Having made it through an imaginary crisis in Jordan hours earlier, I arrived in Milan in a less than ideal frame of mind, so I am convinced that the Italian sunlight has some sort of magical power to melt away bad moods because I felt better almost immediately in Milan.

Driving into the city, I noticed a distinct lack of people on the streets. My hostel host later informed me that in fact, at the end of August, everyone and their mother packs up and heads for the coast to escape the heat of the city. The quiet of the city was surreal; it was as if I had the whole place to myself. Me and handful of other people wandered by the Duomo cathedral crowned with plentiful spires and statues, the gorgeous Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping plaza lined with Prada, Louis Vuitton, and a distinctly out of place McDonald’s restaurant, trattorias along the Canal with stone oven baked pizzas, and dipped our feet into the fountain by the Sforzesco Castello:

the Duomo Cathedral

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

In contrast to the beautiful architecture and fancypants shopping of Milan were those residents left behind from the beach vacations and those who stayed in town to service tourists like me who have come to Milan when the city is essentially closed for business.

Street hawkers