La Dolce Vita

We are indeed living "the sweet life". travelling every year to different places around the world. This adventure brings us to Italy, one of our tamer countries to visit unless you enjoy driving a vehicle in street-busy, large cities.......which we are not doing! We arrived in Milan two days ago following an overnight flight from Canada. After checking into our Airbnb apartment we did a short walk around the neighbourhood and went to a nice restaurant recommended by our host, Gian. The pizza and salad were good and the house wine was very drinkable.......especially when a half litre cost only $5. We were off to a very good start.

After an unplanned 13.5 hour badly needed sleep, we walked around the historic city centre taking in many sites.......Parco Sempioni with its Arena Civica (1897, still in use today) and the Sforza Castle (15th century, former Duke of Milan built) which was surrounded by a large and dry deep moat, currently guarded by (killer?) cats....might be a good time to stage an attack if you dream about having your own castle. Next was the Duomo (Cathedral) which was magnificent to behold. We waited patiently in line for 30 minutes to enter the tightly secured Cathedral which can hold up to 40,000 people (3rd largest in the world) but only seemed to allow approximately 200 people during non-mass times......perhaps we shouldn't have slept in and caught the 7:30 am mass :-)  Then we walked through the Galleria Emanuele II, an elegant outdoor shopping arcade with a glass roof, filled with stores we can't afford to shop at.....although we did consider going into the Armani or Gucci store to purchase one of their  classy shopping bags to use for our dirty laundry. Our final stop was at Santa Maria delle Grazie, a church built in 1490 but more famous for its refectory where Leonardo da Vinci spent 4 years (1494 - 1498) painting his Last Supper masterpiece. Fortunately I had made an advance reservation to get inside which is necessary all the time since they only allow 30 people at a time for 15 minute intervals via several sealed rooms to protect the massive mural from deteriorating. Tired after walking 15+ km's on our first day we purchased dinner and a good bottle of Italian wine (a $20 favourite at home) for a total of $12 and retreated to our apartment in a very good mood.

Today we took the express train (up to 300 km/hr) to Turin (Torino), home of the 2006 Winter Olympics but with a 22C temperature on this lovely October day. We walked all around the city centre, first along the well used River Po and then into the older part of Turin. The city buildings almost all seem to have porticos.....covered arched walkways which are wonderful on hot or rainy days. Our first stop was at Mole Antonelliana (1864 start), a city landmark with it's 167 metre spire on top of what is the still the tallest unreinforced (non steel skeleton) brick structure in the world. We tempted fate by taking an elevator to the top for a scenic view of the entire city. The building also housed the National Museum of Cinema showcasing the Italian film industry which got its start in Turin and from 1906 - 1916 was the film production capital of the world......until Hollywood took over. There were many interesting exhibits including the use of shadows, mirrors and the beginnings of 3D technology. Next we wandered over the massive daily market where we purchased some sunglasses to replace the ones we forgot to pack. We had lunch in one of the large public squares, went into a few well dazzled churches and walked around the impressive Palace Reale grounds (16th century). We then took the high speed train back to Milan but not before picking up a nice Borolo wine which came from one of the nearby Piedmont region wineries.

Tomorrow, before leaving Milan, we will pick up our rental car to tour around the Lakes region starting with Lake Como. More to come.

Arrivederci

This is how we know when it's time to leave on a trip.

This is part of the moat outside the Sforza Castle in Milan. You may need to expand this picture to view the cats spaced out protecting the castle.

An interior section of the Sforza Castle.

So far my dear wife has not succumbed to the mounds of gelato seen everywhere but it is only a matter of time.

The impressive Duomo in Milan with a small portion of the line-up to get in along the bottom right of the picture.

My princess resting while I wait in the line-up to get us into the Duomo.

The Galleria Emanuele II where the shopkeepers wouldn't want the weather to interfere with your desire to spend money.

Leonardo's masterpiece The last Supper when Jesus announced to his apostles that one of them would betray him. It was fascinating to hear how Leonardo depicted the scene.

The Piazza Vittorio Veneta in Turin. The porticos were always behind the building pillars

Almost every church we enter is stunning inside and always has a style of its own.