Alice Twain |
Aug 27th, 2002 04:00 AM |
In Milano you might consider visiting the Museo della Scienza e della Tecnica (science and technology muesum), with rooms devoted to simple but fun experiments that a child can do and other rooms with working models of Leonardo Da Vinci machines. Also, you might take him to The castle's museums (free admittance), in particular to the part of the museum devoted to appliied arts and ancient armours and weapons. Another option is Museo Poldi Pezzoli, in particular the rooms on the lower floor with more applied arts collections (pocket watches, glasses, cutlery...). Museo di storia naturale (natural history museum) has been restructured in the late 1990s and is still a kid's favorite in Milano (check out fot the whale skeleton, I used to love it when I was a child). A nic open-air activity might be a walk in the Navigli district, while Giardini della Commenda are smaller but really lovely for both kids and grown-ups.<BR>I can't give you any precise irection about hotels for your almost 250 euro budget, but I suggest you to stay in the center of MIlano, maybe in a three.star hotel. From there you will be able to catch the train from Cadorna FNM railway station to Malpensa at 9 am and be in Malpensa at 10 am. There is more or less one train every half an hour, and the trip takes some 50 minutes. Yet Milano has more or less no "old city" like, for instance, Florence. The center of the city was heavily bombed as well as the outskirts and you will be finding ancient and old buildings interspaced with 1950s buildings all over the city.<BR>If you want to see something really old and very beautiful, go to Certosa di Garegano, an ancient and beautiful monastry in the otskirts of the city. You must take tram number 14 in via Torino (direction Cimitero Maggiore) and reach viale Certosa. Ask the conductor or driver to tell you as you arrive at via Garegnano. You wuill find yourself in the middle of an ugly modern area, but as you walk along tiny via Garegano, things will get better, and the Certosa is incredibly lovely. Than, as you walk out, there willl be again all the ugly buildings, but, alas, that's Milano!
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