Milan: the first steps of our world tour

After spending the day cleaning our apartment, we check all the items in our backpack one last time: we're ready to go! One last restaurant in Paris before joining our FlixBus for the big departure. The first steps of our world tour will take place in Milan (Italy). But before you get there, you first have to endure the journey: 11 hours and 40 minutes on the night bus. As Victor says: it's good to get into the swing of things. What I fear most is the back pain and lack of sleep on arrival. Obviously the ride was not very comfortable, but went relatively quickly. After more than 12 hours of bus (delay included), more than an hour of walking (to reach our accommodation which is on the other side of the city) and a risotto, we reach our hostel where we booked two nights in a dormitory. Now that we don't have our bags on our backs, we really feel lighter! So light, that we walked all day exploring the city.

We visit the Sforzesco castle and its Sempione park, we stroll through several districts: Brera, for fashion and design, Duomo, for the famous cathedral, Navigli, called Little Venice by the Milanese because of its canals that run alongside the buildings . And then, as the hour for the aperitif arrives, we set out in search of a nice place to inaugurate this Milanese tradition. The aperitivo is what people do after work: they get together, enjoy a cocktail (here it is the spritz or the Negroni) or a glass of wine and eat appetizers. Unfortunately, the bar does not offer Lambrusco; too bad, so it will be a glass of red wine (Italian wine is delicious)!

We find a small restaurant of Milanese specialties to end that first day. After 25.5 kilometers on foot on this first day, we are more than happy to return to our hostel, to take a good shower and to slip into our beds. Unfortunately, the night was not restful: between the snoring of some people, the comings and goings of others or the noise of the road nearby, it was more torture than relief. When we wake up the next day, we take things on the good side: this is just the beginning, we will not let a few bad nights ruin our experience (however, we will book a private room on our next stop).

To get back in shape, we start our second day with a good breakfast: filled croissants (yum!). And we are going to warm up in a park where a lot of Milanese do their morning sport. This is an opportunity to sit down and think about the next step of our trip: we need to book our next accommodation and our journey to Venice. We then return to the Duomo district, in the city center, to see the Emmanuel II gallery, which we did not see yesterday. As soon as we set foot in Milan, we were astonished by their hyper-developed and above all very typical tramway networks. You should know that here the tram has kept its shape from the early days and is fully integrated into the city. Having no dedicated lanes, the tram respects red lights just like cars. It's great to take it to avoid walking, but you shouldn't be in a hurry. So we have fun figuring out which is the oldest tram ... until we realize that the dates on the cars are not the date of creation but rather the serial number. It was number 1521 that put us on the alert! We are also pleasantly surprised to see that in the city, fresh water and sparkling water are self-service.

We have lunch in a small restaurant which offers a wide variety of original sandwiches. My sandwich, salmon, artichoke and stracciatella is excellent. We then discover the city's business district, Isola, where each building has its own architecture. It is a very lively neighborhood, we find the children coming out of school there. As we have slept very little so far, fatigue is present. The park next door seems ideal for a nap! The afternoon ends quietly, between a walk in the city, going to the pharmacy (Victor took a small sore throat with him, which he shared with me), and a last Milanese aperitif.