Out of competition or Swiss - Italian perfection (Part 4)
Fifth day : Italy.
We are on the Ligurian coast, 30 km. from the city of Genoa, in the resort town of Arenzano.
The city greeted us with the sun, the cries of seagulls, the sound of the sea and a stunning dawn! 
Well, finally, you don’t have to go anywhere and only the sea, palm trees, delicious ice cream, fragolino, vermentino, and what else is there to relax on the Italian Riviera.
We were lucky with the weather, it was a velvet season, air temperature +30, water temperature +25. You can walk to the beach, or rather go down by the hotel funicular in just 1 minute.
Our hotel was called Punta San Martino 4*. We were also incredibly lucky with the hotel, it was located on a mountain, with a panoramic view of the Ligurian Sea, with two rooftop pools and a chic restaurant overlooking the Gulf of Genoa. The double room was also chic, with a large area,
a decent bathroom and a terrace with a picturesque view of the sea. 
The room had air conditioning, a refrigerator, a hairdryer and decent furniture. Well, we went to have breakfast in a restaurant. This restaurant was the best of all on this tour, and we only had a 4 * hotel in Italy. The choice of food for breakfast was very varied, including cold cuts, fruit, pastries, and even savory cava. 
Well, the atmosphere itself evoked a festive atmosphere. In general, we enjoyed panoramic views of the sea, drank coffee with croissants and looked forward to relaxing on the beach.
First, we went down by funicular to the hotel beach, a sunbed and a deck chair for the whole day for one person cost 10 euros, and we decided that it was better to drink 20 euros and went to the city beach. 
The city beach had both paid,
as well as the usual free zones, and we calmly settled down on our bedding on the warm sand. The water in the sea was warm and very clear, as a big fan of swimming, I sailed far from the coast and, as it turned out, in vain, as I was stung by a bad poisonous jellyfish, my hand immediately became blistered and by the way, the scar is still there. But of those vacationers who swam near the shore, no one was hurt, the jellyfish stung only me and another Italian, so he explained to me that it was not necessary to swim far. 
We spent the whole day in idle doing nothing and the only thing we moved on was a walk to the Rosso Pomodoro supermarket in order to buy at least something for a gift. We bought what the locals advised us: amaretino cookies, lavazza and mocha coffee, cheeses, amaretto liqueur, pino-colada liqueur and various types of pasta.
This time we did not take the most famous Italian hard cheese Parmesan (original name: Parmegiano Reggiano), last time we overate it, although it is advised to buy it. 
Some tourists from our group left for the whole day to rest in Genoa (30 km), they said that they were satisfied with the trip.
In the evening we went for a walk around Arenzano at night, the whole town shone with lights, we walked for a long time, looked into a couple of cafes, but limited ourselves to dessert. Milan was waiting for us the next day.
Day six: Milan.
After a good meal in the restaurant and a farewell descent by funicular to the sea, we depart for Milan. The distance is 150 km, a couple of hours of travel and at 10.00 we are in Milan. Our acquaintance with the capital of fashion begins, as always, with a sightseeing tour. This time I was not lucky with the guide, my eyes and ears did not stop at anything, nothing caught on - not the appearance,
not the style of presentation, not the story itself, it was boring and not interesting. But architecture came to the rescue here - two magnificent creations, one in terms of history is the medieval castle of Sforza, the second in terms of beauty is the Duomo Cathedral.
The Sforza Castle is a family nest of the Visconti family, built in the 14th century, but later it was destroyed. And already in the 15th century, thanks to the efforts of Sforza, the dilapidated castle received a new life. The dimensions of the castle are impressive, and an incredible number of loopholes in the fortress walls are striking, which indicates a constant siege of the castle. Now the building belongs to the municipality and is used not only as a museum piece. The city hall has placed a city shelter for cats here, all homeless cats have the opportunity to live in such a “five-star hotel” with numerous basements with mice. 
Duomo Cathedral
The Duomo Cathedral impressed me with its size, beauty, unique mixture of architectural styles and completely delighted me! The cathedral is second in size only to St. Peter's in Rome, the Cathedral in Seville and London's St. Paul's Cathedral. It is made entirely of white marble. A tour inside the cathedral costs only 2 euros, but if you want to climb to the roof of the Cathedral and see all of Milan from a bird's eye view, then there are two options. The first is to take an elevator that costs 15 euros, and the second is to climb to the roof on foot (the height of a 20-story building) and it costs 9 euros, I decided to visit only the interior of the cathedral, and my husband climbed onto the roof and said that The spectacle is amazing and in vain I refused. 
Next, we went to the most beautiful gallery of Vittorio - Emmanuale II.
This is a huge shopping center where expensive boutiques of famous brands are located. A monument to King Vittorio Emmanuel was also built. 
Behind the gallery is the famous La Scala Theatre. Outside, there is nothing remarkable, such a gray building, but, alas, we were not inside and could not appreciate all the charm of the opera. If you leave the gallery and turn right, then go to Dante Street, there are a lot of shops and street performers. Having passed all this "lap of honor", we returned to the starting point to the Duomo Cathedral.
Next, we had free time until 19.00
And first of all, we decided to try real Italian cuisine. Having asked the guide (which was our inexcusable stupidity) where there is a good pizzeria, we were brought by her to one of the local establishments almost in the center of Milan. I have never met a more "major" pizzeria in my life.
Since it was lunch time, the cafe was packed with Italians, and since they are talking very loudly, there was not just noise in the ears, but chatter. With difficulty waiting for the waiter, they ordered a capriccioso pizza and paccheri pasta. Of the whole order, the cappuccino was really delicious. Pizza was a huge pancake and a minimum of toppings (and we are used to toppings as it should be), and pasta was undercooked huge pasta with some incomprehensible substance. Bill for two - 30 euros, pleasure - zero. 
Then we just went for a walk around Milan and wandered into the most beautiful quarter of Brera, we didn’t notice anything particularly beautiful, we looked at the Brera Academy and went for a walk along Via Dante. Returning to the place of the meeting appointed by our guide, the Sforza Castle, we took a picture with the Wedding Cake fountain. Just behind the castle is the beautiful Sempione Park,
in which we walked before our departure. 
In general, Milan seemed to me a city of one day, and I had no desire to return here again. Well, our acquaintance with the capital of world fashion has ended.
Next, we follow to our hotel for an overnight stay in the city of Tavagnacco (distance 400 km) and naturally we arrive at the hotel closer to midnight. The hotel was called Meditur Hotel Udine Nord. Quite a decent hotel. but it was “crap” with breakfast, since we had a “continental” breakfast, this is when you are fed not in the hotel restaurant, but in a separate room for groups, more reminiscent of a utility room, where there are long benches and portioned food, and on There will be one milkman and one teapot for a group of 45 people. Naturally, those who came to breakfast later felt like homeless people knocking leftovers from all the tables. In order not to be unfounded, I post a photo. 
Well, like this
With grief in half, refreshed by what "God sent", we set off for Austria.
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