Day 4
The Last Supper viewing.

Have to be downtown at 9.15m, that means an early b'fast and a trip on the Metro in the rush hour. Managed it with time to spare and we people watched in the Duomo square. Being a Tuesday the crowds were down and only the commuters were rushing. This part of Milan is the centre and contains much of the  white collar industry. Even in this heat suits and ties were the dress of the day.
Getting on the bus at the appointed hour started the tour, two tours in one - English and Italian. This was achieved by the issuing to all an individual wireless receiver, tied to the mic around the tour guides neck and listening to a bilingual commentary. As usual many of the receivers did not work properly so some of the group were definitely left out. First stop a walk across to the Duomo, we were going inside. Remeber the Toronto pol who got into trouble for tweating that he had met "hot chicks"? Well there is actually a guy at the door of the church whose job it is to check out the chicks for modest dress - no bare shoulders and definitely no skirts or shorts above the knee. What a let down for those of us who have seen many italian churches this one is not lavish. It seems that all of the effort over the last five hundred years has been to construct the outside, not much pomp inside.

Over to the Galleria Vittoria Imannuelle an impressive indoor shopping mall built in the early 1900s. This structure is cross shaped and the main part leads into the Piazza La Scala - the home of the famous La Scala Opera house. We went in to see the inside but no pics were allowed but we slipped one in. Impressive: semi circular in design there are six tiers of private boxes, each seating six on normal chairs, and theatre seating on the floor. One can imagine the acoustics as the hall looks as though it would rebound sound - no corners for it to hide in. On the bus to visit the Castello, and to kill time for the main event - the Last Supper viewing.

When visiting Milan the main touristy thingy is to see the fresco that Leonardo painted depicting the last supper. However as the authorities limit the number of visitors in each session of fifteen minutes in the climate-controlled facility, the tickets are hard to get, if you are an average tourist. Booking online or phoning for a reservation are two ways of getting tickets but they can be tricky to get the dates you want. Secret number one - do not screw around with these methods there is a guaranteed foolproof method of getting last minute tickets. Buy a city tour that includes the visitation. You can pick these toursa up usually when you want to go, at least within the next two days.

So we go in, get a ticket and then access the area by means of two humidity controlled airlocks and then the room itself. After LdV painted the fresco and the room, it was vandalised and neglected pretty consistently over the next 400 years. But in the late 90s complete restoration took the fresco down to the original first layer by peeling away many othe top layers put on by ealy 'restorationists'. The room is bigger than one would imagine and was originally used as a refectory in a monestory. First impressions are 'is that all' bvut as you have to sit there for fifteen minutes the seriousness and sense of history is overpowering and one should leave thinking that have really seen history.

Now we're on our own and decide to wander back through the shopping area, which is pretty much everywhere in Milan. But we did get back to the hotel pretty quickly as the heat - 40 degs was hard to take.

Day 5
Ben's day - the museum tour.

Starting at the Museum of Science and Technology. Purchasing a "Milan Card" because it provided two days of transit as well as discounts for some museums - 30% off the one we visited first. The Museo of S&T housed a LdV exhibit which was realistic and working. as well as housing the Italian planes and trains. a real Brigantine was parked in the main exhibit hall of the maritime section. Two hours well spent. Walking back to the hotel and hitting all the museums on the way was going to be the plan but as we deliberately set off late, to miss the rush hour, the next museo on the list - Pottery and Ceramics, was closed as we arrived - long lunch hours are the norm in Milan. But seeing the Martinitte and Stelline Museo on the map we decided to hit that one. No idea of what it was but it was open and on the way home. M&S turned out to be an orphanage. The museum tracked its history and described the conditions of the 19th Century working life. Interesting. Next stop the museum of Archaeology. Three stories of old stones and exhibits were looked at and we finished the tours in yet another church, this one being differnt in that it really was two churches split by an altar wall. The reason for this was that the nuns had to worship free from the male influence.; not seen before by us. Quick beer and wine stop and then the subway back to the hotel. Tomorrow is Doreen's day - shopping.