Milan....

I have heard various opinions of Milan from many Italians so I decided to hop on the train and see for myself. I have to say...Milan does have a different feel to it than any other city I have been to in Italy. Sometimes I felt as if I could have been at Wall Street in NYC...just with prettier buildings.







(Pic 1) shows the inside of Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II off Piazza del Duomo. It was a very old and beautiful indoor/outdoor shopping mall.



(Pic 2) shows the outside of Galleria Vittorio Emanuele.






(Pic 3) shows me stepping on the genitals of the Bull (horoscope sign) on the floor of the inside of Galleria VE. They say it is for good luck. Uh, uh, uh....what we tourists do for a pretty picture! Ha Ha









(Pic 4) shows a group of older Italians in a heated discussion in Piazza della Scala. For a minute they got in each other's faces...it wasn't pretty. I did hear "Bush" and Gli Americani" thrown in there here and there. I just kept on people watching and minding my own business. (wink)








(Pic 5) shows Teatro alla Scala, the world famous opera house.








(Pic 6) shows the the Banca Commerciale Italia building and statue of Leonardo da Vinci in Piazza Della Scala.







(Pic 7) shows the equestrian statue of Vittorio Emanuel in Piazza del Duomo. I sat here enjoying a cold lemon drink and people watching for a while. A street vendor gave me a "good luck" bracelet for free because he said I smiled and spoke nicely to him.




Speaking of Leonardo di Vinci....I went to Santa Maria delle Grazia (Pic 8) to see Il Cenacolo Vinciano (Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper). OK...You didn't hear this from me....but I didn't have a reservation. As only ~20 visitors at a time can see the painting for about 15 minutes the tickets are booked months in advance. I am one to follow rules but I saw on the internet where you can go on the city's tour of the city and a visit to the Last Supper is included in the price but you can't make a reservation...you just have to


show up at a certain time. Well I showed up and they said that they changed the policy and you had to make a reservation for the tour too. I wasn't happy. She said they don't let anyone see it without a reservation. I thought...well, I'm here...I might as well try. I hopped in a taxi and told the driver to go to Santa Maria delle Grazie. I asked him and he said he had never heard of anyone seeing it without a reservation. I get there and they said it was booked up completely for the next two weeks. I watched as the people behind the desk told tourists after tourists that no tickets were available...they were booked completely for 2 weeks. They didn't even have 1 ticket available.

I get up to the desk and the lady says, sorry...no tickets available but I can reserve now for 2 weeks from now. She brushes me off then I look at the guy next to her and in my very best Italian I tell him that I really wanted to see the painting and I leave at 5pm that day and I was very disappointed....OK..OK...there was a little bit of eyelash batting but what I said was all true. He smiled and told me to wait over to the side. I waited patiently for about 45 minutes and I was able to see it. It is larger than I thought. I didn't realize it was on an entire wall of the dining hall where the monks ate. As Leonardo didn't follow the process for frescoes and experimented, the painting is deteriorating quickly. There are quite a few gaps from where the paint peeled off. There have been several attempts at restoration. You have to pass air locks to see it in an attempt
to slow the deterioration. It is a beautiful painting...I wish I could have seen it before all of the "restoration". One of the adjacent walls was completely rebuilt when it was demolished in the war. Jesus' feet are missing because someone had the bright idea of raising a door underneath it and it cut off his feet. On the opposite side of the room is a fresco of The Crucifixion. Leonardo really tells the story with the gestures of the subjects. If really is something to see.

(Pic 9) is one of the most striking frescoes I have seen here in Italy. It is of St. Martin by Silvio Consadori. (Pic 10) just shows one of the frescoes damaged in the war. It is disheartening to think about how much damage was caused to churches etc.


(Pic 11) shows the absolutely beautiful Duomo from the side. (Pic 12) shows the Duomo's beautiful....scaffolding! Ha Ha Il Duomo di Milano is the cathedral of Milan in Lombardy. It is the 2nd largest church in the world (next to St. Peter's). It is the 2nd largest Gothic Cathedral (next to Cathedral of Seville in Spain). It took more than 500 years to build.


(Pic 13) shows the most famous piece of artwork in the Duomo. It is the statue of St. Bartholomew. He is shown carrying his own skin (he was flayed to death). You have to see it in person to appreciate how it was anatomically detailed with the muscles, blood vessels etc.









(Pic 14) shows Europe's largest sundial located in the Duomo. The sunlight came from a small hole over one of the stain glass windows on the opposite side of the cathedral. It was accurate too!










(Pic 15) shows one of the panels on the floor for the sundial...Pisces.





(Pic 16) shows a view of the beautiful spires as I walked up (250 stairs) to the terrace. There are 135 spires and 2000 sculptures on the Duomo.







(Pic 17) shows a beautiful view from the roof. I have to admit...I almost didn't make it to the top. As I climbed higher and saw that I was taller than some of the spires, I started to become afraid of heights and my legs got weak. I then saw some elderly ladies up there and had to keep going.




I'm glad I kept going. I walked up the small flight of stairs shown in (Pic 18) and guess what was waiting for me at the top of the stairs????










A statue of St. Zita!!!!! (Pic 19) My patron saint. I chose her because she is the patron saint of housekeepers...in honor of my maternal grandmother. My grandmother, Fannie, was a housekeeper at a young age and when she died she was the supervisor of the entire maintenance department at a government facility. Info about St. Zita is hard to find but she was a young poor Italian housekeeper that gave what she had (not much) to the poor.





I even had the St. Zita ring I had made on. (Pic 20)








(Pic 21) shows the beautiful Trivulzio Candelabrum.











Details of the base can be seen in (Pic 22). If you look closely you can recognize scenes like Adam and Eve being expelled from the garden etc.






(Pic 23) shows a view of the street below the Duomo.









(Pic 24) shows a view of the skyline from the top of the Duomo.

While I was in Milan the city was abuzz with the Calcio (Soccer) championsips. I've always enjoyed ice hockey, football, baseball and basketball but since I've been here I've become a bit of a calcio (soccer) fan. My team is Roma. (Pics 25 & 26)

I hear that Davind Beckham is coming the the States...not bad! (wink)