Singin' in the Rain in Milan

OK, it took us over 3 hours and a bottle and a half of wine to post our first blog entry. At this rate, we'll be finished with the blog for the 7-week trip by the end of the year! Adding pictures via the iPad is very labor intensive since I have to do it in HTML (a web-based programming language). I'm assuming I'll get better at it as we go....or else there will be no pictures in future posts.

I planned to get up early (3am or 4am due to jet lag) and blog, but we slept until 8:30am! I saw a nice warm glow from the window and smiled as i assumed it was sunny out. It turns out the walls in the courtyard were yellow! Alas, it was cloudy when we actually stepped outside. Found a place to have a fantastic and LARGE breakfast complete with espresso and pastries and lots more! Went back to the room to shower and came out to RAIN! If it wasn't so warn I would have thought I was at home. It rained off and on all day, but that did not stop us. We were wondering where all the "sheet people" were (the Africans who come up to sell cheap knock-offs laid out on white sheets so they can wrap their goods up to run at the first sight of policia), but they quickly showed up EVERYWHERE selling cheap umbrellas!

We visited the museum inside the castle....out of the rain for a bit. There was a section devoted to music and contained an extensive collection of old and interesting instruments. The museum also had a section devoted to Michaelangelo.


Heaven on a Plate - Fresh Porcini


We wanted to find the non-touristy area today, but the streets are so circular here that we kept ending up back where we started! We passed thru the high end shopping district and the financial business district. Lots of suits and people passing by with 'purpose'. No purchases for us, but it was fun to look. We eventually found a restaurant with a very friendly staff, but they were closing their kitchen in 10 minutes! We managed to order quickly and had a fabulous meal with wine.

I had pasta with fresh porcini mushrooms...it was the first time I ever had fresh ones and they were wonderful. The waiters loved my iPad and one helped us find good restaurants in Bologna on it. Followed the meal up with gelato while we texted with the girls. I managed to squeeze 4 flavors into a piccolo size dish. Mackenzi also informed us that she had to do 3 hours of chores and said that she didn't know how dad did it!I



Quite a Drain Spout



Looks like Gotham, not Milan!

 We wandered back to the duomo to climb to the top for a view of the spires and the city. For some reason they close the stairs at 4pm, but not the lift....I'm guessing it's a ploy to make more money as the stairs were open to come down! We were lucky enough to have the rains stop for our time at the top of the Duomo. The pictures today look like they are in black and white, but it was just a very grey day....like home. The massive structure of the church is amazing and beautiful.

Afterwards, we wandered around the back streets looking for the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana for the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit. It was closed already so we decided to see it in the morning before heading off to Parma. Searched for a wine bar to sit, relax and blog, but could not find one that was not on a noisy street. Headed back to the Gallaria where there are no cars. Ordered wine and our waiter kept bringing us plates of appetizers. We ended up eating so much there that we did not need dinner!


Blogging at a Bar with Free Food!!

 He directed us to another wine bar where ordered more wine and finished our first blog. I hope this one goes more smoothly when I add the pictures!

We managed to stay up late enough to FaceTime with Mackenzi. Kailin was still at cheer practice so we missed her. We made plans to get up at 6:30am so we could talk with her before she goes to bed. The technology is nice as we got to see Mackenzi as we talked, although she continually made funny faces!