My impressions of Milan

Things I like about living in Milan

The compactness of the city: I can walk to work if I wish. In fact, I do so most days. It takes 40 minutes, but I like the exercise. If I decide to take the tram due to bad weather or some other reason it takes me 20 minutes. I never lived this close to my work in London.
Also, because it's easy to live quite close to the centre since the place is so compact. I live about 15 minutes walk from the Duomo. To get to Linate Airport I can walk to San Babila and take a 20 minute bus journey to the airport. If I'm going to Malpensa it's a 15 minute walk to Cadorna station for the Malpensa Express. Most of the other activities I do are within walking distance too.

The public transportation system: Milan has buses, trams and a metro system, as well as their answer to Boris Bikes, a Radio Bus and Taxis. I haven't taken the public transport that much, but when I have done it was pretty efficient. Also it's not as expensive as London. I ususally by a carnet of 10 tickets for 13 euros and it takes about 2 weeks for me to get through them.

 There's always something going on! I guess that's what you would expect in a major city. The good thing is the activities are within easy reach of home, since the place is quite compact. I have joined a book club where we read novels written in Engish and discuss. There are cycling groups (which I haven't been to yet), there are running races, and I have even been to a knitting crochet group. Last week was Milan Design Week so the worlds designers descended on the place and it gave the town a feelgood uber stylish aspect. There were lots of social gatherings, and sound systems etc and people giving away mini freebies. And I never actually went to these do's. They are what I came across on my way home! You never get bored in Milan!

Milan is a hub city: People always say that. Milan is considered as a working city. Most people who are there - Italians or foreigners are there for the work opportunities. Very few people are actual born and bred Milanese. It also seems that people's preference is to live in Milan during the week, and then escape from the place at weekends. It's central location means that it is easy to get to other parts of Italy by train or plane quite easily, and it is also easy to get to other European destinations. Many people just go up to the nearby mountains and lakes around Varese or Lake Como. I haven't yet been to these places, but I have managed to head south to Pavia, as well as the nearby quaint towns of Abbiategrasso and Vigevano on my bike. They were all pleasant days out away from the city.

The Navigli: These are the canals around Milan.In bygone days the city was very dependent on the canals for trade etc, but now they are pretty much disused and some of them are there now for leisure/ecological value. Near me are the Naviglio Grande and Naviglio Pavese. These two navigli are also quite fashionable areas for going out - they are probably on a par with say, Old Street in London, or Bastille, in Paris. ie they were a bit industrial and working class previously, but old warehouses etc are being converted into arty shops and trendy bars. Lots of people hang out there on any night of the week.
I take my early morning exercise along the Naviglio Grande - either a run as far as the city limit of Milan, or a bike ride into the suburbs. On a weekend I go all the way along to Abbiategrasso, then take the Naviglio Bereguardo down to Pavia and then return to Milan via the Naviglio Pavese. That whole circuit is 50 miles, so it's good old work out. As it's pan flat it's not a hard 50 miles - a good warm up before tackling the mountains!
In the future I hope to follow the Naviglio Grande right to the end - to Sesto Calende, on the edge of Lake Maggiore. There is also the Naviglio Martesana which heads north-west towards Lecco via Gorgonzola. These canal paths make for pleasant traffic ways to explore the immediate area around Milan.


Things I don't like about Milan

Shabbiness and scruffiness: Maybe all Italian cities are like that but either I didn't take any notice because I was too busy enjoying the fun touristic things, or maybe Milan is particularly scruffy. There definitel seems to be more graffitti on the walls than I have seen in any town in Milan. In fact there seems to be more graffitti than even the roughest neighbourhoods of London!
I always used to think that Italians were not big smokers. If they aren't then they become big smokers when they arrive in Milan! There are always cigarette ends on the ground everywhere - so much that it just makes the place look so scruffy. Even the area around the Duomo is not that great. Then there is lots of other rubbish and forms of litter. The irony is you are always seeing dustcarts cleaning up the place, and people cleaning the pavement outside their properties, but it doesn't make much differenc!

Queuing: Or rather, the lack of it. When getting on a bus or other form of transport, nobody queues. It's just a case of piling on, every man and woman for themselves and with no regard for letting women or old people on first. They don't even let passengers off the transport first before climbing on. The same applies in a shop. If someone pushes in front of you, it's your problem. You have to summon the courage to square up to them and hold your position - not always easy to do, and of course being British you don't want to cause a scene over something relatively petty! (Occasionally, I have had to do so though!)
In an attempt to instil a queuing mentality, alot of shops, banks, cafes etc have a ticketing system where you pick up a ticket with your number and wait until our number is called before you get served. That's all fairly organised and people adhere to the system which is even very helpful. So now you get overkill of queuing. I went into a shop to look at mobile phones and even at the door to the shop a man asked me what I wanted to look at - data plans or phone calls only. He then issued me with the appropriate ticket and told me to queue in a particular space. Basically I couldn't go into the shop and browse. I had to pick up a number and queue, just to look at a options! The same goes in a bank, and even when buying a coffee and a sandwich. One place to queue up for your coffee, one place to get your sandwich and another place to pay! All very stilted and tedious, but I guess if that's what they do to stop Italians surging forward like animals then so be it. It's a shame that common politeness and descency can't just prevail.

Food is expensive: Or maybe I've been going to the wrong shops. I have been to a few supermarkets. All of them were tedious experiences as I couldn't find anything I liked, and the few things I did buy I ended up queuing for ages at the check-out. Most of the tills were unattended, and there was just one women having to deal with a queue of more than 10 people. And for all my trouble, the shopping bill still came out about 20-25% more than what I'd pay in London. Cereal is not less that 3euros 50 for a 375g box, compared with about £2 for one of the cheaper boxes of cereal in London. There is alot more choice in a Tesco supermarket than what you get in Milan. They don't seem to have any large supermarket chains like what you get in the UK. Britons are spoilt. In Milan we have to content ourselves with a chain called PAM and then some other small stores. There is a big Carrefour on the outskirts of the city, which will probably be good as this French chain of supermarkets is the 2nd biggest in the world and operate like Tesco - but bigger! That's a bit far for me to go to, so I think I will try the only Carrefour Local I have seen in Milan. It is 15 mins walk from me. I probably pass about 5 Italian supermarkets to get there, but I think it will be worthwhile and the quality and prices may be better. I must admit I have not tried the market yet. There is a bit twice-weekly one at Viale Papanaio, near me. People say the fruit and veg are good, so maybe I will try it. Maybe that's where I've been going wrong. Supermarkets are so 1970s - and when you go into one you will see that it is like stepping back in time!