Day 2 : Milan
I wake up with a start and realize that we are in Italy. It feels good.
We manage to sleep through the night and wake up at a normal hour; we hope that we have beaten the jet lag in the first day. After breakfast at the hotel, we head out to the tourist office near the Duomo to check about tickets for the Last Supper. The weather starts out gray, but by the time we get to the tram stop, the sky is blue, the sun is out and it is starting to get warm. We take the same tram that we had taken yesterday; already the route is familiar.
At the tourist office on the Piazza Duomo, we ask if there is any other way to get tickets--rather than dialing the continuously busy reservation line. The lady at the office says that she has the same problem and figures that they just leave the phone off the hook once they are sold out. She tells us that the tourist office buys 50 seats a day for their city bus tour and if we want to take the tour at 3 pm in the afternoon--for Euro 40 (about $35 US)--we can be assured of getting in to see the Last Supper. We usually avoid group bus tours, but if this is the only way to see the Last Supper, we will think about it.
We walk over to the Duomo and take a quick walk around. Today the sun is streaming through the stained glass windows and the vast space has a warmer glow than when it is overcast. We sit and read about its construction and all the pertinent details in the guide book. The inside space is so large that it is overwhelming, but the outside Gothic ornamentation grows on you--it is especially striking in the bright sunlight.
Our next destination is the high fashion, high-end shopping area centered in Via Montenapoleone and Via Della Spiga. All the flagship stores of the famous names are there--Gucci, Versace etc. Armani has just opened up an exclusive department store which includes a flower shop, a cafe, a book store and a very expensive Japanese restaurant. There is no danger of us buying anything on this ramble, but it is sort of a kick and the experience of walking around the neighborhood--especially on the pedestrian-only street Via della Spiga--is pleasant. Seeing how the other half lives, so to speak......
It is time to sit down somewhere, so we hop on a bus that takes us to the Brera district--the sort of Bohemian-funky area which also has one of the major art galleries in the neighborhood. We get off the bus and start to stroll around the neighborhood, which is certainly very different than the high-end stores on Via Montenapoleone. Again, as city-lovers, we are struck with how livable a city Milan seems to be....at least from our tourist perspective.
We decide to take the afternoon bus tour--which will also go to the Brera Gallery, the Duomo, Piazza della Scala, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, as well as driving around other parts of the city; maybe we will learn something new and we will get to see the Last Supper. So we take a tram back to the hotel and rest for a bit before lunch and the tour.
About 1:30 pm, we head back down to the center by tram. Our destination is the Peck Food Emporium, a large store with all sorts of incredible food stuffs--meat, cheese, breads, fancy foods, fish---every thing you can think of. We walk around for a short time, but we need to eat lunch before the tour, so we head over to the Bar Peck--an informal restaurant run by the same people. Bar Peck is modern and stylish and we have a great lunch....carpaccio, followed by tortellini for Diana and bean and pasta soup for me. Everything is excellent.
As we eat lunch, we hear thunder claps and the sky starts to darken. When we leave, the rain has started. We make our way to a store in a covered arcade and buy an umbrella. Since it had been so nice earlier, we had left the umbrella in the hotel. We get to the tourist office (reasonably dry), buy our tickets and get on the bus.
The tour is pretty bad...the guide has a heavy accent and an unpleasant affect. She is hard to hear and doesn't have too much information anyway. One other couple on the tour signed up just to see the Last Supper and they are disappointed ot learn that the stop to see that painting is the final stop; they wanted to leave the tour after they saw the Last Supper. Things get worse in the Brera Gallery--the group is split into two and the first half is assigned to a Brera guide who is American and seems to be an art historian. I toy with the idea of moving into her group, but I don't. Bad decision--our bus tour guide knows next to nothing about the art and has a hard time explaining what she does know. We limp our way through, making the best of it.
