You'd Think I'd Learn

I mentioned I was tired, didn't I? Well, last night I crashed at 10pm – completely zonked out, dead to the world. I wanted to have a good rest before today, so I set the alarm for 8am in the hope I could be out the door before 9am.

At 9.30am, alarm long past, I finally decided it was time to get up. I felt a teeny bit guilty for such a crazy sleep in, but heck, I'm on holiday – and isn't this what holidays are for?

Anyway, after a leisurely hot shower, I eventually made my way out of the hotel by 10.30am and made my way back to Duomo for a proper day's sightseeing.

Something I forgot to mention yesterday was the weather: it's so nice here at the moment! I brought along one of my jackets with me as I was expecting it to be quite cold – this is what living in London will do to you. Instead, I've been able to wander around most of the time just in a tee-shirt, although I have needed to don my hoodie at nights.

The reason I bring this up is, despite the warmth, the sky had decided to follow me from London. It's been miserable and grey for the last few weeks (months? I can't keep track any more!), yet when I landed yesterday it was blue with only a smattering of clouds. Today, on the other hand, was grey and not so pleasant – a grim reminder of what I'd left behind for a week.

Rather than fret about it, I started snapping pictures of Duomo – despite the less than flattering light being cast. It's a fascinating looking building, with hundreds of spires along the roof covered in statues and other intricate carvings. I'd read that there were stairs up to the roof that offered stunning views of the city, so I set off to find the way up – and accidentally stumbled upon them first go.

There were only 160 or so steps (a piece of cake after St. Pauls!) and I'm pleased to say the views lived up to their reputation – although not in the way I think they were intended. Possibly because the sun wasn't out, or maybe it was the layer of haze sitting over the city, but the panorama wasn't quite as amazing as I'd hoped. Don't get me wrong, it's a very nice looking city, but the better views were much closer – being right up there with the stone carvings.

The walkways gave almost full access to the entire roof, including the very top where you could almost see 360 degrees around. While I was admiring the view, the sun finally poked its way through the clouds and, on the roof, provided some very striking lighting for the spires.

Having marked probably the biggest attraction on my list early, I took some time to decide where to head to next – the Castello Sforzesco, a giant red-brick castle in the heart of the city. I started walking up a road that looked like it went there, but after 15 minutes of walking it dawned on me I was going the wrong way. Confirming with my map, I headed back to where I started – stopping off at a local caffè for lunch.

Now heading in the right direction (evidenced by the fact I could see it in the distance), I took my time to enjoy the walk and take in the sights of the streets. Milan is, as you're probably aware, a super-trendy city – I think the locals can tell I'm not one of them from my clothes before I even open my mouth.

Arriving to an almost perfectly blue sky, I worked my way around the castle interior before buying a ticket to the museums that are housed there. Loads more statues, some amazing tapestries and even Michaelangelo's final, incomplete work were all on show, as well as a collection of Egyptian pieces. Annoyingly, I couldn't find the musical instrument museum, and by now it was around 5pm and not only was everything starting to close, but my legs were about to drop off.

After a couple hours rest back in the hotel, I was ready and hungry to hit the town again. Rather than stick to the same areas I'd already seen, I thought it'd be a good idea to head further out of the city centre for my meal. One of the guides mentioned Marghera street for a good pizza, so after a short underground ride I was wandering the streets deciding where to eat.

Despite stumbling into one place before it was open, I found a rather nice little place and ordered – and it was, I must admit, very good. Not the best pizza I've had in my life (and I've had quite a few!) but definitely up in the excellent category. With mains out of the way, it was finally time to sample some gelato!

The closest place was directly across the road, so I wandered in and bought a chocolate and white chocolate cone. As I brought it close to my mouth I took a smell – and recognised a familiar nutty smell. Oh crap, did I just order something with peanuts?

Given my recent near miss (and especially after I'd just finished documenting it two nights earlier), the very intelligent part of my brain decided I should have a tiny taste just to see what would happen. After waiting a minute or two to see if I had a reaction (all the while dripping chocolate on the ground), nothing had happened so I cautiously started into it. As amazing as it tasted, the smell was really off-putting as every bite reminded me of my brush with luck in Pamplona. As much as it killed me to do so, I decided not to risk it any more and dumped it in the bin.

Although I'd been keeping track of my breathing for the 20 minutes or so since I'd had my first taste with good results, it wasn't until I was sitting in the underground waiting for the train that I felt a bit of a tickle in my throat. Unbelievable, I can't believe I could be so stupid that this could happen to me again! Once again, I took every breath carefully to make sure my throat wasn't constricting, and so far so good – although I was feeling a bit of gunk in the back of my throat that wasn't there before. Nor did I need to cough. Oh good, here comes the panic right on time...

Now stuck on the train, I was at least relieved that my breathing didn't appear to be affected in any way, but it still took me no time at all to get back to my hotel room in close reach of my Epipen. Thankfully, by this time my throat had gone back to normal – the only thing I can think that happened is poor quality air in the underground, a reaction to the dairy in the gelato (I've been steering clear of dairy for a few weeks on advice from my personal trainer) and, the most likely culprit, an overactive imagination!

Still alive, I'm glad to say.

Tomorrow I'm catching the train to Venice and staying two nights there. I'm really looking forward to this, I've been eager to see this city for years – although I'd always hoped I wouldn't be on my own.