A Milan Walkabout, Milan, Italy

Every big city has its share of impressive architectural highlights and interesting museums. Milan is certainly not an exception to that rule, even though I have always viewed it as not really a top sightseeing destination on its own. It does not boast a significant number of must-see sights, nor does it offer a great variety of pleasant walking routes or spaces to linger - the main criteria that I, in my infinite wisdom subjectivity, consider the hallmarks of a remarkable place to visit.

On the other hand, if you are looking to explore multiple destinations in Northern Italy on a single itinerary by either car or train, you can hardly find a better base than Milan. As my plans were precisely of that kind, I spent a little bit of time in Milan again in November - and even set aside a day to reacquaint myself with the city.

That day was pretty dreary weather-wise - ironically, the only such day of the entire trip - but I still made a pretty good circuit of both familiar points of interest, and some heretofore unexplored ones.

As seen in that opening shot, the grand piazza in front of the cathedral was in the process of being taken over by the preparations for Christmas festivities (the not-yet-lit tree) and the upcoming Olympic Games (the Visa Megastore pavilion). That forced me to stand much closer to the Duomo than usual for the customary full-frontal picture. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).