Milan, Italy

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From Ljubljana, I take a night train to Milan. Milan would be the last leg of this years European adventure, and I was eager to arrive. I was here only a few short years ago, however the location was ideal for me again this year based on my travel plans, and I was once again excited to see the Duomo Cathedral as well as the Last Supper Painting.

I arrive, and it was actually nice to know my way a round a bit. I stayed in the same hostel during my last visit to Milan,and it was surreal seeing it again. As I am an old guy (older than 30), I had to pay a surcharge to stay there, but only a few Euro. I actually think I may have been in the same room. If not, it was similiar.

I was only in Milan for a short time, so I wanted to make the best of it. I had booked a Milan city tour which included visiting the Duomo Cathedral, shopping district, Sforza castle, and lastly, The Last Supper painting. I took a similiar tour before, but I could not find a way to get tickets to The Last Supper painting unless I was with a tour group. The tour was good. I wanted to see in the Duomo Cathedral again where supposedly there is one of the nails from the cruxifiction of Christ. I got chills on me again as I did before when I saw this. I don't know if this is truly one of the nails, but I sure felt something while I was there. It glows bright red in the top back center of the cathedral.

We visited the world famous shopping district which has some of the world's most high end stores, as well as visiting Sforza castle which was built in the 15th century. All of this led up to going to visit The Last Supper painting. Once again, as a group we were told that we could not photograph, so my memory will just have to do. As I walk down the cooridor making my way into the waiting area, I feel so blessed that I am able to see this once again. The time comes to go in. As you only have fifteen minutes to view the painting, I really wanted to take it all in. The first time I saw it, I was in such amazement to be there that I did not even notice the painting on the opposite side of the room. It was a full ceiling to floor painting of the crucifixion scene, and it is also quite astounding. I tried to give it a minute or two look over as well. Fifteen minutes is not a long time, so I really tried to look at the painting of each disciple, and most of all the portrayal of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I just sit in my little spot on the bench I was on, and just gazed. Amazing. It got our time to go, and the ushers do not give any time to look much over your allotted time, so we were ushered out. I had one last look back, and out I went.

We concluded our tour, and now I was on my own to look around the city. I make my way back to the Duomo Cathedral area just to walk around. One thing of note is to watch out for the people supposedly giving away little string bracelets. They put them on your arm, and then they pretty much demand you pay for them. There are normally more than one of them hanging around or walking together. I try to just keep walking holding on securely to my things. Not really a big issue if you are aware of your surroundings.

As I continued to walk around the area, I saw, as you will often see, many different little side shows/acts going on. One that caught my attention, and one that I still have not figured out yet was a woman painted in a gold color levitating a couple of feet off the ground. I stood there for I know five minutes just looking trying to figure out how she was doing it. She would let people put their hands under her feet area to show there was not a wire or something assisting her. My only thought was that she had a cane that she held in her hand that was positioned on a little platform. If must had had some kind of force that was air related to lift her. I just do not know. I took a couple of photos of this. After spending a bit more time here, it was time to go.

I make my way back to my hostel. I make sure my bag is packed and secure, and I lay down for the night. I leave the next morning to come home, and as I lay in the bed, I reflect on all of the wonderful things I was able to see on this European vacation. How blessed I felt, and as I know that as each year passes, these trips will eventually end, I was so thankful to be able to do and see all that I have been able to. Milan is a beautiful city with many wonderful sights and things to do, and I was happy to once again be able to visit here.

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