We have been in our apartment for a week. I had hoped to post pictures of it, but we are using a remote internet key for now, and it only allows 5 hours of internet a day. Plus doing stuff with pictures somehow uses up your time faster, so they will have to wait.
Our apartment is in a nondescript 4 story building. It’s in a very quiet area of San Donato (outside of Milan), and is surrounded by many large trees. It’s a nice area. Our apartment is on the 2nd floor, as far as Italy is concerned. Here, what you could consider the first floor in the U.S., is called Terra (ground), what you would consider the 2nd floor is the first floor, and what you would consider the 3rd floor is the 2nd floor. So in Italy we live on the 2nd floor. If we were in the U.S. we would live on the 3rd floor. Got it?
We have a one car garage, which is very nice, since I hate street parking. It doesn’t have an automatic garage door opener though, which is a pain. I’m really going to miss it when it rains!
We have a key that lets us into our little lobby. There are 6 apartments that use the same entrance, so I feel pretty safe. This key isn’t quite as exciting as the one I posted about earlier, but it is different from American keys.
We have an elevator which is not much bigger than 3 feet by 3 feet. Seriously. Scott won’t even use the elevator - it scares him a little with the clunking noises it makes! And it never lines up even with the floor when it stops. You always have to watch your step!
Once you step into the apartment, you see a small entry area and then a large living/dining area. It’s much bigger than any of the other apartments we saw. We don’t all feel like we’re on top of each other. There’s even a little nook with a desk for my computer. It has wood floors, which I like. It came furnished. We have 2 yellow sofas, which I actually like. Plus a nice TV and plenty of shelves for our DVDs and such. There’s also a dining room table and chairs. Basic stuff, but all we need.
We have a balcony, except our landlord enclosed it in glass, so it’s more like a sunroom. I kind of wish it were still a balcony.
The kitchen is fairly small, but functional. There’s a table in there, but it’s up against the wall. The cabinets are blue metal. Kind of interesting looking. But there’s not a lot of them, and there is almost no counter space. We have a very nice cooktop - 5 burners with gas. That’s the only thing I’ve seen that‘s nicer than what I have at home. The oven is tiny. No room for even a small turkey, and I’m pretty sure my cookie sheets aren’t going to fit in it. We have a dishwasher, but I’m kind of afraid to use it. There are lots of buttons, and I’m not sure what any of them mean! There’s only one sink, which will take some getting used to. The cabinet above the sink has built in drying racks in it. You put your dishes into it and they drain into the sink. Pretty ingenious, but I think I would have preferred an extra cabinet.
Right off the kitchen is the laundry room. Very tiny. For some reason, our microwave is in there. This microwave is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Another one of those appliances I’m kind of afraid to use! Right now, we also have a washing machine in there. The landlord has ordered a combination washer/dryer, but until it comes, I’m hanging up the clothes to dry. May I just say how much I hate that? There are things like underwear, socks, and garments that just need to be thrown into a dryer! I can’t wait until the new machine shows up. Also, the machines here are tiny. I can wash 3 pair of pants at one time. That’s it. And I don’t understand why it takes 1-1/2 hours to wash a load of clothes. If all front loaders are that slow, I’m never buying one!
We have 3 bedrooms. The guest bedroom has a twin bed with a trundle, a desk, and a wardrobe. There are no closets in the apartment. Just big wardrobes. But there’s room for guests, and we’d love to have anyone come visit.
Scott’s bedroom also has a twin bed with a trundle, a desk, and a wardrobe. It’s smaller than his room at home, but he doesn’t have much stuff to put in it, so it’s fine.
There’s a hall bathroom, which has a shower/tub, a sink with lots of storage space, a toilet, and a bidet. Yes, a bidet. All of the apartments here have them. I don’t anticipate any us ever using them, but we’ve got them!
The master bedroom is small. There’s a bed - close to queen size, but not quite that big, a dresser, 2 nightstands, and a wardrobe. With all of that furniture, there’s not a lot of extra room.
We do have an on suite master bathroom, which is a rarity. I think Robert only saw one other apartment with an on suite master bathroom. It is very tiny, though. It has a stand up shower, a sink with very little storage room, a toilet, and a bidet. The hall bathroom is actually much nicer than our bathroom.
Well, that’s our apartment. It’s very nice, as far as Italian apartments go. It makes me miss so many things about my house in Texas, though. I will never take the amenities I have back home for granted again!
I didn't even know anyone still used keys like this - except in a castle or old cemetery. But this is a pretty typical apartment key in this area. 
This view is from the lower roof, looking through the spires. You can see that all of the spires have a figure on the top of them. In fact, the very highest spire has a gold figure on top. I thought that was interesting.
Here's a view from the highest part of the roof we were allowed access to. You can just barely see mountains in the distance. I'm not sure what mountains they are, so don't ask!
There you have it. Our first touristy experience in Milan!
This is an example of the scenes carved all around the base of the building. I'm not sure what they depicted, but the detail was amazing.
We also went inside the Duomo. Cameras weren't allowed. There were still many people taking pictures, but it is a working church, and that didn't seem right to me. It was beautiful inside. Giant marble columns. Gorgeous stained glass windows. 