Finally, the moment we are waiting for...we get into see the Last Supper. Since the fresco has been deteriorating almost since it was painted--and they've just spent twenty years restoring it--there are extraordinary precautions taken to preserve it now. The fresco is in the refectory of the Church and they have established a completely controlled climate for it. Only twenty five people at a time can see it and they enter through an air lock.
After all the buildup, I am afraid that the Supper is a bit of a letdown. Perhaps one expects too much. The colors seem very faded and the figures are somewhat fuzzy. It is in such an artificial enviroment that it seems somewhat overwhelmed. But we spend our 15 minutes looking it over and leave unimpressed. You win a few, you lose a few.....
We take a cab back to the hotel to rest a bit before meeting Marco Garibaldi, our friend from the Compuserve Italian forum, in front of the Duomo to go the rally protesting Berlusconi's attacks on some commentators who work for RAI, the Italian state television station. The rally is held at the Piazza Mercanti, a short way from the Duomo. The crowd of several thousand is quite mature and middle class. Marco mentions that for many of them it is their first demonstration. There are very few young people in the crowd. There are speakers and music and songs--the most striking is a World War II partisan song which is sung with fervor by most of the crowd. An Italian senator gives a stirring anti-Berlusconi speech, compete with--according to Marco--dead-on impersonations of Berlusconi. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, waving pinwheels (the symbol of the movement) and ringing bells--hand bells, bicycle bells, etc. After Marco goes to sign a petition, we leave for dinner.
We jump on a bus in back of the Duomo and head out to Marco's neighborhood, near the Porta Vittoria, about ten minutes away. We are concerned that at 8:30 pm on a Saturday night, we may have a problem getting a table, but we luck out at Bacco Bar, a wine bar turned restaurant. The Bacco Bar has a somewhat "creative" menu and good wine list. Marco wants us to try a cheese plate served with honey and other sweet condiments that he has enjoyed in the past. Diana is more enthusiastic about it than I am, but it was interesting. Diana follows that with a tagliata of beef, served on spinach cooked with balsamic vinegar, raisins and pine nuts, which she says is very good. I have a an excellent soup made with barley and vegetables and Marco has the tortellini. We have an Alsatian wine which goes well with everything. Diana has a tasty apple and blueberry tart for dessert and Marco has lemon sorbet with Calvados. We also have a black muscat dessert wine, which is very good.
It's a very nice evening with Marco...we discuss the Italian forum, Italian politics, the Middle East situation and his work. After dinner, we decide to have a drink at a nearby bar, but after trying three noisy,crowded places with no place to sit, we decide to call it a night. We have some difficulty finding a cab at midnight on Saturday night, but we finally call one which takes us back to the hotel quickly (we are much closer to our neighborhood that I had imagined) and it's off to sleep.
Jim and Diana
PS: This is Diana-thought I'd add a few lines. Jim is so thorough that I hesitate, but ...
It's great being here. By now, stuff is familiar enough to be comfortable, but we're still outsiders, with that touristic curiosity and wonderment. Again I marvel- how can all the women be so stylish, the men good looking (almost all), the children so adored by everyone - the shop windows so elegant, the restaurants so professional and and the food so simple and excellent, the wine so cheap and delicious. How is it I can walk 4-6 miles day (brought a pedometer along this trip) when I am such a slug at home. How come I still can't get out three consecutive grammatical sentences in Italian. Jim knows his way around Milan before we hit the streets - makes it so much easier. Being geographically challenged, I'd be in trouble on my own. He's a good tour guide and I happily troop along. It's been about 70 degrees by the way - perfect - glad it's not in the 90's like it was in DC when we left.
I have a wonderful book to recommend - River Town, Two Years on the Yangtze by Peter Hessler. It's his memoir of the two years he spent as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching literature in Fuling in Sechuan province in Western China. One chapter had been in the New Yorker a few years ago - I knew this was a book for me, when I read it then. Another plesasure of vacation - this is the first of what I think will be many wonderful books I've brought along.
