Leg 1 - two nights in Milan
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Thu 19 July 2007 I flew Alitalia from London Heathrow to Milan where I would spend two nights at the Hotel Gonzaga - a five minute walk from Milan's impressive station. The hotel itself was excellent - on the third floor of an office building, it was quiet, clean, and was air-conditioned. I would definitely stay there again. Milan has this wonderful culture of l'apertivo. Because they eat such huge lunches comprising several courses they are not up to eating much dinner, unless it's very late - so you can cruise around the bars buying cocktails and dipping into the free snacks. It didn't discover this until my second night in Milan so I had a fabulous dinner in a sea food restaurant on my first night, (only blighted by the very loud Americans at the next table) and indulged myself with the free snacks on the second! |
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Fri 20 July 2007 In the morning I set out for the Pinacotera di Brera - which was of course shrouded in scaffolding - with the aim of seeing only three things - my usual modus operandi for galleries and museums. I was unimpressed by St Mark Preaching in Alexandria started by Gentile Bellini in 1504 and finished after his death by his brother Giovanni; adored Francesco Hayez's The Kiss - her dress just called out to be touched; and couldn't find Modigliani's Portrait of Moise Kisling. |
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I stopped for a very cold lager at the Bar Brera where a hysterical Italian girl conducted a raging argument with some poor soul at the other end of her mobile, followed by lunch at the rightly recommended Nabucco in Via Fiori Chiari and although I can't remember what I had for my second course - some kind of fish I think - the first was splendid! |
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I had pre-booked a bus tour at 2.30pm and we took in La Scala Milan's Opera House; and the Galleria Vittoria Emanuele II which I remembered from my 1969 visit - but was appalled at one particular piece of vandalism. (See the first four pictures - imagining turning yourself through 360 degrees.) I rubbed my heel for luck on the testicles of the Taurean bull (although previous pilgrims seem to have located them in a strange place!) We popped out of the Galleria onto the Piazza del Duomo and the Duomo itself - the third largest cathedral in the world. We then piled back onto the bus to go to the Cenacola to see Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper which we reached through a series of air-locks in order to preserve the right level of humidity (lack of) to prevent any further deterioration of the painting. Since I came back I found a very interesting site that discusses The Knife in Hand mystery (whose hand is holding the knife behind Judas's back). http://www.lisashea.com/hobbies/art/handknife.html
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Sat 21 July 2007 After dropping of my luggage at the excellent left luggage office at Milano Centrale Stazione (do not exceed 20kg - you will have to repack!) I went back to the very impressive Duomo and took the lift to the roof. It has 135 spires with over 2,000 statues crammed onto the roof, the spires, and into the facade - no wonder it took around 500 years to build and wasn't completed until 1813! For more information see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duomo_di_Milano I collected my luggage after lunch and caught the train to Brig - happily I had the carriage to myself! |
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