Blogs from Milan, Lombardy, Italy, Europe - page 41

I wish this were titled: Santa Maria delle Grazie and DaVinci's The Last Supper, but as you may have read in one of my other entries, I wasn't able to make a reservation! This thing is such a hot commodity that I would honestly recommend trying to call from your home country way before you come. After a solid 1.5 wks of calling 20x per day and ALWAYS getting a busy signal, I decided to just go there and ask for a reservation. But, no... it doesn't work that way. You have to call some random number, and (btw), there's only one number for the entire world. good luck. The church itself is beautiful, though. And it's very conveniently located on Corso Magenta, lending the walk perfect for both sight-seeing and shopping ... read more

Piazza Mercanti is just beyond the duomo and on the way to the Castle and just about anywhere else you want to go in central Milan. It's also traffic-free, which gave me more time to stop and appreciate the architecture. The arches are magnificent. I first stumbled upon this castle after an afternoon-turned-evening of shopping and exploring in the city. It was lit up gloriously (fountain included). The next day I came back to check out this huge quadrilateral shaped castle in the daylight. It was once a fortress and is now home of many different civic museums. My favorite was the museum of muscial instruments (I was an avid clarinet player not too far back!)... read more

This park is a 5 minute walk from my house. It's so beautiful and it's enjoyed by so many italians- reading the paper, walking the dog or the baby at lunch, business chats, kids playing sports and loitering, and best of all, people of all ages UNABASHEDLY making-out... standing up, sitting on the park-bench, lying on the grass- CRAZY! We're talking heavy petting, here! I seriously felt lonely when I was running- where was my boyfriend so I could fit in and make-out, too. ha. ... read more

I wouldn't necessarily want to spend a gorgeous afternoon at the museum, but there was a special exhibit called "figlie e madri... mogli e concubine: la condizione femminile nel mondo antico". I'm pretty sure with my limited to no experience with proper Italian "daughters and mothers, wives and concubine: the condition of the female in history" (or something like that). Anyway, it sounded interesting and finally on my 4th attempt to go there (it was closed for lunch once, closed early another time, then closed all day monday- GRRRR!) I got in. I wasn't sure what I expected, but what I saw was a ton of intricately painted pottery and an occasional statue. Beware, the pictures are X-rated!!! ha... read more

Piazza del Duomo is about a 10-15 minute tram ride depending on traffic. It's also in the center of what you might call downtown or "historic" Milan. For that reason, it became my starting point whenever I walked around. Big and easy to find- sounds good to me. Everything else because "it's this direction from the Duomo". ha. Also, about the piazza... it's sort of a culture. Tons of locals hang out there, considering the gallery is one of the places to see and be seen. At any given point I wouldn't even begin to know how many travelers are there, also. For several days last week the piazza was home base for the Carling Scottish football (soccer) team and fans... singing and drinking their 40s and dancing and hugging eachother... it was great! ... read more