Weekend in Milan

Back in May Alessio and I went to Milan for a weekend with a group of friends as a birthday celebration for Arlene. As I had not been to Milan for a long time we tried to explore some new areas, but first of all we went to see the famous cathedral. It is a very impressive cathedral and one of the largest in the world. It is called Santa Maria Nascente but the Milanese just call it "il Duomo". Afterwards we strolled inside the Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle II which is also quite impressive with lots of cafes and luxury shops. We had a small bite to eat on a rooftop with the cathedral as a view!

In the evening we went to the canal areas which was full of bars, restaurants, shops and galleries all open. This is one of the busy nightlife areas for the Milanese, we strolled around looking at the shops, jewelry stalls. We found a restaurant which was called L´altro Luca e Andrea, which is funnily enough the names of Alessio`s uncle and aunt! We returned to this area in the morning/afternoon as we wanted to see it in daylight. It is a very interesting area and there is lots and lots of street art to see.

Then we visited the Prada Foundation/Bar Luce later on in the afternoon, which I already did a post about it. It was a lovely weekend away with friends!

My parents left today back to Scotland after there usual two weeks in Switzerland. Alessio will be playing football on Saturday and then we will be packing his suitcase as he has a school camp in the Ticino, next week. He is looking forward to this a lot!

Have a great weekend!

Great Bernera, Scalpay and Eriskay Islands in the Outer Hebrides

Great Bernera

Scalpay

Eriskay

During our trip to the Western Isles we managed to visit 8 islands, and 3 of them were rather small and we only stopped for a small amount of time.

The first was Great Bernera, linked to Isle of Lewis by a bridge we went to see the Iron Age Village at Bosta. We also stopped to walk a little on the beach and collect shells and stones.

The second island was called Scalpay which is connected to Harris by a single track bridge. We did not stay that long as it was raining really hard. We made a short walk to see the Eilean Glass lighthouse and saw it from a far and returned to the car.

The final island was Eriskay which is connected to South Uist by a causeway. It is famous for a few things one being that it is the island which the film Whisky Galore is based on. The ship SS Politician sank off the north east coast of Eriskay with its cargo of 28,000 cases of malt whisky. Much of the cargo was salvaged by the inhabitants. And one of its beaches is where Bonnie Prince Charlie first set foot of Scottish soil on 20th July 1745.

I enjoyed visiting all the these islands and would have liked to have visited more. That will have to be on another visit now!

365 Photo Challenge Days 265 to 276

Day 265: Saturday 1st July - My tickets for the Lumineers

Day 266: Sunday 2nd July - In Zurich walking around

Day 267: Monday 3rd July - Flowers blooming in the garden

Day 268: Tuesday 4th July - Pictures made by Alessio

Day 269: Wednesday 5th July - Bought in Giverny

Day 270: Thursday 6th July - A view of Zurich

Day 271: Friday 7th July - Alessio the dude!

Day 272: Saturday 8th July - In Montreux

Day 273: Sunday 9th July - More of Zurich

Day 274: Monday 10th July - Gifts from the parents

Day 275: Tuesday 11th July - Travel mags

Day 276: Wednesday 12th July - Watching reruns of ER

The weekend went by quite fast, my parents arrived and on sunday we celebrated Alessio`s 11th birthday. In the morning it was all a family affair and in the evening some of my friends stopped by and we were able to grill. The party with his friends was cancelled as the weather was supposed to by crap. It will take place tomorrow afternoon and hopefully better weather!

Have a great week!

Suomenlinna, Finland

For one of the long weekends we had this year I went to Helsinki with Hannah and Riikka and one of the places we visited was the Suomenlinna.

Suomenlinna is a sea fortress built on a group of islands very near to Helsinki, it was built in the Swedish era from 1748 onwards. In 1808 it came into control of the Russians which is stayed until 1917 when it became Finnish. Here is more information about the place.

It is an UNESCO World Heritage Site and it open all year round. It is easily got to by ferry from Helsinki and is a very pleasant day trip or half a day trip. There are lots of buildings, places to eat, museums and some shops. We walked around for a few hours and it was really the only day that was sunny!!

This weekend will be quite busy as my parents arrive for their annual holiday, Alessio has probably a football match and on Sunday it is his birthday. We had to cancel the party as we planned to have it at the badi (public swimming area) as the weather has turned a bit coolish. Anyway it is on again next Wednesday when there will be better weather.

Have a great weekend!