By jadoerge
Semester Break Vacation Part 7: Milan and Nice
Although our time in Venice was much too short, Morgan and I were excited to continue our journey our through Italy and on into France! Since we didn’t feel like being cooped up in a train for yet another day, we decided to break up the trip to Nice with a one-and-a-half day visit to Milan!
Unfortunately, our first acquaintance in Milan was the rain…a lot of it. Despite the setback, we were determined to make the most of our short time in this fashion-centric city. Stepping out of the train station (which is gorgeous) was unfortunately not as breathtaking as being in the train station. The reality of Milan’s business and trade importance strikes one immediately with the presence of tall skyscrapers and a lack of that feeling of being in a foreign country that cities like Naples or Venice lend one immediately. After spending a few minutes deciphering the metro system and checking in with our host for the night, we hit the main downtown area that surrounds the cathedral. Much like our first impressions out of the train station, the downtown area, while filled with high-end fashion stores and some very pretty architecture, is very much business-oriented. The cathedral itself was quite nice, displaying paintings and tapestries that are quite important for the history of the region, but the surrounding buildings and arcades left something to be desired from a tourist’s point of view. To be fair, we only had a few hours to explore this area and I’m sure that there are some hidden gems to find, if one has a guide. But with no guidance, we were rather underwhelmed by the availability of attractions that were easy to find for the tourist passing through. What did lift our spirits, however, was dinner at this small, hole-in-the-wall kind of restaurant with two employees and black and white tile floors where we had an amazing meal of fresh (and grilled) caprese salad, gnocchi/seafood pasta, and, of course, tiramisu. Unfortunately, neither of us can remember the name, so we will just have to do some more exploring if we ever find ourselves there again! All in all, we had a nice time in Milan exploring some fashion brands neither of us had ever heard of, as well as the wonderful meal, but it left something to be desired and thankfully, Nice picked up the slack.
After yet another multi-hour train ride, we finally made it into France. Riding in on the coastal train and passing through Monte Carlo was a great experience and offered some truly amazing views. Once we were settled into our next host’s home in Nice and getting some great tips from him, we hit the town to see what we could find. Although our original goal was the castle at the top of a large hill on the coast with some great views, sunset came sooner than we expected, so we settled (oh darn) for an appetizer of a traditional onion flatbread from Nice and drinks just off of the water. We then took to wandering through the winding streets of Nice’s old town where small restaurants and bars mingle with tourist shops and museums to create a truly unique atmosphere enhanced even more in the night hours. Having heard so much about it, we had to stop at what locals consider the best place for one of the regions most famous foods, Socca! If you picture a texture and thickness somewhere between cornbread and a pancake with the taste of butter, salt, and chickpeas, you’ve got yourself a conceptual understanding of socca. For just 3 Euro, we got an over piled plate of this wonderful food that more than filled us up, even if we still went back to try some fresh pizza and a fried fish pastry, just because it looked so good. With bellies full, we went back out through old town and wound up being invited off of the street into a student art exhibition in a beautiful old house in the middle of Nice where there were theatrical, musical, and other fine art performances on display, all for free after explaining to them in our rusty French from high school that we were students from Germany. We saw everything from a room-to-room play to people playing 16th and 17th century instruments in the appropriate attire and loved every minute of it! After a couple more hours of wandering and a very interesting apple beer at a small bar/brewery, we called it a night. The next day, the rain followed us from Milan, so our options for entertainment were greatly limited. We went back to the old town district, just to see it in the day time, and eventually took cover in Nice’s modern art museum which boasts one of the largest collections of important modern art that I have had the chance to see. We highly recommend it even if modern art isn’t necessarily your cup of tea! After a couple more hours of wandering and a bit more socca, we unfortunately had to say goodbye to Nice as our trek through France continued. I, for one, can’t wait to visit Nice again with “nicer” weather and some time on the beach.
Well that’s all for this week! Next stop, Aix-en-Provence / Marseilles!