We wanted to get out of Milan on Saturday, so we took a train to Bergamo, which only cost around 12 euros round trip each person.  It was less than an hour to get there and when we arrived, we took the 1 bus up to Citta Alta (Upper Town), which is the old called city area.  You can take a funicular, but the line was quite long and the bus takes you higher up.  It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The bus enters the Upper Town through a walled entrance that it can barely fit through.  I can’t imagine driving through that every day. 

We wandered through the pedestrian streets (until a car came through per usual in Italy) and made our way to the Palazzo de la Ragione.  It was supposed to open at 11, but the gate was padlocked.  My husband checked the google reviews and found that it had several that said it was the time it should be open and it wasn’t.  We decided to try another Palazzo and visited Palazzo e Giardini e Moroni.  There was some kind of silk exhibition that day so instead of charging us 11 euros to enter, we had to pay 14.  The silk exhibition included stalls of people selling silk and some silk handing from the entrance.  It was not very exciting. The Palazzo had amazing ceiling frescos.  The rooms were not as impressive as others we have seen, but I enjoyed the Chinese themed room.  The gardens were also lovely and we had a great view of the mountains and lower town.  

We ate lunch outside in a piazza.  My husband’s calzone reminded me of Napoleon’s tri cornered hat.  It was a delicious meal.

We checked out several churches.  The first was a private chapel, so we were not allowed to take pictures inside, but this was the outside. We also paid to enter the basilica and the ceilings alone were worth the price of admission. There were actual sculptures up there! We went into the crypt area and the tombs were in a semicircle. As I started reading the dates I realized that they were all quite young, some as young as 9 and not all the tombs were filled.  I have looked online but cannot find an explanation for why there were tombs of children in the crypt instead of members of the clergy.  

We walked down the hill to take pictures of the walls and entrance to the Upper Town.  It was a beautiful day for a walk and great for pictures. 

`We took the bus the rest of the way down to the Lower Town.  We checked out some shops and headed back to the train station.  There was a train sitting on the track that was supposed to head to Milan. There was no sign on the train or next to the train saying where it was going to go. We got on it anyway because no other train was scheduled for that track.  Several people asked me if it was the train to Milan.  I shrugged and told them, I think so, it’s where I’m going!  It was the right train all along and we traveled safely back to Milan.