Milano

After our long weekend in the alps, myself and boyfriend number 1 headed down to Milan. Although we've been all over Italy together, we'd never been to Milan, so we spent several happy days there.

For a comprehensive list of gay venues in Milan, including those venues where one can find activities, visit the Arcigay di Milano website. On this trip however, I didn't visit any such venues. So for readers wanting a few random ideas for other things to do, here are GB's Three Top Tourism Tips for Milano:

• Walk all over the roof of the famous Duomo. Only 6 euros, and magnificent views of the surrounding area and of course the Duomo itself.



• Visit the Leonardo da Vinci National Museum for Science and Technology, another win for only 6 euros. There's lots of impressive stuff, including a huge old sailing ship which was dismantled and reassembled inside the museum, and a big shed of old steam trains. There's also a gallery dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci's weird and wonderful inventions. And in the basement, I found the following information about manual nail manufacture:

  An average blacksmith who's never made nails before, if he had to try for some reason, could make around 200-300 nails a day. But they wouldn't be particularly good quality nails. A blacksmith with some experience, but whose main job wasn't making nails, could make maybe 800-1000 nails a day. And even an expert blacksmith, who had spent his entire life dedicated to making nails, could only make 2300 nails a day.

  Well I thought it was fascinating anyway!



• Visit Peck, perhaps the best delicatessen in Milan. In the basement, they've got what is without doubt the best wine selection that I've ever seen for sale off the shelf. There's Chateau Petrus 1979, lots of first growth clarets including 2000's and other great vintages, magnums of 1st and 2nd growth clarets, 5 litre and 6 litre bottles of first growths from 1990 and other good years, bottles of de Vogue Musigny vieille vignes 2000 and other top Burgundy grand crus, Montrachet (if you like white burgundy), lots of Sassaicaia of course in bottles and up to 5 litre and 6 litre format, the only thing missing was DRC (maybe I just missed it)! It's interesting to see such an impressive selection, however I wouldn't advise buying the expensive stuff. Wine of this quality should be stored in in the dark, lying on its side in carefully controlled conditions, so I'd worry about what the effect of shop storage would be!

And yes, of course we went shopping too. All the designer brands have stores there, often big stores, so make sure you've got your credit cards with you!