Day #253 - Milan, Italy

Il Duomo - Milan

Teatro Alla Scala

Shopping streets of Milan

Plaza - Il Duomo

Santa Maria delle Grazie - Last Supper painting

Monday, Nobember 22nd

It's 4pm here on Monday afternoon. My sister comes in tonight at 7pm. I will be going to the airport in about an hour to meet up with her.

I've been to Milan once before on my trip - but only stayed a night and didn't really see anything. (It was just a transfer spot). Today, I got a chance to walk the streets and take in the sites.

So Italy has 4 cities in the Top 20 Most Visited Cities in Europe: Rome (3), Venice (12), Milan (18), and Florence (19). No wonder Italy is one of the favorite tourist spots of many Americans. I'm assuming going into this segment of the journey, many of you reading this have already been to these places - we'll see if I have similar takes.

Milan is really impressive. Did you ever see that Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Kevin James movie called "Grown-ups"? It was good - I saw it on my most recent flight back from the states. Adam Sandler's kids were really spoiled and were set to go to Milan. I can't get that image out of my head. I guess the city does have that feel a little bit. Fancy shopping streets, people looking the part with bags in hand. Now - I'm not close to a shopper-guy - not even remotely close. But, I can appreciate the scenery. It has that feel of class, wealth, flare -- slightly different than what I have experienced the past 5 days since my return from Israel.

Some of the other things of interest I saw today included: (1) The Last Supper. The famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci is located in the Gothic church of Santa Maria delle Grazie. I couldn't get in to see the painting today - as Monday it's closed. But, I was able to take some pictures of the church. It's currently undergoing some renovation. (2) Il Duomo. This is the world's largest Gothic cathedral. This was the take-home symbol of Milan for me. Really neat. I walked around inside. My book tells me that the only cathedral bigger then this is St. Peter's in Rome. Construction began in 1386 and was not completed until 100 years ago. It has 135 marble spires and 2,245 marble statues. (3) Teatro Alla Scala. Said to be the world's most famous opera house. Reopened in 2004 after 1,000 days of intensive renovation.

I went to the central train station and did some recon work for our travels the next couple days. I walked around for 2 hours trying to find a laundrymat - no luck. I had several people tell me where to go --- still was unsuccessful. Not so good - I badly need to do some laundry - soon.

I'll check in later after picking up my sister.

Later.

Found my sister - successful. I rode the bus out to the airport. In my sleepy haze, I got off at Terminal #2. I went inside and saw that her flight was going to arrive in Terminal #1. Still sleeping, I decided it would be a good idea if I just walked over to Terminal #1. About 3/4 of a mile later, with only signs of a long-distant connection to Terminal #1, not such a good idea. I was now left to run in high 30 degree temperatures. It was 6:30pm and my sister was set to arrive at 6:50pm. I'm running down an arbitrary road - hoping to make it. Finally, I found a bus to take me the last 1/2 mile - arrived at 6:53pm. Kay came out of customs at 7:15pm - solid.

Went back into Milan. Walked the shopping streets by our hotel for a couple hours. Had a nice dinner. Got to sleep around 10:30pm. All good stuff - tomorrow we head to Venice.