Padua, Milano, Como, Lugano

I can't wrap my head around how much running around I ended up doing this weekend. I was pretty much non stop from Friday morning at 7 am until the stroke of midnight on Sunday.

Friday morning I met my art and architecture class at the train station for a field trip to Padua, or Padova. The city itself really caught me by surprise, or maybe its just because Venice is so unreal

Basilica San Antonio- built in the 13th century

Shrine to St Anthony- the saint for finding lost things or people

5 million people visit every year making it one of the most visited churches in the world

Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel- certainly the most impressive set of frescos I've ever seen. Visitors are only allowed inside 15 minutes at a time in small groups and aren't allowed to take pictures...oh well

Saturday 

After a pleasant 2 hour and 45 minute train ride 3 friends and I arrived in Milan.

Although there wasn't a ton to do aside from window-shopping, we really loved the city. Everything was so “modern,” compared to Venice, Rome etc. It actually reminded me more of Paris than any Italian city 

Duomo Di Milano- 5th largest cathedral in the world 

Parco Sempione

Lauren and I got a little adventurous 

Lake Como

Another short train ride Saturday night brought us to Lake Como. Unfortunately it was dark when we arrived so we didn't get much of a view of the lake until the next day.

We woke up at 6:15 to watch the sunrise. Worth it.

Funicolare that brought us to Brunate-715 m mountain

 Made my list of favorite spots in the world

those Alps though...

A view well worth the hike

Lugano, Switzerland

After our hike in Como, Lauren, Heather, Marina and I crossed the border to Switzerland for some over-priced lunch in the sun and some wandering around 

 photo credit to Heather 

Lauren, Marina and I

Most importantly- managed to find some green Irish beer on St Patricks day!