Obviously being a historical city, Milan totally blew us away. We LOVED it! We tend to enjoy smaller, less touristy cities better, and even though Milan definitely did not fit that mold (it was basically a big crowded city), we definitely enjoyed seeing so many of the amazing things in this city.
Mara took us to the train and we rode it into the Milan train station. (We’re not sure who was on the train before us, but the train sort of had a smell which reminded us of the smell that accompanied people who had spent too much time on Mount Kilimanjaro, going months without a bath (probably like us on day 8 of the climb). Stinky doesn’t begin to describe it, but I digress…)
We got off the train in this phenomenally large train station. There was an odd art exhibit outside of the Milan train station, which we didn’t take any pictures of, and I don’t know if it will still be there when you go, but definitely go to the courtyard outside of the train station.
From there, we caught the subway to the Milan cathedral, which was just amazing. Carrie and I have both seen a fair number of cathedrals, but both of us agreed that this Milan’s cathedral was of the most amazing. We primarily loved the cathedral for the stained glass windows, which we both took LOTS of pictures of.
WE SEE DEAD PEOPLE
One of the more amazing, as well as disturbing, portions of the cathedral are the altars that are dedicated to saints. This isn’t out of the ordinary in Catholic cathedrals, but was the first time that either of us had seen hermetically sealed glass caskets where you can look in at the actual physical remains of the saint that the altar is dedicated to. While it does create an environment of respect and reverence, it simultaneously creates an atmosphere that is imposing and foreboding, and could easily give little children nightmares.

If anyone else has been there, we would love to know how this caused you to feel… for us it was a weird mix of feelings that was created by seeing the actual remains entombed in an altar.
After leaving the cathedral, we went to the side door, which lets you go to the roof. Probably the most photogenic location of our honeymoon, we took a lot of pictures from and on the roof.
Here are a few of our favorites.
It costs 4-5 Euros to go to the top of the Milan Cathedral, but give yourself about 30 minutes (and a willingness to climb a whole bunch of steps) and it’s completely worth going.
From there, we walked to the Milan castle, which was closing, but we still got to walk through it. It was built very much in the style you would imagine a medieval castle to be built in – huge block walls and wide open courtyards – Carrie and I decided that when we build our castle, it will only need to be about 1/8th the size of Milan’s castle, and might have some similar features as what we saw there in Milan.
Mara was again SO much fun to hang out with, and we’d be much remiss not to thank her for taking so much time out from everything she had going on to spend time with us and help get us everywhere in northern Italy. We just had such an awesome and fun day, which wrapped up with Bellini’s and Gelato at a caf