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Where do I start! What an amazing chaotic place.After resting up in the little village of Neive we were reading to tackle Milan. Driving into Milan was to say the least very, very scary. No one and I repeat no one indicates. Once you get into the heart of the city none of the roads have markings on them plus you have to contend with scooters of every description and push bikes. They all just weave in and out of the cars. The push bikes are quite old fashion in style with your basket on the front and carriers and mudguards on the back. Plus everyone drives at a million miles an hour. So with negotiating all this we managed to get ourselves into the heart of Milan AND find a car park. We then spent the afternoon walking down the Duomo the cathedral. It is truly a magnificent building. Covered with spires and towers. They have been restoring it and have cleaned up the outside, so now it stands out. It was very quiet and cool inside. There were not a lot of people inside and they were preparing for a concert. In fact we have had very few crowds
Duomo Cathedral Milan
Looking down the nave. at all apart from in London and Paris. The only crowds are groups of children out on visits to various museums etc.
The Duomo is a mixture of French German gothic and it was built around the late 12th century. We then walked back to the car and made the journey back to the hotel which was about 20km south of Milan. Well we must have spent a good hour trying to negotiate the narrow and often very busy
streets. Most of the time we were just driving round in circles. Somewhat frazzled we eventually made it back down the road and to the hotel. With a bit of a rethink we decide to take the toll road into Milan the next day. Yes it did made it a lot easier though the traffic was just as heavy. Once again we found a park right in the centre very close to The Sforza Castle Museum which was where we wanted to go. We went to an exhibition of Michaelangelo drawings, or “Pieta Rondanini” They were quite incredible. The were just behind glass so you could get right up and personal with them. I found it quite a privilege to see
Duomo Cathedral Milan
The stain glass windows were so vivid and very detailed. such amazing work. There was also one of his unfinished statues. He had started one and then he must have decided he didn't like it, so using the same stone he started another. It wasn't complete but it didn't seem to matter. We were suppose to take photos but the staff at the museum couldn't seem to care less and quite frankly were down right rude. You could have walked in with anything! The museum also houses collections of decorative art, furniture, tapestries and Egyptian art.
We continued on our museum tour and walked over to the National Science and Technology Museum. This would have to be one of the best museums of this type in the world. It just blew me away. It is very hands on and set up for schools. The equipment was incredible. You could book your class or group into anything. Building and working with Leonardo models, nano technology, genetics right through to how submarines work. Yes they had a full side submarine there as well as a full sized sailing ship. The sip was undercover and they had it displayed so you could see the whole thing. 28 different sections in all. There was
Duomo Piazza
Looking towards a huge building like a railway station containing a few selected expensive shops. one exhibition just dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci. The had all his drawings displayed (not the real ones) and then working models of them all. It was just such a great place to take a group of children to. And the place was empty.
Next on the agenda was a long walk back towards the Piazza Duomo to visit La Scala Theatre. The building from the outside hides what is inside as it is nothing. You would walk straight past it. Once again very unhelpful staff etc. the were busy getting ready for a show so it was quite dark inside the theatre. It also houses a great museum with costumes and paintings and a very impressive library of music scripts and music books. We needed coffee after that and it was thee most expensive coffee on the trip so far. We almost choked! 5E for a coffee. Clearly them patrons who frequent the La Scala don't mind paying.
Then It was time to make the journey back to the hotel. Yes we did spent quite a lot of time driving round in circles but on the the toll road made it a quick trip once we had negotiated our
way to it.
It was time to move on – next stop Verona.
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