Milano, Italia

Another early morning flight and we were in Milan before lunch.  After each having a pizza, we checked out the Castello Sforzesco which was located right by our hotel.  The castle was built in the 15th century and the Duke of Milan used to live there.  Unfortunately, there were tons of men trying to sell us bracelets and Molly was like a deer in headlights....just watching as one of the guys tied one around her wrist (and the bracelet is STILL on her wrist - in October!).  Once through the castle, it opens up into the Parco Sempione where Napoleon built the Arco della Pace (Peace Arch) in 1807 and is a scaled down version of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

We headed towards La Scala (the opera house) which was built in 1778 and made our way over to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II which is the most popular shopping arcade in Milan.  It is right next to the Duomo but held our attention for a few hours as designer shops (Gucci, Prada, LV) line the entire arcade.  After a lot of window shopping only, we made our way over to the Duomo (Milan's Cathedral) which was contstructed in the 14th century and where Napoleon was at one point crowned King of Italy.  The Duomo is such an impressive building inside and out and is very much a Gothic-style cathedral. It is so detailed and grand and is the 4th largest cathedral in the world.  We went up to the roof that has great views of Milan and overlooks the Piazzo del Duomo. 

After the Duomo, we headed towards the Basilica di San Ambrogio which was built in 379-386 (we couldn't get over that!).  The skelatal remains of saints Ambrose, Gervasius and Protasius are all housed in the crypts below.  We also stopped by Santa Maria della Grazie but unfortunately, we did not buy tickets far enough in advance to get in to see Da Vinci's "The Last Supper".  We were definitely disappointed so we decided to head to another one of Italy's great restaurants and eat and drink our way through lunch (Matt claims it was the best lasagna he's ever had - sorry Mrs. G.!) before heading back to London!

Davos, Switzerland

Unfortunately, Matt's birthday got pushed aside due to the NBA's London Games but we did get a chance to go away for a 4-day weekend skiing in Switzerland...and judging the above picture, I don't think he can really complain! We flew into Zurich and took a beautiful train ride into Davos.  Davos is divided into two parts - Davos Dorf and Davos Platz.  We chose to stay in Davos Dorf which is the smaller of the two and which proved to be just fine for us as our favorite restaurant (Paulener's) was right outside of our hotel and so were the ski lifts to the top of the mountain.

Neither of us had ever skied the Alps so we got up early the next day to take advantage of the gorgeous weather.  We got to the top of the mountain and Molly took one look at the sign, "Weissfluhjoch 2663 meters".  Not one who is quick to convert the metric system, she became panicked when she realized that was equivalent to 8,736 FEET! (thanks Google!)  Matt kept telling her it was ok to take the lift back down but when she saw a 4 year old jump off and head down the mountain, she got the courage to go down too (albeit mostly on her butt!).  At one point, two Germans helped her up and asked, "why are you skiing alone if you're a beginner?" (the beginner thing was quite obvious)  To which she had to answer that her boyfriend was far ahead taking pictures of her falling down.  Don't think that translated well....

After a few runs (Matt had a few more than Mols), we retired to one of the best places either of us had ever been to in our lives - a bar overlooking the Alps.  After a few Erdingers, we headed back home for a nap!  The next day, Matt skied again while Molly met him at the top of the mountain for lunch.  The views were amazing.  Our final day there, we both decided to walk into Davos Platz instead of skiing again.  We had terrific weather and were just so impressed with how beautiful everything was there.  We definitely wish the Alps could be our destination every winter from now on!

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