We left Florence around 3 p.m. and quite the incident at the train station. We seemed to have lost our tickets! After talking to maybe 17 people, we were finally able to board. The train ride to Milan was pretty awesome, very beautiful! When we got to Milan, it immediately started raining as we left the train station to walk to our hotel, great timing. Our first night in Milan, we went to see Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper at the Cenacolo Vinciano. This fresco (well it's debated over whether it's actually a fresco or a painting) is famous for not only it's awe-inspiring beauty, but also for the provoking nature of the work. This depiction of the interaction between Christ and his disciples at the Last Supper shows the moment when Christ tells shares that one of them will betray him. You can identify feelings and expressions of confusion, angst, sadness and anger among the disciples and sense Christ's somber recognition of what is soon to come. This is also the source of Dan Brown's oh so wonderful Da Vinci Code….sorry, not a fan.

Our second day in Milan, we took the train to Lake Como. Como is at the foothills of the Alps, and it was absolutely gorgeous. A quaint sort of small town, Como was essentially exactly how I have always imagined Italian cities/towns. They had their Duomo, and being right on the water, I could see all of the little villas spotting the hills. We took a hydrofoil boat from Como to Bellagio.

By the water in Como

Street in Como, too cute

Now scratch what I said earlier, this was the ideal Italian city. I wish I had words to describe the beauty. We walked through the town a little bit and then proceeded to walk through some beautiful botanical gardens for about an hour. Everything was so green! And there were signs in like 12 languages saying not to step on the grass, so of course I had to for just a second. After the gardens, we went back through the town and did a little bit of shopping. And of course, more gelato. Fat. After taking the train back to Milan, we had dinner with a friend of mine who had been studying in Milan for a semester.

Bellagio

FASHION CENTRAL! So our last morning in Milan, we headed to the fashion district where I very happily admired window displays and purchased nothing :) It was really cool to see all of the designer stores, but I honestly think seeing the cars in this area was the coolest part. Yes, I will take a Carolina blue Ferrari with my $8,000 Ferragamo scarf, thank you. When we finished our putzing around the fashion district, we headed back to the hotel to get ready to leave for Venice.