Sunday, August 22, 2010

Summer Vacation - Day 1 (Milan, IT)

I am going to try to get our summer trip posted on the blog. I keep putting it off because with over 900 pictures to choose from and also just starting to describe all the places we went to and sights we saw is so overwhelming to me. So I've decided to start with the short e-mails we sent family during our trip that briefly told about out adventures for a few days and then post a few pictures. Here goes.

We arrived in Milan ontime after a short night on the plane. We waited a couple of hours for Jamie and met her coming out of the baggage claim area. Her flights also went well but she wasn't impressed with Ambien. She said she only slept a couple of hours.

We found the train, bought our tickets and rode into the city. Upon arrival at the Cardona station we set up TomTom and had it guide us the 0.75 mile to the Park Hyatt hotel. A sister to the Park Hyatt Tokyo hotel that Joni, Graig and I stayed at after his mission, it is nice but does not challenge for the top spot on our list, in spite of the $500 rate (we used points). Long story short, they messed up our reservation and put us in a room they claimed was too small for a rollaway so I slept on the floor while the girls slept in the queen size bed.
Walking from the Milan train station to our hotel. Typical cobblestone Italian streets which are narrow. I miss all the window boxes that are common in southern Italy. You just don't see them in northern Italy.
Anyway, we quickly changed clothes and walked to our tour meeting spot. Mick was reminded why he doesn't like group tours as we moved at the group's pace and loitered too long in some sites. However, the tour was the only way we could get in to see DaVinci's Last Supper, so we tolerated it. It is a great work of art in a humble little refectory and definitely worth the visit. It was protected from damage in World War II bombing of the refectory but the images are fading because of the technique DaVinci used. Definitely a divinely inspired work of art.

It just wouldn't be a vacation in Italy without gelato and Mick with the video camera.

The Duomo in Milan Italy. It is huge and took over 300 years to complete. I enjoyed our climb to the roof and the view from up there also.
Scene from the rooftop of the Duomo. The Duomo (cathedral) is a spectacular sight (should be after over 300 years in construction) and we were able to walk the roof which offered grand vistas all the way out to the Alps. We spent quite a bit of time trying to find a Tiffany"s for "you know who" but only found a Captain Jack Sparrow street performer. Too bad Janelle was not with us!
We held out for gelato until about 8pm but had to muster up considerable willpower to resist having another.

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele is a spectacular, late 19th century glass-topped, barrel-vaulted tunnel which houses the most select stores for shopping. The mosaic floors represent Europe, Asia, Africa, and the United States. Those at the entrance are dedicated to science, industry, art, and agriculture. It is very beautiful.







Castello Sforzesco was built in 1450 by the Francesco Sforza family, who was the fourth duke of Milan. It even has a staircase from within the courtyard where the horses can climb so they didn't have to get off their horses until they got to their living quarters.

Milan Opera House, La Scala, which reopened in 1946 after being closed in 1943 due to allied bombing. The stage is as large as the auditoriums floor.

No comments: