Milan, Lombardy, Italy Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Milan Cathedral

It was raining lightly when we woke up but we are hopeful it will clear a little. Breakfast is the same as yesterday except there are scrambled eggs which we take advantage of. They are only luke warm but it is nice to have something different from the normal European breakfast. I forgot to mention yesterday that they also have little hot dogs and cold beans. Breakfast of somebodies champions, I am not sure where that influence is coming from.
By the time we head out it is not raining anymore. We plan to visit the Duomo cathedral, funeral free, and go up on the roof of it, if the weather is descent.

Beautiful

We go inside the cathedral, which I read is the third largest in Catholicism behind the Vatican and another one in Spain. The one in Cologne Germany felt larger so maybe it is but I will have to check it out later. The Milan Duomo has gothic architecture and has more than 2000 statues inside and hundreds outside. It has 52 one hundred foot tall pillars and holds 40,000 people. It was in construction from 1386 to 1810.
The church has a relic that contains a nail from the cross of Jesus. It also has plenty of tremendous stained glass windows, some dating back to the 1400’s. We visit a crypt where St Charles ( not me) Borromeo, a former Bishop of Milan is buried.

 

Climbing the Roof

We exit the cathedral and than pay for the pleasure of climbing 250 steps to the roof. It is still a bit humid and so little day pack only or not, I sweat. The views from the roof are nice but it is half closed for renovation work. The main spire is also covered in scaffolding except for the gold Madonna statue on top. Carol reads that they have been restoring parts of the roof for six years and it has cost over 70 million Euros. Roof inspection complete, we climb back down and start out for our next destination, the Monumentale Cimiterio. It is about an hours walk and we encounter all types of neighborhoods along the way.

Pictures Like This on Tombstone

The cemetery is quite large with an entry building containing crypts and what we think is a chapel. We walk along tombstones that truly are monumental, housing family members since the 1870s. Many graves have pictures of the deceased in a kind of an enamel looking background. We try to have lunch here but Carol brought the killer yellow jacket and his friends with her from Bellagio so we are chased away from our bench. We stroll some more and than decide to walk across town to see a few more churches I read about this morning. We walk through one neighborhood that has a great feel. Quiet sidewalk cafes, benches along the way, and not a tourist in sight, except for us!

St. Ambrogio Built 379-386

We weave and bob through the streets of Milan to the Church of St Ambrose. This is a very cool church, not elegant and large like the cathedral, but oozing catholic history, cool. It is much older founded around 389. We get to see the crypt of St Ambrose from that same time period. The structure itself just feels ancient and you can imagine what has been said within these walls.
We start to head back to the Duomo area with a stop at one last church, church of San Lorenzo. This is a simple round church and is also older than the Duomo.

Roman Columns From Third Century

There is the remains of an ancient wall outside the church and we are in a younger area with students and such hanging out by the wall and piazza outside the church. We are quite tired now so I do not think we absorbed the history here and headed towards home by way of the Duomo. We were going to eat at Ciao again but it does not serve hot food until 1800 and it is only 1700. Since we are tired, we decide to just pick up some food at the market by the hotel and eat in. We end up with focaccia bread, marinated red peppers, marinated eggplant, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, an Italian beer, bottle of wine, and lemon gelato for dessert.
Dessert was first of course, and the rest was just plain excellent. Time to write a little, plan our travel for tomorrow, and go to sleep. Buona Notte!
CNC

Expenses
14E-Duomo Roof
1.19E-Coke at Billa Grocery Store.
17.30E-dinner, dessert,beer and wine from market
66E- Eurohotel

Miles Walked- 11 Miles