Milano

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Monday February 15, 2016 1:45pm - The train arrived in Milan a couple of minutes early, so I got my determination on and headed straight for the metro. I knew where to go, so that was a help. I bought a ticket quickly at a machine and walked down to the platform. The train was just arriving, which was brilliant timing. I got on, sat down, and waited. It was only 4 stops to Duomo, but at the third stop, the doors stayed open and there was some sort of message about it. I couldn’t tell what it was, but thought that it would be so funny if the whole subway broke down now. But it got going again a minute or so later, and it was fine. I got off the train and made my way upstairs, trying to find an exit that would get me where I wanted to go. No signs to point me in the right direction, so I just took any exit and as I was coming up the stairs, there it was, in my entire field of view. Amazing. It took about 500 years to build and holds 40,000 people. What a sight. It looks like a wedding cake, all white and shiny. And the sun was out – first time all day. Amazing. I wanted to go inside, but I saw that they started charging for it, so I went to buy a ticket, but then saw that they were checking bags, and I had both of my backpacks. I asked the ticket checker if I could go in, and he said to check with the soldiers doing bag checks. They said it was fine so I tried to buy a ticket, but there was a long line and it was closed. I asked someone and she pointed me to a door nearby. There was no line there, so it was probably faster. I had to be checked for weapons (presumably) and my bags were given a cursory glance, and then I was inside. The inside was not so glamorous as the outside, but it was cool. It was like a sea of columns, interspersed with pews. I took a bunch of photos and then had to get going again. I had about 20-25 minutes inside and it was just about enough. Outside I took a few more pictures and then headed back into the subway. Getting back to the station was easy and I was able to get right on my train with about 15 minutes to spare. Success!

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Italy
Beautiful