Ciao Firenze, ciao Milano

It is hard to leave florence. It got off to a rocky start but I soon found my groove and I hated to see it end. Of course my checkbook needed for me to leave.

I only did two hours of class then back to mama’s to get my bags. Both mama and her husband met me at the house to say goodbye. We hugged like family and I got the two sided italian kiss. Think more grandma then friend. I hope to get to make it back to stay with them again. She claims to be a big fan of “chili beans” and just hearing her say it in her italian accent made me smile. I’ll have to send her some ingredients and an authentic Texas recipe for her to try.

Good thing the train ride was relatively short (1:40) since I couldn’t find a seat. By the time I got my extra large duffle up on the train there were no seats to be found. Me and three others camped out by the luggage rack area. A majority of the people got off in Bologna and I briefly had a seat but then I was seated in someone’s reserved spot. When I bought my ticket I could have reserved a seat but then I had to be able to find it. So I didn’t want to mess with it. I also didn’t do 1st class figuring there would be more seats in 2 to choose from and no reason to spend the extra $25. I bought first class from Rome and ended up in second but I should have splurged for this one as well. Since I had to stand the food I bought went uneaten and I was starving when I got to Milan.

I got off the train and a porter asked to get my bags. I almost said no. I had dragged that extra large bag through the florence station I could get it through Milan but on second thought it was super heavy and not the best roller and my overnight bag still had the 10 pounds of chocolate (no I haven’t eaten it all, there should be some when I make it back to Austin) so I went with the porter he zipped me through the station to a hidden elevator and out to the taxi stand before I would have found the exit sign. I wasn’t sure what to tip him generally there is no or limited tipping in Italy. So I just grabbed all the coin money I had a little over 5€. I think the best money I have spent the entire trip.

The taxi ride to the hotel was a round-about route. So I had no idea where I was. It was however much cheaper than the taxis in Florence. I was in the cab probably twice as long for several dollars less.

I arrived at the hotel just after 3 and I had a ticket for the 4:00 group to see the last supper. I barely had time to drop my stuff off and head out. It turned out that my hotel was supposedly a 10 minute walk the the church on somewhat of the same street. Not sure who timed it but it was not 10 minutes for me. The hotel said go left cross at the light and go left again. None of the street names matched what he gave me in the map. I panicked and waited at a taxi stand. When no taxi showed up I panicked again and took off walking. Deciding that was stupid I went back to the taxi stand and waited for a taxi. My ticket said to arrive 20 minutes early and I got in the taxi at 7 till 4. Good thing it was close we pulled up right at 4. Figuring my ticket had been released I was disappointed but went ahead and tried hoping I could get in on a later tour. But I made it just in time. It was like they were waiting on me.

I am really glad I made it. I was afraid I would be disappointed in the painting but I wasn’t. It is faded but it is much better in person than in the pictures. They say they have touched it up a lot and one thing I did understand in my italian tour was that some of the large areas of colors on the robes were new. They used a slightly lighter color so you could tell the difference.

I was surprised to see that the painting continued under the table. Most of the photos chop it off at the table but the disciples have feet. There is enough detail to make our toes and sandals. Jesus’ feet are lost to the door if they were ever included. The tour talked a lot about the food in the table. To me it looked like a big brown glob and some rolls but she spent a lot of time talking about it but I couldn’t make much of it out. Something about bowls of water to wash and communal plates but that is all I got.

Surprisingly it is in a very plan building. Even the church next door is plain from the outside by italian standards. Inside it is a very pretty church. It felt like a church. It has all the paintings and such but it wasn’t so big that it felt empty. It might of seemed more church like because their was music and a priest taking confessions. The dome and some of the walls were done in this strange etching. There wasn’t any color the design appeared to be just scratched into the plaster. I paid the 2€ to light up the dome and I was very glad I did. It looked completely bare without lights but there was etching all the way to the top.

There was a da Vinci museum in the cloister where they were showing some of his actual manuscripts. Seems he wrote this multi volume treatise on painting. They are in the process of removing the binding to better preserve the pages and are displaying some at a few places in Milan. There were probably two or three dozen pages with small sketches and his explanations on perspective and human form. He was very detailed on how someone should paint and study painting. I was amazed they have so many pages of his writings. It was very cool to see it.

I thought I would be able to find my way home relatively easy. Not sure why I thought this since I have struggled the whole trip with directions but still I thought I could do it. And eventually I did. As I said the street names
didn’t match the map. The map would say Cundicci and the street sign would say Conducce and of course the street names changed every so often but no indication of where on the map. But eventually I made it back. I had to stop in a gelateria to ask directions and to get my first Milano gelato but I was already on the right road supposedly just a straight shot. When the street Ys what is straight? I was on the wrong side of the road and choose poorly and had to back track a bit.

Luckily there were restaurants on my street so I didn’t have to go far for dinner. As I passed one coming in the people were eating pizza so I figured it wouldn’t be too fancy. However, by the time I got there they had switched to the dinner menu and is was very fancy and mostly fish. I am so glad I didn’t go with the shrimp when I saw it come out in all its glory with little feelers stretching across the plate. I went with sliced steak with arugula and Parmesan not really the Italian dish I was looking for but good. I had a nice montecino to go with it.

After dinner I walked around a bit and window shopped mostly jewelry and shoes (I still have a chance to come home with these italian oxfords I have been eyeing) and a few clothing stores. The clothes and jewelry are high end but fun too look at. Since it had been at least 3 hours from my first gelato (and it was piccolo) and it had been a long day I decided I could get another. Thankfully there is one right across the street from the hotel. It was full of kids in costumes coming in for their free taste so I had to wait but no problem. Finally my turn and they had my new favorite flavor fondante which is dark, dark chocolate. Since it was gelato two for the day I went with piccolo again. I should have gotten a larger size it was delicious.

Now back to the hotel to plan my day of seeing Milan and dreaming of fondante gelato.