Photo Slideshow - O
Photo Slideshow - D
4/21/18
We got up and looked out the window at our view which is of a bombed-out factory with two walls missing. Good hotel but depressing view - I keep looking for Mussolini's ghost.
But we had a good breakfast in the dining room. We returned to the room and at 1000 went to the desk, ordered a taxi, boarded it and went to Piazza Santa Maria della Grazie. We checked in with the Veditalia tour company rep and took pictures of the exterior of the church. At tour time we were given sound buds and receivers; then we marched through the metal detector and had handbags inspected. Our tour guide began her talk as we progressed at one room per 15 minutes.
She kept talking as we entered the room which was a hall in the Dominican convent at the time of painting. The painting "The Last Supper" by da Vinci is on the north wall, covering it from side to side but not extending to the floor, only to about six feet above it. It's not bright, since it was painted 500+ years ago, but it is well done. Several refurbishments, the last in 1999, have restored much of the color and filled in the cracking caused by drying plaster.
We saw the great frescoes and paintings filing the church and had a good lecture by our guide there as well.
During the walk we also saw the L.O.V.E. statue, a huge upraised middle finger aimed at the Stock Exchange.
In actuality, it's about three feet deep and relies on visual tricks to appear deep when viewed head-on. Spectacular work by the artist Bramante.
There are other works of art here but it's hard to convey a sense of feeling about them, and it's terribly boring just to list them.
So we'll send you to the pictures, once we've uploaded them and you can look for yourself.
Once I get access to a scanner I'll try to put up the route it took. But it rolled us past La Scalla and the church San Marco and we could see parts of the Castello Sforzesco, the family in huge power for many years. It also took us through a new area of apartment or condo living. It passed Milano Centrale of infamy yesterday - not as many people there today. It took us past Porta Venezia and then back to the Duomo and downtown area - where it seems all the people yesterday arrived today.
A red line bus was departing as we left the blue line bus, so we took that. It also let us look at the Castello but then went on to pass the Last Supper church and back to the Duomo, which we'll tour tomorrow.
By this time we were getting worn down. There was a sidewalk cafe across the street from the buses and directly in line with the Duomo which had an open table curbside. We grabbed it, intending to have a beer and wine and rest our feet. But the menu looked good so we had swordfish for D and spaghetti pomodoro for me along with said wine and beer. The whole thing came to 50 euro which wasn't bad at all.
I tried to talk D into taking a tram home but she wanted a soft seat so we took a taxi back to the hotel. We put up our feet and took a nap. Now we're reading and/or computing and just taking it easy.
Sunday… Milan
Photos-Owen
Photos-D
4/22/18
We missed the 0800 mass for D in the little local church due to sloth. We did breakfast, then arranged with the hotel for our transportation to the airport Tuesday.
Then we headed downtown and attended the 1230 mass at the Duomo.
it was harder than it sounds. There was a line to get into the worship area that moved very slowly because there were few security peopled and everyone had to be wanded and all bags searched. We got into the line about noon and were admitted at 1249, too late to hear the sermon but just barely in time for communion. We wouldn't have understood the sermon anyway.
Then we moved to a sidewalk cafe for a place to sit. We each had wine and shared some bread & oil. We sat quite a while people-watching and just chatting.
Then we went to the Duomo tour ticket office; it took us three tries to find it. We traded our voucher for tickets and waited in the shop for our guide. Of course that led into making a few purchases.
Our guide arrived and passed out receivers and buds. After finding her 25 subjects she took off for the lift to the upper levels of the Duomo. The lift held six or seven people so it took several trips for it to get us all up to the first terrace level. This level is about at the level of the top of the flying buttresses that keep the walls from falling outward under the pressure of the roof. The terrace extended from the SE corner around the East end (altar end) and west to the wall overlooking the plaza that we have been examining from our sidewalk cafes.
Then we climbed 72 steps to the topmost terrace, the one on top of the main area of the church. It incorporates large stone slabs as "shingles" to shed rain. Of course you can see all over the city from there. There are a few spires above this level on the facing of the church. Every spire has a statue atop it. In fact, the church displays more than 3,000 statues.
The statue above the main tower is of Mary and is gilded. It stands 4 meters high.
After a bit we went back down the steps, back down the lift, and around to the other side of the church to be admitted to the tour area of it. The service "Benediction" was in process in the worship area, with the archbishop presiding. Lots of incense and finery. As it wound down we got around to the west end of the Duomo so we could take long-range shots of the altar area and the expanse of the place.
Just west of the west (entry) wall and below it (partly under the entry and plaza) is an archeological work in process. A notable thing is a mass baptismal pool that lay between two churches the Duomo now sits upon. Very interesting work going on.
As an aside, Duomo construction was begun in the 1300's and declared finished in 1850 or so. But it was only really "completed" in 1965.
After finishing the tour from the underground work we strolled across the plaza absolutely full of people to our sidewalk cafe of yesterday. There we had coke & beer to quench our thirst, some snack things, and then a glass of wine each to restore us. D got a couple of pastries to bring back to the room.
We moved to our familiar taxi stand and nearly got run over but jumped into it for the ride back to the hotel. We've now officially settled in for the night and witnessed sunset.
Monday.. Milan
4/23/18
Today is take-it-easy day. We slept in and then just diddled with computers and books. We skipped breakfast in favor of in-room coffee.
We went down to the dining room for lunch, very nice. The place was more crowded than many hotels I've stayed in. The prices are good, so perhaps that's their secret.
In the afternoon I spent a bunch of time gathering all the photos and making slideshows of them. Some of the pages including this one now have links to photo slideshows. I started from this end of the trip - the earlier pages won't be implemented until we get home.
After all this work I wanted a beer, so I got one and sat outside in the courtyard. When done I brought D a Pepsi; that wasn't enough, so she sent me down for one of the Hilton warm chocolate chip cookies. Desk staff laughed when I said what I needed and gave out the cookies. The Hilton cookies are very good, by the way.
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4/23/18
Today is take-it-easy day. We slept in and then just diddled with computers and books. We skipped breakfast in favor of in-room coffee.
We went down to the dining room for lunch, very nice. The place was more crowded than many hotels I've stayed in. The prices are good, so perhaps that's their secret.
In the afternoon I spent a bunch of time gathering all the photos and making slideshows of them. Some of the pages including this one now have links to photo slideshows. I started from this end of the trip - the earlier pages won't be implemented until we get home.
After all this work I wanted a beer, so I got one and sat outside in the courtyard. When done I brought D a Pepsi; that wasn't enough, so she sent me down for one of the Hilton warm chocolate chip cookies. Desk staff laughed when I said what I needed and gave out the cookies. The Hilton cookies are very good, by the way.
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