Hope all is well with all of you.
Ciao,
Diana
We manage to sleep through the night and wake up at a normal hour; we hope that we have beaten the jet lag in the first day. After breakfast at the hotel, we head out to the tourist office near the Duomo to check about tickets for the Last Supper. The weather starts out gray, but by the time we get to the tram stop, the sky is blue, the sun is out and it is starting to get warm. We take the same tram that we had taken yesterday; already the route is familiar.
At the tourist office on the Piazza Duomo, we ask if there is any other way to get tickets--rather than dialing the continuously busy reservation line. The lady at the office says that she has the same problem and figures that they just leave the phone off the hook once they are sold out. She tells us that the tourist office buys 50 seats a day for their city bus tour and if we want to take the tour at 3 pm in the afternoon--for Euro 40 (about $35 US)--we can be assured of getting in to see the Last Supper. We usually avoid group bus tours, but if this is the only way to see the Last Supper, we will think about it.
We walk over to the Duomo and take a quick walk around. Today the sun is streaming through the stained glass windows and the vast space has a warmer glow than when it is overcast. We sit and read about its construction and all the pertinent details in the guide book. The inside space is so large that it is overwhelming, but the outside Gothic ornamentation grows on you--it is especially striking in the bright sunlight.
Our next destination is the high fashion, high-end shopping area centered in Via Montenapoleone and Via Della Spiga. All the flagship stores of the famous names are there--Gucci, Versace etc. Armani has just opened up an exclusive department store which includes a flower shop, a cafe, a book store and a very expensive Japanese restaurant. There is no danger of us buying anything on this ramble, but it is sort of a kick and the experience of walking around the neighborhood--especially on the pedestrian-only street Via della Spiga--is pleasant. Seeing how the other half lives, so to speak......
It is time to sit down somewhere, so we hop on a bus that takes us to the Brera district--the sort of Bohemian-funky area which also has one of the major art galleries in the neighborhood. We get off the bus and start to stroll around the neighborhood, which is certainly very different than the high-end stores on Via Montenapoleone. Again, as city-lovers, we are struck with how livable a city Milan seems to be....at least from our tourist perspective.
We decide to take the afternoon bus tour--which will also go to the Brera Gallery, the Duomo, Piazza della Scala, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, as well as driving around other parts of the city; maybe we will learn something new and we will get to see the Last Supper. So we take a tram back to the hotel and rest for a bit before lunch and the tour.
About 1:30 pm, we head back down to the center by tram. Our destination is the Peck Food Emporium, a large store with all sorts of incredible food stuffs--meat, cheese, breads, fancy foods, fish---every thing you can think of. We walk around for a short time, but we need to eat lunch before the tour, so we head over to the Bar Peck--an informal restaurant run by the same people. Bar Peck is modern and stylish and we have a great lunch....carpaccio, followed by tortellini for Diana and bean and pasta soup for me. Everything is excellent.
As we eat lunch, we hear thunder claps and the sky starts to darken. When we leave, the rain has started. We make our way to a store in a covered arcade and buy an umbrella. Since it had been so nice earlier, we had left the umbrella in the hotel. We get to the tourist office (reasonably dry), buy our tickets and get on the bus.
The tour is pretty bad...the guide has a heavy accent and an unpleasant affect. She is hard to hear and doesn't have too much information anyway. One other couple on the tour signed up just to see the Last Supper and they are disappointed ot learn that the stop to see that painting is the final stop; they wanted to leave the tour after they saw the Last Supper. Things get worse in the Brera Gallery--the group is split into two and the first half is assigned to a Brera guide who is American and seems to be an art historian. I toy with the idea of moving into her group, but I don't. Bad decision--our bus tour guide knows next to nothing about the art and has a hard time explaining what she does know. We limp our way through, making the best of it.
