ST. TRAVELS

Today we stood in awe before Leonardo DaVinci’s painting of the Last Supper, walked on the roof of the fourth-largest cathedral in the world, and rode Segway people-movers around Milan before and after sunset for over three hours!

The Last Supper is a breathtaking moment of awe and reverence.  We pre-purchased tickets in the states and arrived for a 9 AM walk through. We thoroughly enjoyed every second we were allowed to be in that room.  The beauty of this wall painting is in DaVinci’s brilliant use of perspective which causes it to come alive. The center point of the perspective lines-up directly behind the right temple of Christ’s head, and as we walked slowly from the back of the room to the front the painting seemed to expand in 3D, emanating from Christ as the center.

Michelangelo also chose a different moment to paint than most.  Instead of using the moment when Judas dips his bread in the cup, this brilliant artist chose the moment just before that – when it was announced that someone would betray him – and everyone is questioning themselves and second-guessing each other:  “Is it I?”

 We then walked to the Duomo, which is the fourth largest church in the world.  It took an hour to see everything on the inside. The second part of the tour is to walk down stairs to the archeological digs where we viewed the baptismal site, the foundation of a previous sanctuary, and ancient tombs… all dating back to the years of the sixth century.  Wow!  Finally, we took an elevator ride to the roof where we walked around the entire structure for another hour – under the flying buttresses, and up to the roof top. The Cathedral has 3,400 statues across hundreds of spires emanating from the roof and walls.

 In the evening we rode Segways during a private tour for just the four of us, arranged through Sue’s negotiating skills via email.  Our tour guide grew up in a town near here, and was thoroughly knowledgable In all things Milan, and the history of Italy.  We had smiles on our faces as we whisked through streets, parks, castles, town-squares, and around historical buildings.

Combine all that with outdoor dining in Italy three times and great gelato, it was a perfect day in Milan.