Ciao Tutti,
Last night, I met a few people from around the world - Canada, Ireland, Scotland, England, Italy, and one from the US that now lives in Hong Kong. It was a lot of fun to talk with them and learn about different parts of the world.
This morning, I ran into the person I met last night from Italy. We decided to go out and see a few of the sites. It was a lot of fun as he lived in Milan two years ago. He spoke to me in English, I spoke to him in Italian. If was a lot of fun.
We went to the Duomo and walked around. It was only a 10 minute walk from our hostel! The church itself looks majestic from the outside and I'd the third largest church in the world! It owns the square it is situated on, even though it is next to the most famous galleria in the world, the Victorrio Emmanuale II Galleria. The church is all white on the outside and is adorned with thousands of statues. The inside of the church was even bigger than I expected. It was dark inside and the interior colors were very dark as well. It relied only on the stained glass windows as lighting during the day. I also walked downstairs and saw the "treasure" which was a bunch of different types of papal outfits, chalices, and crucifixes. It also had a grave. It was somewhat eerie.
After the Duomo, we tried to go see the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, but the reservations were sold out. Apparently you have to make a reservation at least two weeks in advance as they only let 25 people in at a time to see it for a period of fifteen minutes.
Then, we headed back to the area of the Duomo and parted ways. I went to walk through the famous galleria. It was absolutely breathtaking - it is the model for many galleries throughout the world including ones I've been to in Rome and Naples. The detail in the upper levels was absolutely amazing.
Then, I walked back to the Piazza del Duomo to try and figure out how I could get in to see the Last Supper before I leave Milan on Friday. I searched on my iPad for about an hour before finally finding a tour of Milan that also visits the Last Supper. It made my day. Now, I will be able to see a lot more of Milan than I would have been able to see on my own, but I will also be able to gain a better understanding for the history of each of the places we visit.
After booking my tour, I went to the ticket office for one of the most famous opera hoses in the world, Teatro alla Scala, to see if I could get a ticket for tonight's show. I was able to get a deeply discounted ticket for an opera called Luisa Miller!
Then, I decided to take the elevator to the roof of the Duomo to look around. I've heard it is beautiful and it did not disappoint. It has over 1,000 statues on top and amazing views of the city. Even though I took the elevator, I still had a few flights of stairs to get all the way to the top after walking along the balconies of the Duomo. When did I ever let a few flights of stairs stop me, though. The stairs were worth the effort as the top was amazing. The only thing that stunk was the fact that there was a lot of scaffolding and half of the roof was closed off due to construction. It was still very cool as I was able to see the skyline of Milan, including a few skyscrapers. Milan really is a mix of Rome and New York!
After getting back down to the ground, I headed back to my hostel to get ready for the opera tonight.
I'll let you know how the opera is in my next post!
Michele
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