Read More of My Italy Road Trip:
Introduction: Road Trip Though Italy
Italy Road Trip Day 1: Roaming Around Rome
Italy Road Trip Day 2: A Lunch to Remember
Italy Road Trip Day 3: Italian Happy Hour
Italy Road Trip Day 4: Weekend Respite in Milano
Italy Road Trip Day 5: Exploring Milan By Foot
Italy Road Trip Day 6: No Room at the Inn
The best way to know a city is to walk it.
Although I did not set up alarm, I found myself up at 8:00a and headed downstairs for breakfast. The dining room at the Park Hyatt is Milan is beautiful and I used the time alone for a leisurely breakfast and to catch up on the news the old fashioned way…with a newspaper.
This was the morning of the annual Milano Marathon, so the streets were not exactly quiet. But there was a certain calmness as I stepped off the marathon route and onto a peaceful side street. The architecture in Milan is lovely and I passed several restaurants setting out tables for the beautiful day ahead.
Wherever I am in the world, I make it a point to attend church on Sundays. This is not out of a sense of religious obligation, but because one of the joys of traveling for me is to experience corporate worship in new places with new people, all tied by a common Christian faith.
Although I am not Anglican by tradition, I find myself increasingly attending Anglican churches when I travel. You can count on Anglican liturgy to be similar wherever in the world you find yourself and while the sermon may or may not always be edifying, the whole of the service is helpful in my own faith journey.
While church should not be like a candy shop in which you choose only the flavors that suits you, there’s a reason there are so many denominations and sects within the three Abrahamic faiths. I often find “international” churches in large cities around the world to be on the contemporary and/or charismatic side, which is simply not my preference.
A visiting choir offered soul-inspired music.
Wherever you are in the world, church invariably ends with a coffee hour and a chance for fellowship. Not surprisingly based upon western religious demographics, there were several U.S. expats attending the church with whom I had nice conversations with.
But there were many Italians too, of course, including one who wanted to speak to me about President Trump. Oy…
This guy was like a walking encyclopedia and a huge fan of Roger Ailes, founder of Fox News. It made for an interesting conversation.
After church, I continued my walking tour, leisurely meandering my way back to the Park Hyatt.
Dubai or Milan?
An Award Expert client needed some urgent assistance, which took about an hour of my afternoon. After handling that, I headed downstairs for another workout before taking a short nap prior to dinner.
Argentinian Dinner
Per the recommendation of an Italian friend, we decided to go for Argentinian food in Milan called El Porteño. The steak was certainly exceptional, as were the sides and dessert, but the best part of the meal was the incredible baked provolone cheese to start (nuestra provoleta).
WOW, this was good!
I’m so glad I skipped lunch…
Back at the hotel, I prepared some documents for our meeting the following afternoon and went to bed early. I’d rate this as one of the most relaxing Sundays I’ve had in quite some time.
Awesome. Loving this report, and keep it coming!
Argentinian dinner in Milan? :(:(:(:(:(
Anglican services are nice but rather quiet and restrained. In Catholic Europe you should experience the ‘real’ thing.
BTW, are you sure the cow you ate for dinner was dead? Or was it simply completely raw? Dreadful.
Milan is a treasure ( their ridiculous football team aside).
Hi Paolo, I’m sorry to disappoint you with my dietary choices.
Hah! Giving gratuitous advice about dietary matters is one of my strong suits aka bad habits. I shall continue to monitor and proffer suggestions.
Flying to Milan next week for my birthday. First time there. That steak looks brilliant. Care to recommend that nice eatery? Highly appreciated.
Silly me. Just saw that the name is all there. I guess i was just fixated on the pictures of food.
Here are some of my favorites in Milan:
Ristorante Il Delfino – Via Gran Sasso, 26
Valentino Legend – Via Agnelo, 8
Trattoria Mirta – Piazza San Materno, 12
Antica Trattoria Monlue – Via Monlue, 75
Ceresio 7 – Via Ceresio, 7
L’Uccellina – Corso Magenta, 96
La Locanda del Gatto Rosso – Via Ugo Foscolo, 3
Pizzeria Maruzzella – Piazza Guglielmo Oberdan, 3
Thank you very much. I’ll try some of those.
Thanks for sharing your day events with us. The only requirement I have when attending a congregation is that the word of God be taught as written and how it has changed the life of the speaker.
I like that you attend services each Sunday no matter where you find yourself that day. It is our reasonable service to Him.
We also attend Mass on our travels. It’s often the highlight of our visits. In Milan, we attended Mass at the Duomo.