Hello all! T here again...poor Kyla is pooped!
We really do wear ourselves out by the end of each day. It makes sleep that much sweeter!
Anyways, today began a little later than normal, due to our late night at the opera last night! But thankfully, because it's was a B&B, we once again had breakfast already taken care of, which is always nice! Once we were done eating, we had to bid a farewell to Verona and get on the cheap train to Milan!
After 2 hours of train travel, we stepped out in Milan, the fashion capital of the world! (Even surpassing Paris!) It took some thought and wondering to figure out that we needed to use the metro system (subway) to get to the side of town where our hotel is. And that's always a fun task. NOT. Getting to the metro, on the correct metro, and disembarking at the correct stop is always prone for mistakes. We are learning though! Then always comes the other fun time of actually finding the hotel. Thankfully, we had a good map (that we picked up from the tourist information booth in the train station) and it wasn't too difficult to find the hotel. We checked in, put our bags down, and found a taxi to take us clear to the other side of town (more expensive, but far easier) to where we were hoping to get in to see Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper painting!! After the quick and easy taxi ride, we arrived and snapped a few pics and then ventured in to see if we could get in. And ALAS! Their time slots were all sold out for the day. (They only let in groups of 25 people at a time, and can only be in there for a certain amount of time). Unfortunately, this was one part of travel we learned the hard way...you really do need to call ahead and make a reservation to see a crumbling painting! Who knew? So the best we could do was to touch the building it's housed in! haha. Yes, we did. But we were also able to get into the church right next to where it is, so we looked around that!
So, a bit down-trodden, we decided to go and get food. We found a cafe that looked good and we both ended up with a plate of rich and filling lasagna. Then we went to go see the Sforzesco Castle that the guy at the hotel said we needed to see. It actually ended up being quite cool, even though I don't know much of the history behind it.
The castle backs up to this huge, beautiful, public park that we definitely strolled through for awhile. It was certainly one of those times where we just slowed down and soaked in that we were in Milan, Italy!! And of course, that park stroll included a magnum bar for Kyla, and a cone of gelato for me!
We kept our strolling up and found ourselves in the Duomo Piazza. It was actually a pretty neat looking duomo too! But unfortunately, we were coming around too late in the day and it wasn't open for us to go inside anymore : [ So we just took solace in circling around it.
After that, we made our way back to our hotel, where we have spent ample time relaxing and resting. We are on the tip of a new adventure as this is our last night in Italy. Bright and early tomorrow morning, we get on a train to head towards FRANCE!! We cannot believe that we are already done with our time in Italy, and that now France awaits...
We are excited for a new land and a new face! My sister will be joining us for our time in France, and we are ELATED with all of our plans for southern France!! We can't wait to share them all with you as we go along.
Goodnight!
We really do wear ourselves out by the end of each day. It makes sleep that much sweeter!
Anyways, today began a little later than normal, due to our late night at the opera last night! But thankfully, because it's was a B&B, we once again had breakfast already taken care of, which is always nice! Once we were done eating, we had to bid a farewell to Verona and get on the cheap train to Milan!
After 2 hours of train travel, we stepped out in Milan, the fashion capital of the world! (Even surpassing Paris!) It took some thought and wondering to figure out that we needed to use the metro system (subway) to get to the side of town where our hotel is. And that's always a fun task. NOT. Getting to the metro, on the correct metro, and disembarking at the correct stop is always prone for mistakes. We are learning though! Then always comes the other fun time of actually finding the hotel. Thankfully, we had a good map (that we picked up from the tourist information booth in the train station) and it wasn't too difficult to find the hotel. We checked in, put our bags down, and found a taxi to take us clear to the other side of town (more expensive, but far easier) to where we were hoping to get in to see Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper painting!! After the quick and easy taxi ride, we arrived and snapped a few pics and then ventured in to see if we could get in. And ALAS! Their time slots were all sold out for the day. (They only let in groups of 25 people at a time, and can only be in there for a certain amount of time). Unfortunately, this was one part of travel we learned the hard way...you really do need to call ahead and make a reservation to see a crumbling painting! Who knew? So the best we could do was to touch the building it's housed in! haha. Yes, we did. But we were also able to get into the church right next to where it is, so we looked around that!
Kyla, with the church in the background
Inside the church
Kyla's stellar cover-ups. Nearly all cathedrals request (or require) that your body between your shoulders and knees be covered. Kyla wore a tank top and shorts. So she draped a scarf across her shoulders, and tied one around her waist! Haha!
Stained glass
Us, inside the church
So, a bit down-trodden, we decided to go and get food. We found a cafe that looked good and we both ended up with a plate of rich and filling lasagna. Then we went to go see the Sforzesco Castle that the guy at the hotel said we needed to see. It actually ended up being quite cool, even though I don't know much of the history behind it.
A tower and walls made a lovely background for the foreground : ]
We were feeling a bit goofy...what else is new?
The castle backs up to this huge, beautiful, public park that we definitely strolled through for awhile. It was certainly one of those times where we just slowed down and soaked in that we were in Milan, Italy!! And of course, that park stroll included a magnum bar for Kyla, and a cone of gelato for me!
We kept our strolling up and found ourselves in the Duomo Piazza. It was actually a pretty neat looking duomo too! But unfortunately, we were coming around too late in the day and it wasn't open for us to go inside anymore : [ So we just took solace in circling around it.
We also noticed that on the door, this particular spot holds some sort of significance because it has obviously been rubbed quite a bit! We were totally clueless about it, so I've done a bit of research and the conclusion I've come to is that no one really knows! One thing I found said that people liked to kiss Jesus' knee for good luck, but they weren't sure why the calf of the guy beating Jesus has clearly been rubbed more. So, if you happen to have any insight into this mystery, please share : ]
After that, we made our way back to our hotel, where we have spent ample time relaxing and resting. We are on the tip of a new adventure as this is our last night in Italy. Bright and early tomorrow morning, we get on a train to head towards FRANCE!! We cannot believe that we are already done with our time in Italy, and that now France awaits...
We are excited for a new land and a new face! My sister will be joining us for our time in France, and we are ELATED with all of our plans for southern France!! We can't wait to share them all with you as we go along.
Goodnight!
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