Milan, Lombardy, Italy Monday, September 3, 2012

Police Everywhere

We get up and pack, then head down for breakfast right at 0800 when they open. The girl who serves seems a little upset as she is not ready. I think she is more upset at herself than at us. At first we thought maybe the hours were different on Monday from what they told us yesterday, but other people showed up shortly after us so we hadn’t messed up. We managed to eat some more great pastries, and warm chocolate croissants, before we waddled back up to our room. When I was paying the bill, the owner offered to drive us to Bellagio, but I turned it down as we had time and need to work off at least one croissant. We head out for our morning stair stepper, and buy our boat tickets. It is back to being cloudy today and the ride is a little on the cool side between the breeze on the lake and the increased velocity caused by the boat.
Arriving in Varenna, we slowly walk to the train station. We have about. 45 minute wait when we get there but find a seat so we are at least fairly comfortable.
When the train arrives, it is pretty crowded so we grab two separate seats about 6 rows apart. It is not long before I hear Carol making friends with everyone around her. Unsociable me just gets out my IPad to look at our transportation options when we get to Milan. I decide the subway day passes are not worth it for us so we will just wing it and buy tickets as we need them.
When we get to Milan, I get a map from the tourist information place, and we check out how to buy tickets to Bergamo, when we leave 3 days from now.
When we exit the station, we discover it is raining. We see our tram at the station, so we do not put on any rain gear and ask where to buy tickets. At the Tabacchi shop (tobacco shop) which is pretty common for bus, tram, and subway tickets in Italy. Tickets bought and the tram hasn’t left so we hop on.
Getting off at Porta Venezia, we huddle under the small covered stop trying to spot our motel. No such luck and no further helpful written directions, we get out our rain coats and pack covers as it is really raining hard now. We cross the street and find a covered doorway where we feel safe enough to look at the map and try to figure out where we are. I can see Porta Venezia on the map but cannot find the street we are on. It shouldn’t be that difficult so we go another tow blocks up and I still cannot match street names on the map we have. Time to be a non-man and ask for directions. We are by a fancy hotel so i walk in and ask the desk clerk for some help and he marks on the map where we are and where the street is that our hotel is on and explains how to get there.
Back out in the rain we go, first across the street, than to the left, back to the right, and then we see a sign for our hotel with an arrow pointing the way.
Found it! Our pants are quite wet, and so are we from sweating. The rain coats do keep the rain out but they are warm with the humidity so we get wet from the inside.
Matteo at the front desk is very helpful and gets us all checked in and our room is ready. It is very nice, clean, has a safe, and faces the back courtyard. Air conditioning that works, helps us cool off, as we eat lunch while our pants dry.
We had planned to spend the afternoon seeing the Duomo, another church, and the Galleria. We know we will not be able to go on the Duomo roof with the rain but figure we can still see the inside and the treasury if we want.

Funeral at the Duomo

We go to the nearby subway station and catch the train to the Duomo stop. Stepping outside, we can see something is going on as we walk around the back side of the church. Police are everywhere, soldiers too, and news cameras. What have we walked into? There sure are a lot of priests and nuns as well. As we round the corner there is a huge crowd in front of the cathedral.
We have walked into the funeral of Cardinal Martini. We saw his death on the news the other night, and they were talking about his funeral on Monday, but did not realize that it was here in Milan. I ask a soldier not to shoot me and if the church will be open for visitors. He says after 3:00 o’clock. It is 1400 so we have an hour or so. The rain is lightening up so we decide to visit the church of Santa Maria at St. Satiro. We walk the short distance only to find that it does not open until 1530.

Always Be Nice to the Cops

We walk back to the Paizza del Duomo and visit the Galleria. The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele was built during Italian unification in 1870. It was the first building in Milan to have electricity. It is a four storied, glass domed shopping area. Expensive shops like Prada, shared the space with what I thought was quite humorous, McDonalds. There are all these expensive stores, and Italian type cafes, and sitting there quite out of place in this Italian scene was Mickey D’s.

I Crushed His Little…

We did get too find the mosaic of the provisional Capitol of Italy in the 1860s, Torino. The mosaic of its symbol the torino, or little bull, has good luck attached too it. Locals step on the bulls little testicles for good luck. It supposedly works better if you step and spin. Not ones to turn down the possibility of good fortuna, we each take our turn.
We exit out the other side of the Galleria into a piazza with a statue of Leonardo Da Vinci. The statue from 1870 reminds people that Da Vinci spent many years here in Milan working for the Sforza family who dominated Milan. Leonardo re-engineered Milan’s canal system which enabled Milan to be a major port into the 1920s by connecting it to the Po River and Lake Maggiore.

3D Effect

We now head back to the San Sapiro church which is now open. It is small but is important because in 1242 a gambler who was on a losing streak took out his anger by hitting the baby Jesus in the Madonna and Child alterpiece. Blood miraculously spurted out and the church has been on the pilgrimage trail since.
It also has a 3D apse created in the Renaissance by Donato Bramante because the church did not have the real estate for a true apse. When you get to the side chapels you can see that it is flat and a mathematical and artistic illusion.
We head back to the Duomo Cathedral and see that people are going in so we walk past the still present guards right into a funeral Mass for the Cardinal. So now we have attended the Funeral Mass of a Cardinal. Standing room only, we pay our respects, and exit so those who are still waiting outside may get in. There is a long line as they only let so many in at a time and they have big screens in the piazza showing the mass and the audio also. It is quite a sight.

Great Store Bought Meal

We walk around some more and then decide to walk back to the Hotel as it is no longer raining at all. We thought we might find a place to eat near the hotel but there are surprisingly few places and they do not open for another hour or so. We go to the market and buy a roasted chicken, fresh mozzarella, tomato, onion focaccia bread, and as Billy Joel sang, a bottle of red, a bottle of white.
Great meal in the room and we are ready to call it a night. We didn’t get to do exactly what we had planned, but seeing the funeral in this great cathedral which can hold 40,000 people was something special to stumble into.
CNC

Expenses
9.20E-ferry ride to Varenna
12.90E- 2 train tickets to Milan
3E-tram ride to hotel
3E-metro subway to Duomo
14.30E-gourmet Dinner from market with 2 bottles of wine
66E- Eurohotel Milan

Miles Walked- 7.25 Miles