The Last Supper, Milan

We grabbed a quick bite in the restaurant of the hotel today. I also mailed a postcard to Mom and L.J.’s parents.

We had arranged with our taxi driver that we used on Sunday to pick us up again today to take us to the train station in Como. They picked us up at 8:45 am and off we went to the train station. Today we had reserved seats in Business Class ($14.90 Euro pp). We ran into some of Barry’s NTMA friends at Como who were going to be in seats close to us on the train to Milan. They were funny and we enjoyed chatting with them. Our train departed at 10:10 am, arriving in Milano Centrale station at 10:50 am.

We arrived back into a very busy Milan train station and helped our new friends make sure they knew where their connecting train was. Then we found our way out onto the street with our luggage. Fortunately our hotel was just a short walk from the station, we were staying at the Hilton Milan. With all our luggage it seemed like a decent walk so we were happy when we saw it!

We dumped our luggage and prepped for our afternoon tour. We were meeting our tour guide, Michaela this afternoon at 2:30 PM in the Piazza Santa Maria delle Grazie so we decided to Uber there and then see what lunch options were nearby since we had time to eat. We split our tour time with her, so we had part of our tour today, then the second portion tomorrow. This was supposed to be an Uber XL – well, it had a third seat but Barry was basically hugging his knees to his chest. The front seat usually would be open but this driver had a car seat installed there (which isn’t exactly the safest place?)

We arrived to the Piazza and there was a restaurant across the street with outdoor seating so we grabbed a spot and then took turns going over to order our food. Of course, for dessert there was gelato!

We enjoyed people watching for a little while in the Piazza, we had a few rain drops but not bad and soon Michaela was there to meet us. First up on our tour was to see The Last Supper.

Our first subway ride of the trip, heading to the Duomo. Michaela suggested a 24 hour pass so we could use it today and tomorrow.

The Duomo di Milano is the seat of the Archbishop of Milan and dedicated to the Nativity of St. Mary. The cathedral took nearly six centuries to complete. Construction began in 1386 and was completed in 1965, although the restoration and upkeep is continuous.

At the left of the altar is located the most famous statue of all the cathedral, the Saint Bartholomew Flayed (1562), by Marco d’Agrate, the saint shows his flayed skin thrown over his shoulders like a stole.^[

We found our astrological signs along the meridian line. From Wikipedia: The meridian line was laid on the floor of the Duomo at the west end so as to be accessible and not interfere with religious services. A hole was inserted in the roof near the south wall at a height of 24 metres (79 ft). The Duomo is not quite wide enough for a hole at this height so the meridian line extends up the north wall for about 3 metres (9.8 ft). As the beam of light crossed the brass line and indicated solar noon, a signal was given towards the tower of the Palazzo dei Giureconsulti. A person there alerted Sforzesco Castle and a cannon was fired to announce solar noon to the city. This signal was then used to set all of the city clocks to the same time.

The line was examined in 1976 by the architects of the Duomo and astronomers from Brera. There was a deviation in azimuth by up to 7 millimetres (0.28 in) and in level by up to 14 millimetres (0.55 in) but the accuracy of the line still enabled the fixing of solar noon to within 2 seconds.

We said goodbye to Michaela after we finished at the church. It had rained again while we were inside so she said tomorrow would be a better option to go on top of the Duomo for that portion of the tour. Some more sights as we headed back to the hotel.

We decided we had enough energy to out and find some dinner this evening.

Surprise! We went with the bruschetta as our appetizer. L.J. had the minestrone soup and then has one of the specials, the Ossobuco, which was Occobuco veal with risotto Carnaroli alla milanese, and included Tiramisu as his dessert. Barry went for the Milanese veal cutlet. Brenda chose the chicken with baked postatoes and mixed vegetables. I had the orecchiette with fresh tomato and buffalo mozzarella (still trying to recreate that delicious dish my first night in Lake Como).