A WEEKEND IN MILAN » DAY 1: IKEA WONDERLAND & D.I.Y. ICE CREAM

This trip didn't start in the best way.

Think about a fire, in the airport, the day before you have to leave. Think about waking up to a text from Easy Jet saying 'Sorry, but your flight has been delayed'. Think about having a Math test that morning and having to find a train asap spending twice as much as you paid for the flight.

Yeah, think about that.

So after this very relaxing start of the day me and Lisa hopped on a train right after school, headed to Milan. We were stressed, with no food and a little money, but you know how it is when you are with one of your best friends...

The first thing was the chicken. Not any chicken, but the chicken. We stopped at Eataly to grab some lunch and decided to try the rotisserie. The guy there recommended us this dish for two, 28€ euros in total, which he promised us wasn't going to be too much. Let me tell, it was too much. They called our names and we were greeted by this three floors riser, with half a chicken, four chicken wings, two pork ribs, two bacon wrapped chicken pieces, baked potatoes and salad. And our train was leaving in 30 minutes. And the waiter was a very good looking guy. Yeah, the best situation, uh?

Long story short we shuffled all we could in our mouth deciding to ignore the fact that for every piece of chicken we were gobbling a chance with the hot waiter was blowing, got a bag for the remaining half chicken and two wings and then sprinted to the train. Here we were, two and a half chicks and three wings, no big deal.

The journey was long and filled with laughter, cursing towards the wifi that wasn't working and moments spent dissimulating the fact that yes, we knew exactly were that chicken smell was from with the other passengers. We arrived in Milan at 6.30 pm, hopped on the subway, checked in at our hotel, went to the closest supermarket to get some essentials and then back to the hotel, dying on our beds. We were exhausted, but we were determined to go out that night. So we ate our cold half chicken with some tartar sauce we bought at the supermarket on our beds using plastic cups as plates, as you do, and then got all glammed up, put on some make up and a nice skirt and there we were on the subway again at 11,30 pm. Casual.

We went to Navigli, which is Milan coolest area to spend the evening. Obviously many young kids were there, all women wearing casual jeans and all the boys being super hipster. We were making our way to the canal when we stumbled upon this very cool clean design place, and, being both minimal lovers we stopped, and screamed with joy when we saw it was an Ikea temporary store. You may think 19 years old girls don't get excited for Ikea, but we do. A lot.

So we entered the store and were in awe. Woods, plants, a café and the classic Ikea smell greeted us, but the best was yet to come. Enter the kitchen of 2025. I'm talking about a prototype of the future kitchen, completely sustainable that does things like filtering water using plants or take advantage of the heat produced by the dishwasher to create a small greenhouse. The best part was this incredible multifunction table, that tells you what to cook with what you have and guides you through the recipe, charges your phone and takes screenshots of your notebook. We stood there with our mouths open for a good half an hour before we finally decided to leave, but I'm still completely amazed just by writing this down. The future is here, people!

Back to us, we were still walking towards the canal when oh hello place where you can make your own ice cream, yes, I'd like some please! I'm talking about being able to squeeze the ice cream from the thing and then top it with whatever you want, whatever I'm saying, no limits. It was good and not even that expensive, though we did struggled to finish it due to all the, ahem, chicken.

We then wandered around the canal for a while, commenting on everyone's outfits, worrying that we were too formal and being happy about our wild night, you know, with all the Ikea and ice-cream. We finished it with a ride on the most vintage and hipster tram I've ever seen. Wooden benches and glass lamps, 1.35 am. There was also a guy in a red cardigan and loafers who was air drumming so hard to the song that was blasting through his earphones.

Oh Milan, you so hipster.