Our trip to Milan was a breeze. I was a tad concerned about crowds at Heathrow and there were none. Interestingly the trip to the hotel in London was about 45 minutes or so while the return journey to the airport was a mere 20 minutes. Hmm . . .?I also thought customs could be a sticky wicket -- but is was not. We had a driver waiting for us at the airport. He drove us to the hotel very efficiently. The flight took an hour and a half.
Once at the hotel, we crashed! After a brief nap we strolled down the street outside the hotel. It is clearly the holiday season here. Many stores were closed for holiday. We managed to pass two or three Mickey Ds on this one street. Dinner was at the hotel that night. I opeted for pasta -- Italian pasta!!! During dinner I began to realize how truly tired I was after our luggage-laden trek across London the day before. Peggy, Dan, and Linda opted to go for Gelato while I opted for SLEEP! I woke up this morning rested and feeling much better but Linda, my roomie, woke up too ill to go today. She slept in all day while we headed out for the subway. We went to the Duomo Square here in Milan. It was very quiet and empty when we arrived. We had coffee and croissants at a sidewalk bistro. Then we met up with our tour guide, Margarita. We had a walking tour of the town cathedral, the third largest Catholic cathedral in the world. Many of the stained glass windows were from the 1400s. The cathedral was built over a period of 5 centuries! From there we walked through a nearby shopping area and over the the world famous opera house, LaScala. We toured the theater and the attached museum. Afterwards we boarded a bus and headed to the local Castle and on to view The Last Supper by Leonardo DaVinci. This was a high point of the day. The painting is housed in a monastery here in Milan. You must have an appointment to view the painting and are allowed only 15 minutes to do this. To enter and view the painting, you wait in line and pass through a series of climatically controlled waiting rooms. I was surprised to learn the original is not a fresco -- but is painted on a wooden wall in the local monastery. It has been restored to the original condition -- which is a bit faded as it took DaVinci 40 years to finish the painting. It ranks above the Mona Lisa in my list of famous art I have seen. I think the magnitude of size has something to do with that. The colors were truly inspirational and soothingat the same time.
From there we adjourned to the Duomo area to lunch on pizza and chianti. I am back at the hotel and going back to check on my sick roomie. More later -- the technology gods willing! Tomorrow we board the train for Venice!
Once at the hotel, we crashed! After a brief nap we strolled down the street outside the hotel. It is clearly the holiday season here. Many stores were closed for holiday. We managed to pass two or three Mickey Ds on this one street. Dinner was at the hotel that night. I opeted for pasta -- Italian pasta!!! During dinner I began to realize how truly tired I was after our luggage-laden trek across London the day before. Peggy, Dan, and Linda opted to go for Gelato while I opted for SLEEP! I woke up this morning rested and feeling much better but Linda, my roomie, woke up too ill to go today. She slept in all day while we headed out for the subway. We went to the Duomo Square here in Milan. It was very quiet and empty when we arrived. We had coffee and croissants at a sidewalk bistro. Then we met up with our tour guide, Margarita. We had a walking tour of the town cathedral, the third largest Catholic cathedral in the world. Many of the stained glass windows were from the 1400s. The cathedral was built over a period of 5 centuries! From there we walked through a nearby shopping area and over the the world famous opera house, LaScala. We toured the theater and the attached museum. Afterwards we boarded a bus and headed to the local Castle and on to view The Last Supper by Leonardo DaVinci. This was a high point of the day. The painting is housed in a monastery here in Milan. You must have an appointment to view the painting and are allowed only 15 minutes to do this. To enter and view the painting, you wait in line and pass through a series of climatically controlled waiting rooms. I was surprised to learn the original is not a fresco -- but is painted on a wooden wall in the local monastery. It has been restored to the original condition -- which is a bit faded as it took DaVinci 40 years to finish the painting. It ranks above the Mona Lisa in my list of famous art I have seen. I think the magnitude of size has something to do with that. The colors were truly inspirational and soothingat the same time.
From there we adjourned to the Duomo area to lunch on pizza and chianti. I am back at the hotel and going back to check on my sick roomie. More later -- the technology gods willing! Tomorrow we board the train for Venice!
