The alarm woke us at 6:45AM. There was already the sounds of hustle and bustle of this busy city. We slowly came awake and started our morning ablutions. Mom opted for the shower, which she likened to an RV shower stall. I chose the bath tub with shower head at shoulder height (and no shower curtain). Tomorrow I think we will switch. She was too confined in the shower, and I was worried about spraying water every where. On the plus side, the water was hot and the pressure was very strong.
Our breakfast is included and is a continental breakfast on steroids. Lots of coffee, various breads (including croissants of which we each had one), fruit and hot items such as eggs and sliced meats. With my croissant I enjoyed a sliced canned pear and green tea. Mom opted for cereal and English Breakfast tea.
Back to our room to rest a bit. Mom read and worked crosswords and I might have napped briefly. Then we were up and off around 11:00. I ordered a taxi thru the “My Taxi” (a great suggestion from my friend Serena!) who arrived within minutes of order. I sat in the front and Mom in the back. I swear my life flew past my eyes at least twice. Driving in Milan is an art. It’s a combination of taxis, “regular” cars, scooters, bicycles and large trucks. Oh, and buses and trams. It’s a constant state of horns honking and stop and go (or go, stop, stop go).
But I digress. Our destination was Basilica Di Santa Maria Delle Grazie. home of IL Cenacolo…The Last Supper painting by Leonardo da Vinci. We met up with our guide for this tour, a delightful Italian lady who knew her stuff. We were able to view the Last Supper which has not fared well over time. Some of the colors were faded or non-existent. But the work was amazing. His attention to detail was fantastic. We were only allowed 15 minutes in the sealed room. There was a woman in there who’s job it was to yell at you if you used your flash on your camera. Fortunately that wasn’t me.
We were then escorted outside and around the Basilica. We started walking to Sforza Castle which was constructed in the 15th century by Francisco Sforza, Duke of Milan. It’s an impressive structure with the Duke’s quarters having been painted by Leonardo da Vinci. We did not tours these rooms, but saw photos of the paintings.
*Sidnenote: 2019 is the 500 year anniversary of Leonardo’s death. There are all sorts of museums and displays celebrating his work. It is a year long celebration here in Milan.
From Sforza Castle we worked our way to the Piccolo Teatro, former home of the Duke’s favorite mistress. Now it’s a building that contains a restaurant and some other businesses.
Next we walked to La Scala, the Milan Opera house. Rather plain on the outside, but the inside is reputed to be incredible, the acoustics perfect according to our guide. Very expensive to go, but well worth the money.
We then walked through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Mom and I had been there last night, but it was better now that we could hear the history. It is full of high end stores; Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton etc. the most interesting item I took from this stop was this:
On the ground of the central octagonal, there are four mosaics portraying the coat of arms of the three capitals of the Kingdom of Italy (Turin, Florence and Rome) plus Milan’s. Tradition says that if a person spins around three times with a heel on the testicles of the bull from Turin coat of arms this will bring good luck. This practice causes damage to the mosaic: a hole developed on the place of the bull’s genitals. (Stolen from Wikipedia). We did not spin our heals on the bull’s testicles, but watched many, many people do so.
From there we ended up in the Piazza in front of the Duomo. We said goodbye to our guide and sat down in the Piazza for a short while, I FaceTimed with my dear husband, and he discovered he could see us on the live camera that overlooks the Piazza. After our short rest, we walked to the department store La Rinascente. 9 floors of amazing and high dollar items. The top floor is is made up of places to eat and high end food to purchase. We had lunch there and enjoyed a nice rest before starting our walk back to the hotel. Mom had some sort of salad with salmon and I had the “meat platter”. Sliced ham and salami with some sort of green cream cheese-like spread. And of course bread.
On the walk back we stopped at a candy store, the ODStore. And what a candy store! Three floors of sweet goodness! I’m guessing the OD stands for overdose. We purchased on box of chocolate covered cookies and two bottles of water. Then we started our trek back to the hotel. Of course, we might have gotten a little turned around, but Google Maps to the rescue.
Back at the hotel for a nap…yes we have been napping a lot since we arrived. Up at 7PM for dinner at the hotel. Mom had carrot/potato soup and I had Pizza Margherita. Accompanied by a liter of water for me; half a liter for Mom. Tiramisu was shared for dessert. We asked for our bill and headed to our room to prepare for tomorrow. Rooftop tour of Il Duomo and a train ride to Varenna to meet up with our tour group.
I am having a few technical issued downloading photos to my site. Please be patient, they are coming!
