TWO DAYS IN MILANO

Arriving in Milano before midday gave us time to book in to the hotel and go down to the Duomo. Coming up from the metro onto the Piazza del Duomo is a wonderful introductory experience to the city of Milano. The Duomo features cover the period from early renaissance to baroque and neo-classical. It took 500 years to build. Tim and Dave were a little overwhelmed with the experience. We strolled throw the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and had lunch at the Reistorante Galleria. This was the first chance for Tim and Dave to taste “real” coffee. They were amazed at the quality. It helped me to justify why I bought the Seaco.

After lunch I explained that they need to be able to tell Paul C. that they have been to the ‘fashion district’ of Milano which is not too far from the Duomo. In Milano you not only see ‘high’ fashion in the shops, it passes you every second in the streets.

Back to the hotel for a rest to refresh ourselves for the ‘happy hour’ from 6 to 9 pm around the corner in the Corso Buenos Aires. The difference with the ‘happy hour’ is that the drinks are the same price, however you are constantly served finger food. The Italians don’t get drunk and they have dinner before they go home.

We tried to get to bed early for one of the highlights the next day, The Last Supper. Leonardo da Vinci spent two periods of his life in Milano making and designing things for the Duke of Milano. During the first period he painted The Last Supper in a refectory next to the Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie between 1495 and 1498.

Not too far away we visited the Mesuo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnica. Excellent wooden models of Leonardo’s inventions are displayed alongside his drawings. Danny I kept thinking that you would love to see these models as the design and engineering principles are incredible for the time.

A few streets away we went through the Castello Sforzesco originally built in 1368 by Galeazzo II Visconti and transformed in to a palace by Filippa Maria. Then remodelled by Francesco Sforza in the 15thC. with the help of Leonardi di Vinci. Some of Leonardo’s drawings were recently found behind a wood covered wall.

The other highlight for the day was visiting one of Europe’s elite delicatessens, Peck. Established in 1883, it has an incredible range of culinary delights including over 3000 variations of parmesan cheese.

The Italians like good design and they tend to go overboard with signs and logos. Your question for Italy. What do these two signs mean?

Tomorrow we leave for Torino.