Milan

The front of the Castle
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We arrived at the Milan Linate airport at around 3:15 pm, due to a few delays in leaving London Heathrow.  The flight was pleasant and short, although our seats were separated.

The difference between Italy and London was immediately apparent.  In London, customs took an hour, whereas in Italy, we breezed through in 30 seconds without even be asked if we were there for "business or pleasure?"  We retrieved our bags and started walking out of the terminal to our bus stop.  This is about the time we realized that nobody spoke English.  After some confusion over where to buy bus tickets, we were on our way to the city, and our hotel.  in order to get there, we took the subway, which, copared to most cities, was very efficient, but, compared to the Tube, was noisy, dirty, and crowded.  And! Through our entire stay, nobody checked our tickets!

Yay Opera!

Duomo
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Upon arriving at the Hotel Kennedy, we recieved a wonderful surprise: a double room, all to oursevles (not the surprise), complete with our own balcony...and a BATHROOM!!!! The best part was the the shower was right next to the sink and toilet without any curtain or tub to separate them.  But it was still ours!

We slowly meandered to the Teatro alla Scala, soaking up the architecture of the Duomo and the galleria as we went.  We arrived at a ticket office, intending to purchase a cheap back row seat like we had for Avenue Q.  instead we left with cheap thirdrow seats to the concert that night, which meant that we had no time to change into our opera clothes.  We got a quick bite to eat at a strange cafe/antique shop before going to the theater, one of the most famous opera houses in the world.  The concert was beautiful, though perhaps it was slightly outshined by the splendor of the theater itself.  The first half was Schumann, and the second half was Brahms, sung by a soprano, a mezzosoprano, tenor, and bass, a very talented quartet.  they were accompanied by two pianists, but one piano.  The theater was built in a circle with ground seating on the floor, and opera boxes lining the walls.  Pictures to come...Jessie managed to snag a few before an angry attendent started yelling at her in Italian.  The

Statue of Leonardo Di Vinci
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Milan Continued...

After the concert, we walked around the city a bit more and then went back for an early evening in our really really nice hotel room, fully equiped with its own balcony and bathroom!  We both took very long showers that night!

In the morning we headed off early to do some sight-seeing.  We first headed off to the big castle in town.  It was an early castle of the family that ruled the area because of their wealth, whose name is escaping me now.  The castle had a ton of exhibits but we checked out the main art gallery, and saw an unfinished michaelangelo sculpture.  It was the highlight of the art along with a beautiful deteriorating ceiling fresco by Da Vinci.  He used to live in the castle for a while and helped decorate a lot of the rooms.

Ftbol on a big screen at night in the Duomo Plaza
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Next we headed over to the main art museum in the city.  The museum is located right above the art school for students, so the atmosphere was very lively.  I think they were in the middle of finals.  Upstairs we went to the museum and saw a lot of relgious art work.  Nothing too spactacular compared to the other art we've seen already, so we left after a bit and walked through the high fashion end of Milan.  Though a lot of the shops were similar to beverly hills and rodeo drive, they weren't nearly as neat and clean or pretty, so we just walked right through on our way to the Duomo in the middle of town.  At around dinner time we walked around the inside of the duomo, which was dimily lit and creepy I thought.  Though all the art was very beautiful and it looked a lot like the other churches we had been to but not as large.  Finally we had planned to try and see Da Vinci's Last Supper, but we didn't have time to make it all the way out there.  Instead we settled on heading back to the hotel and spending our evening at the internet cafe who's internet broke right before we finished an entry.  To salvage the evening though we got some delicious gelato and went to bed early for our trip to Venice.  All in all, Milan was not that great a city, but the trip to the opera definitly made it work it.  Plus our hotel gave us a nice chance to rest from all the sightseeing.  Though it wasn't the most fun city, we still had a good time.  And in the morning we leave for Venice!