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Published: June 30th 2017
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Geo: 45.462, 9.18963
So. The race is done.
Now what?
We had built in an extra day before flying home, for seeing the city. I have a tour guide to whom I've sent several clients, and I was excited to be able to meet her, myself, and have her show us around her city.
If only I'd thought about it being a Monday.
Some things -- Important Things -- are closed on Mondays.
Quick, name one of the biggest must-see attractions in Milan.
The Duomo is open.
But the Last Supper?
Chiuso. Closed.
Sigh.
We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast picnic on our terrace, before heading to the plaza to meet up with our guide, Lara Grom.
We spent a bit of time just chit-chatting, and then it was off to the Duomo.
Lara had sent me an e-mail the day before, advising me that security was tight in the cathedral -- much like the airlines -- so I should leave glass, etc behind.
I didn't think about "etc" meaning liquids.
Lara is a resourceful lady, though, so she collected my prohibited items and stashed them behind the counter of her favorite cafe. She's a pretty good customer, it seems.
We had a lovely tour of the Cathedral (she'd pre-purchased the tickets for us), and learned
some tidbits that I'll bet most tourists don't learn.
Then we were headed up to the roof.
What a great view! And to be able to see the intricacies of the sculptures up close was pretty fantastic. When you go to Milan, splurge for the rooftop access.
She spent about 4 hours showing us around Milan, and then had to get back to her kiddos.
If you'd like to arrange your own private tour of Milan, I'd be happy to make the introduction.
After grabbing a quick sandwich (and some gelato while we walked), we went back to the cathedral as I wanted to spend a little more time inside, just taking it all in (it's a pretty large place).
Upon reaching the security guard after a 20 minute wait, he advised us that we'd already used our tickets that day and there was only 1 entry per ticket. And then he grumbled, and ushered us in anyway.
You really could just sit in there and stare, and take it all in, for hours,I think.
Before leaving we decided to see what this archaeological excavation area was.
Pretty darn cool, is was it was.
When you walk around the cathedral today, you're quite a lot higher than people who used
to live around here.
They've been excavating, and have uncovered some pretty cool stuff underneath. When you visit, take time to see this area. It's a step back in time.
A snack stop in a market in the nearby Galleria would tide us over until dinner (these Italians eat late!!).
Dinner.......dinner....where to have dinner......
It was too early to eat, so we walked around to scope out our choices.
Nothing was really grabbing us, and we had enjoyed our meal at Bottega Ghiotta last night, so we went back.
The head waiter (maitre d'? Owner?) recognized us and welcomed us back.
We decided on pizza, but just one between the 2 of us, thank you.
Sweet things, they split it and put it on 2 plates for us, and kept any remarks about dumb Americans to themselves. 😊
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