Summary
After a really nice buffet breakfast at our hotel, we walked to and around the Brera neighborhood (“Milan’s most charming district”). Wandered through Chiesa di San Mauricio Al Monastero Maggiore aka “Church ofGold” aka Sistine Chapel of Milan. Flat white coffee on Starbucks Roastery terrace then toured inside. Got sandwiches to go from All’Antico Vinaio and ate lunch on our terrace. Then went to Santa Maria delle Grazie for guided tour of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, The Last Supper. Walked through Sforza Castle and the Parco Sempione. Finally, took a recorded walking tour of the Navigli neighborhood ending with dinner al fresco at Osteria Casale.
Details
So nice to be sleeping in a real bed again. Refreshed, we head down to breakfast. The coffee is strong, tasty and unlimited, just the way I like it. As for food there is a lot to choose from, and lots of prepared, portioned fresh fruit.
Well fed we head out for the day. It’s cool (58°) but sunny. At this hour the crowds are minimal. What traffic we see is workmen with their tools and raw materials and deliveries for restaurants. The people we do see are mostly smartly dressed and seem to be Italian.
We head to Brera, a part of town known for its narrow, windy, cobblestone streets with cute shops and restaurants. It doesn’t disappoint.
At one point we stop and watch three ladies preparing pasta. It’s a local specialty where one girl takes a portion of the pasta dough and rolls it into a short, thin snake shape, after which the next girl rolls/twirls it around a rigid metal wire to give it a unique shape. I’m sure they’ve been doing this for years, but essentially it’s just branding. “OMG, you’ve got to get to Milan, their pasta’s amazeballs.”
Our next stop is a self guided tour of the Sistine Chapel of Milan. Impressive. The religious love their stories and artifacts. The renderings of Noah’s Ark include moo cows, which we appreciate from our childhood. It also includes a pair of birds we know of as Huppe. Look it up. It’s a bird with an impressive crown. When we are in France this trip, in Provence, we will be staying at the farm of the huppe. Same bird. I guess when they said they were two of everything, they really meant it. Hopefully not also termites and mosquitoes, but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do.
We walk back towards our hotel and stop at the Starbucks Roastery. Sitting at an authorized table we order a pair of flat whites. Delicious. Afterwords we join a long line to go inside and look around. Very impressive. Lots of attractive sweet and savory prepared, ready-to-eat food on display and quite a few choices of hot and cold coffee and tea. There are about a gadzillion people inside though the place’s single room cavernous size keeps it from feeling crowded. None of its the kind of food a prediabetic should be eating, and so we push on.
We go for lunch nearby. Sandwiches. To go, to enjoy on our lovely balcony. We again hoping a long line of people waiting to get in. After we get our sandwiches, as we’re leaving, we count how many people are in line. At least 30. Popular place.
After lunch and decompress we walk the long trek to our Last Supper tour. The sun is blazing and it feels hot, though it’s just in the lower 70s. Then again, it’s only April!
We enjoy our tour and learn a lot. The local duke (of Sforza) paid Leonardo da Vinci to paint it in the food hall (cafeteria) of a monastery. The event is Passover and the tablecloth in the painting is only used once a year for this special occasion. Spending most of the year folded in some cupboard, the cloth really shows the fold marks. That, plus the perspective (vanishing point) style Leonardo used, truly yields a real looking tablecloth. I can imagine many a mother looking at the painting and thinking “I knew I should have ironed that tablecloth”.
Our (exactly) 15 minutes with the painting up, we head out and walk over to the Sforza Castle, undoubtedly the home of the aforementioned duke. The imposing edifice is breathtaking, but we’re here for the gardens/park in back. What these other 1,000s of tourists are doing here, I can’t say.
The gardens (that we see) is more like an enormous park with old majestic trees and lots of grass. Innumerable locals are sitting here and there, soaking in the sun and enjoying their picnics.
We walk the wide pedestrian mall back to our hotel, stopping at the post office to buy postcard stamps.
After more chilling in the room we head back out to do a pre-recorded audio tour of the canal to the south of the city. It’s fun and we learn a lot. The canals were important to the city. The stone for the Duomo were floated down on barges from Lake Maggiore (tax free) thanks to the canals. Leonardo had a role in the canals (locks?).
Today they’re used for tourists and rowers. On the banks are an endless array of restaurants and bars (and shops). There are lots of tourists here, especially in the late afternoon (now) for their aparitivo (light cocktail, like a Negroni or Aperol Spritz with complementary snacks). So social.
We see where Leonardo painted Woman with ermine. We see an old laundromat. It was run by men only, back then, as there wasn’t enough work for all and so men, who made the rules, ensured only men worked there. Not woman’s work, apparently. We see a huge columned arch built by Napoleon to honor (hm, who was it??) oh yeah, himself. Jeez Louise, what kind of a person would do such a thing?
We visit the covered market with lots of sellers, many of whom are immigrants selling packaged food and spices from back home. We enjoy a delicious Italian dinner outside in the cool of the evening with tasty Italian wine. What a life.
Our walk home is 30 minutes, which is good because we need to settle the food. Then off to bed. We’re not yet comfortable with the new timezone we’re in, but hopefully soon.
Photos
