First stop Milan. Milan is 2,600 years old. Ranked with Paris and London in Fashion and culture. The cathedral is extremely poky, but the detail was obviously worked on by tradesman who had traces of ADHD, as each little detail on each square yard of the marble building was minute and perfect. For instance, the manger scene I included is just one of the many scenes on one of the four doors in the front. Honestly a little much Milan. Gave me a headache. It was built by the prestigious Visconti family in 1386. Literally to make a statement of their ambition. And what an ambition it must have been.

The town hosts the world’s oldest shopping mall, and then miles and miles of stores line the cobblestone streets in the blocks around it. I could have spent several days as well as thousands in the place. Actually, I got so caught up in the fashions that I missed my calamari meal with the boys. And the random shoe store, who even puts shoes strings on their entire ceiling, and who was I not to buy shoes there.

The archway was an original entrance to the city in medieval times. meanwhile we are driving a hybrid car past it in 2026. What's sci-fi if that’s not.

Milan played a crazy role in World War two and took the brunt of allied bombers. Supposedly they stacked sandbags around the wall containing leonardo’s last supper to preserve it. Here’s some pictures of the ruins.

At the end, Milan was actually ruled by parties that were against Germany. Mussolini and his mistress were arrested and killed by Lake Como and their corpses were hung upside down in the square, as a symbol against fascism.

Leaning tower of Piza diffidently tends to make a boy nervous. She sure is leaning due east. The funniest part to me is they started compensating when they saw it leaning, so the tower literally curves back. Meaning some levels have pillars longer than others. It was a known lookout for the Germans in the war, and the allies were going to destroy it. We owe its existence to one unnamed officer who refused to destroy the work of art.

We then got to the lookout over Florence as the sun went down. Supposedly Florence is known for art. Rome’s history, and Venice then claims the beauty title. I’d say Florence is competing for homecoming queen.

The mountains were beautiful, there’s no doubt about it. but the culture & character of this place impacts me as much or more. I think it might be the lights from the bridges in the clear waters that kayakers slice through, or the sun glinting off the golden ball perched on the tip of the cathedral. So many little details and lights and vibes all packed into one picture. As the sun went down the cathedral slowly lit up as if glow in the dark.

We then had a wild time finding our air bnb. I thought Paris had cool streets. Florence just passed it on my list. I was driving the car down brick streets whose sides contained glass front store windows displaying the worlds best fashion and food. The streets aren’t made for cars, but people. Which makes navigation a little cumbersome. Every street looks the same, and one seems to think he can remember stuff better than he can. Yeah, we were a little lost. And looked a little dubious to, inserting keys into random tall wooden doors along the street. We did find it though. It is sitting on one of these beautiful little streets. And i’m sitting in the window writing this While the restaurants workers shut off lights and haul out trash .

Day Number 5 (Halfway)

Day Number 6+7

Day Number 4