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Published: April 18th 2012
Okay, today was the big day, the one around which I designed our whole schedule. I wanted to see the opera, the
Marriage of Figaro, in Italian,
Le Nozze di Figaro. Like most comic operas, its plot is pretty flimsy, with lots of people dressing up like other people to trick someone, and then in the end, they all realized their mistake and have a big party. I bought the tickets over the internet last February and had to do it hastily because it was the final performance and was likely to sell out. I went on line at the exact minute they went on sale and grabbed the first two tickets they offered me, at a price way beyond what I intended to pay, but both Sally and I agreed that going to La Scala was a once-in-a-lifetime event. We were in a wonderful box, up just one level from the main floor. We had seats 1 and 5, which seemed strange until we realized there were only 5 seats in the box and 5 was directly behind 1 on a stool type seat that put that person just enough higher that the view was still good. There were four
acts with two 15 minute breaks and a half-time of half-hour that drifted on for 45 minutes, time enough to go out and buy gelati. Amazing how quickly something you wait months for goes by and becomes a part of the past.
In one of the La Scala photos you’ll see Flat Stanley. The other is Sally.
We spent the earlier part of the day at the Duomo I took a photo of one of the segments of the bronze doors on the front of the Duomo where everyone likes to rub the calf of the leg of a man in bas relief on the door. There must be a story to go with this calf rubbing, but I don’t know what it is.
Later we went to a museum that had a special showing of Leonardo da Vinci’s sketches of various machines, including his sketches for a flying machine.
We also went back to the museum of the 20
th Century Italian Art so I could take photos of the Duomo from up there. You’ll see the wonderful neon curved lights on the ceiling of
the museum and if y9ou look in the lower part of one of the Duomo photos for some thin spikes sticking up from the window sill. I assume it is to poke the pigeons in the butt and prevent them from sitting there. You’ll see a bunch of pigeons in the piazza, but non on the spikes, so I’m assuming it’s working.
Tomorrow we leave our “Cozy Loft” (see photos) in Milano and head for the lakes region, to a town called Brescia, that has lots of Roman ruins and is the historic center of Italian gun makers.
I couldn’t leave Milano without more comments on shoes. It seems the Italians have traded in the pointy toes for platforms, very colorful platforms as you’ll see in the photo.
I also had to include the dog for the day. Sally noted that the American convention of poop-scoping after your dog has not come to Italy yet.
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Anita
non-member comment
Catch up
I am enjoying reading your blogs and seeing your photos. I should have warned you about the connection from the airport in Milan to the train station and also there are two different stations. The main one is horrible in my mind as it is all stairs you have to go up and down to get anywhere. Sounds like you are having Seattle weather. I look forward to hearing about the roman ruins. Ciao!