Finally, the moment we are waiting for...we get into see the Last Supper. Since the fresco has been deteriorating almost since it was painted--and they've just spent twenty years restoring it--there are extraordinary precautions taken to preserve it now. The fresco is in the refectory of the Church and they have established a completely controlled climate for it. Only twenty five people at a time can see it and they enter through an air lock.
After all the buildup, I am afraid that the Supper is a bit of a letdown. Perhaps one expects too much. The colors seem very faded and the figures are somewhat fuzzy. It is in such an artificial enviroment that it seems somewhat overwhelmed. But we spend our 15 minutes looking it over and leave unimpressed. You win a few, you lose a few.....
We take a cab back to the hotel to rest a bit before meeting Marco Garibaldi, our friend from the Compuserve Italian forum, in front of the Duomo to go the rally protesting Berlusconi's attacks on some commentators who work for RAI, the Italian state television station. The rally is held at the Piazza Mercanti, a short way from the Duomo. The crowd of several thousand is quite mature and middle class. Marco mentions that for many of them it is their first demonstration. There are very few young people in the crowd. There are speakers and music and songs--the most striking is a World War II partisan song which is sung with fervor by most of the crowd. An Italian senator gives a stirring anti-Berlusconi speech, compete with--according to Marco--dead-on impersonations of Berlusconi. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, waving pinwheels (the symbol of the movement) and ringing bells--hand bells, bicycle bells, etc. After Marco goes to sign a petition, we leave for dinner.
We jump on a bus in back of the Duomo and head out to Marco's neighborhood, near the Porta Vittoria, about ten minutes away. We are concerned that at 8:30 pm on a Saturday night, we may have a problem getting a table, but we luck out at Bacco Bar, a wine bar turned restaurant. The Bacco Bar has a somewhat "creative" menu and good wine list. Marco wants us to try a cheese plate served with honey and other sweet condiments that he has enjoyed in the past. Diana is more enthusiastic about it than I am, but it was interesting. Diana follows that with a tagliata of beef, served on spinach cooked with balsamic vinegar, raisins and pine nuts, which she says is very good. I have a an excellent soup made with barley and vegetables and Marco has the tortellini. We have an Alsatian wine which goes well with everything. Diana has a tasty apple and blueberry tart for dessert and Marco has lemon sorbet with Calvados. We also have a black muscat dessert wine, which is very good.
It's a very nice evening with Marco...we discuss the Italian forum, Italian politics, the Middle East situation and his work. After dinner, we decide to have a drink at a nearby bar, but after trying three noisy,crowded places with no place to sit, we decide to call it a night. We have some difficulty finding a cab at midnight on Saturday night, but we finally call one which takes us back to the hotel quickly (we are much closer to our neighborhood that I had imagined) and it's off to sleep.
Jim and Diana
PS: This is Diana-thought I'd add a few lines. Jim is so thorough that I hesitate, but ...
It's great being here. By now, stuff is familiar enough to be comfortable, but we're still outsiders, with that touristic curiosity and wonderment. Again I marvel- how can all the women be so stylish, the men good looking (almost all), the children so adored by everyone - the shop windows so elegant, the restaurants so professional and and the food so simple and excellent, the wine so cheap and delicious. How is it I can walk 4-6 miles day (brought a pedometer along this trip) when I am such a slug at home. How come I still can't get out three consecutive grammatical sentences in Italian. Jim knows his way around Milan before we hit the streets - makes it so much easier. Being geographically challenged, I'd be in trouble on my own. He's a good tour guide and I happily troop along. It's been about 70 degrees by the way - perfect - glad it's not in the 90's like it was in DC when we left.
I have a wonderful book to recommend - River Town, Two Years on the Yangtze by Peter Hessler. It's his memoir of the two years he spent as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching literature in Fuling in Sechuan province in Western China. One chapter had been in the New Yorker a few years ago - I knew this was a book for me, when I read it then. Another plesasure of vacation - this is the first of what I think will be many wonderful books I've brought along.
Hope all is well with all of you.
Ciao,
Diana
