely need to go back...as the rain was rather miserable and I lost the motivation to see much as was cold and wet! Ducking into little cafes for coffees and croissants cheered us up though! The streets were narrow and cobbled, and it had traditional beautiful Italian architecture. Definitely a place to go back to and relax in.

Torre Civico

Anneke, Helen, me and Mollika drying off and warming up!

Notice who is holding the umbrellas?! ;) Yoink!

After Bergamo we headed back to Milan to meet Damjan in a new part of the city I hadn't been to before. We got a new metro line up there and were very excited on the way back to discover it was a driverless train. Helen's husband loves train and Helen was delighted! She was hilarious, snapping away and recalling every last detail to him that evening. I don't think anyone was quite as happy as her though! 



Sitting at the front of the train. Helen taking one of many pics!

Padova

The autumn internationals....one of my favourite things about autumn...as well as the changing colours of course (I have really missed that the last four years actually). Italy were playing South Africa, and as I'd never seen the Springboks play I was so keen to go. Lovely Lise and her well connected rugby playing husband managed to sort out free tickets for us in the family section. Happy! It was a beautiful sunny day and the stadium was packed.

Italy played so well, there was a great atmosphere in the stadium. The first half was neck and neck which made things rather interesting! The Springboks of course won, (I was a little disappointed!) but getting to see Bryan Habana score a try right in front of us was cool! Thanks to Dries playing for Zebre and having gone to visit a couple of times it was really nice recognising some of the players.  I think I will be feel a lil torn when it's Wales' turn to face them, but the boys in red will stir up patriotism and passion that poor Italy will soon be forgotten!

The next day we had a wander around the city. It is a beautiful place. It felt like a cross between Venice and Istanbul. Autumn was definitely in full swing, the colours were lovely. I was also very happy to discover a little chocolate festival happening in town. Rugby and chocolate....wow! :)

Although  a church not a mosque, this reminded me of the Hagia Sofia so much!

These chairs look so inviting!

As always, beautiful squares and churches were around every corner. Padova though is not on the Italian tourist trail so it was quiet and calm which was so lovely and in such stark contrast to other cities. Just when I think I couldn't be even more charmed by this place, a surprising gem like Padova appears! I am sure that when residency finally happens and I have to start dealing with the bureaucracy here, the rose tinted glasses will fall off, but for now, typing over a nutella filled brioche and sipping a macchiato, life in Italy is good! ;)