After settling in to the apartment, we headed off the central Milan, to take in the impressive Duomo. This is the world's 3rd largest Catholic church (after St Peter's in Rome and the cathedral in Seville), and the world's largest Gothic cathedral. We missed the last admission to see the interior by just a couple of minutes, but certainly took in the detailed Gothic/Baroque external architecture. The main marble front wall faces west, and in the late afternoon sun on the facade really is impressive. There are a lot of upmarket shops in the area, as well as the opera house, so we'll return before we leave to check things out here in more detail!
We had a meal at a nearby restaurant, sitting at an outside table taking in the world and then walked all the way back to the apartment. We appreciated the exercise and are proud that although we followed only a basic map, we didn't get lost despite the lack (at times) of obvious landmarks. Our initial impression of Milan is that it is not by any means an outwardly pretty city. True, there are some very interesting churches and other buildings, but these are frequently hemmed in and there seem to be few vistas or grand boulevards. However, it seems to have many pleasant areas and there is lots of "style"!
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