TRAVEL — Lauren Mossberg

Wed Dec 27

I landed on the short flight from Brussels and grabbed an Uber to my hotel, the Straf. After a quick shower I was off to Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. First stop, Prada! I had my eye on a new pair of sunnies. Then I popped into Marchesi 1824 just to see what kinds of sweets they had.

I was really hungry so I waited for a table at La Locanda del Gatto Rosso. There was a line outside, but I only waited for 5-10 minutes, likely because I was a small party. I got the bruschetta, carbonara, and a doppio espresso.

I went back to the hotel to use the spa downstairs, then I took a long shower. I left around dusk and walked to see the Duomo di Milano and the Piazza del Duomo. It was swimming with tourists. I skirted out as briskly as I could and walked to Bar Basso, where I knew I could get a good negroni. Turns out, they closed for the holidays, but the website had no mention of it.

I walked into the Ferrari Flagship Store next to the hotel to check out the merch. Then I scoped out the Lavazza Flagship Store for my morning coffee. When I was hungry, I sat down at Salsamenteria di Parma for dinner. I ordered a mozzarella and prosciutto starter followed by the lasagna, and both were phenomenal.

Thu Dec 28

I started the morning with coffee from the Lavazza Flagship. Then once my friends Jill and Trey arrived, we were off to sightsee!

First was the Duomo di Milano, where we had tickets to climb the towers. The view was lovely, despite the wintery grey skies.

After all of those stairs, we were hungry. I used Google Maps to search for sandwiches and All'Antico Vinaio popped up. We waited in line with probably 50 people and it was well worth the wait.

Then we walked to Santa Maria delle Grazie for our tour of The Last Supper and The Crucifixion. It was interesting to learn about all of the conservation that’s been done because of the fading paint.

We walked through a park to Arco della Pace, then to Cinc for a couple drinks. Then we ubered to the Naviglio Grande area. We sat down and to dinner at Vetusta Insigna after reviewing the menu. We shared a handful of dishes, each of which were delicious. We capped that with Gelateria Orso Bianco right around the corner.

Fri Dec 29

After coffee at the Lavazza Flagship, we left for our series of trains: first to Tirano, then the scenic train to Switzerland, and then one more to Zurich.