Milan and Lucerne 2018

Wednesday Sept 12th - Arrive in Milan

We arrived in Milan after our overnight flight from JFK. I slept maybe two hours. It was not restful. We then took the train from the airport to Milan Central, it's about a 45 minute ride. Our hotel, the NYX Milan, was about a block away so it was an easy walk. We checked in about 2:30pm and shortly after I laid down...I slept for 14 hours and it was amazing. At some point Marcus tried to wake me up for dinner but we were both zombies so he went out and got us McDonald's because they do gluten free in most of Europe. I can't tell you much about the hotel except that it had blackout curtains.

Thursday Sept 13th - Milan and Lucerne

Marcus had kept checking in the days leading up to our trip to see if we could get tickets for The Last Supper, and one day he lucked out. We had the 8:20AM ticket and our train to Lucerne was at 10:15AM. So we got up and took the metro to the station nearest to the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie. I stopped at a cafe for a Cappuccino and it was like velvet and was the perfect drinkable temperature. Delicious. We were the first group of the day to see The Last Supper. You can take photos with no flash. It was amazing. 

After looking at the painting, you get 15 minutes in the room, and another painting by a Milanese artist, The Crucifixion, we took the metro back to our hotel, had a quick and tasty breakfast, got our bags, and went want to Milan Central for our train to Lucerne, which I have ewanted to go back to ever since I was there when I was 13, it was the most beautiful place I had ever been. 

We arrived in Lucerne about 1:45PM. Marcus got the rental car and we went to a place that had gluten free pizza for lunch. 

Then we went to our hotel, Château Gütsch.

Panorama from our room on the third floor.

On our balcony

Next we took the funicular down into town. 

We walked around and then it started to rain, so we found an Irish pub, in it was this amusing sign, the second line says "no wedding parties" I asked about it, they do not allow stag or hen parties (bachelor or bachelorette parties) in the pub. 

Then we met our friends for dinner. It was a fondue dinner with a show. The kids loved it. It was kind of loud for me. 

On the way back to the hotel I stopped at a shisha bar. Very chill, and what I needed. 

Friday Sept 14th - Lucerne

After breakfast Marcus and I went to Glasi Hergiswel. It is a glass blowing factory. It had a neat museum that explained the history of glass and glass blowing, and then you can watch the gents down in the factory. 

Some were making bowls, some an appetizer chip-dip-like bowl, and some were making vases. It was neat to watch. 

Then I blew my own glass. 

It is an ornament, this is the finished product after 20 minutes of cooling. 

They also have a glass labyrinth that you can go in and you try to find your way out. Marcus found his way out but I was in there for about 5 more minutes than him and I ended up finding the entrance door again. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I was the only person in there and they have strobe and disco lighting going on to confuse you even more. 

Then we went back to the hotel and in to town to meet our friends for lunch and walk around the city for the rest of the afternoon.

Kapellbrücke

Organ inside the Jesuitenkirche (Jesuit Church)

Altar in the Jesuitenkirche (Jesuit Church)

We had to make a stop at the beautiful and sad Löwendenkmal (Lion Monument), which commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution.

Saturday Sept 15th - Lucerne

This day was just Me and Marcus as our friends left that morning. We first went to the
Verkehrshaus der Schweiz (Swiss Transport Museum). IT WAS AWESOME, they have trains, autos, bicycles, boats, planes, helicopters, spacecraft and so much more. They even have an air traffic control area. The flight simulator was awesome and we basically did a bunch of barrel rolls. There was also the 'space transformer' which simulates the disorientation of space. I could have spent all day there but we had lots of things to do. Here are some photos from the museum.

They also happened to be hosting some classic car competition. It was neat and Marcus took a bunch of photos.

After the museum we drove to the Pilatus and were going to take the Cogswheel up but it was more than 70 USD a person, and I just think that is ludicrous for a train ride up a mountain for a view...so instead we went for lunch where a miscommunication lead to us ordering fish and not steak...oh well, live and learn, and then drove to the Meggenhorn Castle and wandered around there. It had greats views, vineyards, and a beautiful chapel that I really wished was open to the public.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped at the Museggmauer (Musegg Wall) which is the rampart walls of the old city, four of the remaining towers are open to the public.

Crazy spider web

Zyt Tower - oldest city clock

Then it was back to the hotel for a cocktail, and then back into town to wander some more and have dinner. We were able to get our steak, and it was delicious.

Hotel Bar

MJ?

Kapellbrueke at night

That building in the middle is our hotel

 Then we stopped back in the hotel bar for a nightcap and went to bed. 

Sunday Sept 16th - Lucerne to Milan

Woke up and sat out on the balcony for a while listening to music. Took this photo of the Museggmauer.

I also took this video.

Then it was time for breakfast and then off to the train station for our 12:18PM train to Milan. Some guy was sitting in Marcus's seat and he tried to tell him in German but basically the guy didn't GAF and would not move. Luckily there were some other free seats nearby. I hate people sometimes. I stared out the window the whole time and enjoyed the views. 

We got to Milan at 1:45ish and decided we'd walk to the hotel, ME Milan il Duca...I kind of regret it. My suitcase is on its way out. 

After lounging for a while and watching Netflix, we went to find a restaurant and walked around the same building three times without avail, so we went to a different place, Ò Peperino e Milano. It had gluten free Peroni!

They also had all sorts of gluten free pasta, pizza, desserts and pagnottielli (a Neapolitan sandwhich). I had one of the pagnottiellis with sausage and mozzarella and rapini. SOOOOO GOOOOODDDD. I wanted cheesecake but I couldn't eat any more. 

Then we walked around the area and found some cool fountains. 

Monday Sept 17th - Milan

We woke up and headed to the Duomo, mass was taking place, but since it was in Italian I wasn't sure what they were saying, but I recognized the Lord's Prayer. We wandered around for about an hour, there are so many things to see. It was very pretty. I had Marcus be the photographer so I could just enjoy, here are some photos but there are so many more, check Facebook or email me if you want to see them all. 

Then we went to the archeological site.

Then we climbed to the roof, cool things up there.

Then we found an incredibly clean reflection of ourselves.

We went to go driving shoe shopping for Marcus but I was hungry and not being nice, so took the metro and walked over to the GluFree Bakery 

The cream puff was fabulous, the croissant was okay, I asked "is that chocolate?" and they said yes, but what I should have said is "is that Nutella?" because it was and I don't like Nutella, so I ate around the filling. We then resumed shopping and Marcus got some shoes. I wanted to go back to the Santa Maria delle Grazie and the cafe near it that had supplied me with the best cappuccino that I had had the entire trip, and I had severallllll. We went and it was still really good, but the guy who made it the one morning was doing something else, and the guy that made these wasn't as skilled. We walked to the church but visiting hours exclude 12:55PM-3PM and it was 2PM...so we went back to the hotel. 

We went to the rooftop bar for a drink and some snacks, someone came in at one point and the staff was super excited and people started asking him for photos, it was apparently a retired Italian soccer player. Later we went to another place with a bunch of gluten free stuff, I had another Peroni, bruschetta, and penne all'amatriciana. It was delicious. Then we went to go see the Duomo at night lit up. We left the next morning.

Megan