Last Night in Milan (and all photos)

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July 19th 2012

Published: July 19th 2012

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DWalker22

Italian Countryside

just a shot through the bus window

Back in Milan from our day trip to Cinque Terra, we walk down to the Duomo and to grab some dinner.

A little information about the Duomo....the Duomo of Milan is the current seat of Milan's Arch Bishop. It took nearly 6 centuries to build and is the largest cathedral in Italy and the 4th largest in the world. And it is BIG!! The original old baptistry, built in 335, is still in existence under the cathedral. Visits are permitted inside, but not by the time we go there. The current Duomo is built on the site of a Roman basilica...a new basilica was built in the 5th century, added to in the 8th century and when it was heavily damaged in a fire in 1075, it was rebuilt as the Duomo. The construction of the cathedral, as we see it today, began in the 1300's, and various changes and additions were made throughout the change of Archbishops of Milan.

It's very hard to describe the Duomo. It would have been fascinating to see inside, but even the outside is almost overwhelming. There is SO much in the details of the exterior. The marble statues are beyond even guessing

Bad picture but....

I was on the wrong side of the bus, as I mentioned, but I included this picture because our guide made the comment that all these villages that sit on top of the mountains are dying. He said there were originally built there for protection from pirates, but as that danger has passed, the expense to get to them and get supplies to them is causing people to leave these mountain villages.

how many there are, but they depict various biblical stories or saints or angels, and they vary in size throughout the structure. You could stand in one spot and look at only the carvings right in front of you and not move for an hour and probably still miss some. The exterior is marble except for the doors which are brass. I've included only a few pictures of the statues and carvings since they would fill a book, but it's incredibly impressive and large and imposing. And it's almost sensory overload to try to take it all in.

The Piazza del Duomo (the very large plaza) was full of people and impressive shopping on the edge of the Piazza. Again here are obvious signs of Milan's fashion and design culture.

After wandering for a bit, we grab our last dinner in Milan, and try some pasta. I had the cannelloni and meat sauce and Kirk tried the gnocchi and some kind of reddish cream sauce. The meat sauce is different than our meat sauce since I can't say that I saw any kind of either sausage or ground beef used in any dish. The sauce was more typical,

Who'd a thunk it?

Even in Milan

but the meat was like chunks of roast beef. Kirk's was freshly made pasta which really does have a different flavor and texture and was excellent.

After dinner, we head back to the hotel to pack up in order to head out by 7:00 am in the morning. Foregoing the very expensive taxi rate in Milan, we decide we'll hoof it the 2 miles to the train station to catch our train to Venice, backpacks not withstanding. Afterall, we did it once before, right?

Additional photos below

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