Milan

We arrived in Milan at 6:30AM local time, 12:30AM Eastern US time, also the actual time our bodies thought it should be.  After what was arguably the quickest and easiest jaunt through immigration and customs ever we found our way to the train and arrived at our hotel by about 8AM.  Magically, our hotel had a room available, (hallelujah!) so we went straight to nap-land.  We both slept intermittently on the flight so we compromised on a 2.5 hour nap.  Enough to take the edge off but not enough to confuse us even more.  We headed out to explore. 

Our hotel is a short walk to a metro stop so we jumped on the metro and headed to the Duomo.  It seemed like a good base to begin exploring.  

After some oohs and ahhhs we went to Sforza Castle.  It reminded me very much of the Victoria and Albert museum in London a  little bit of everything; architecturally interesting walls, a version of  da Vinci’s Pieta, Dante’s Devine Comedy, crazy flatware and of course “the 3’ wide crab”. (Crazy old folks were so enthralled with the Pieta that we failed to take a picture....you’ll just need to visit to experience it yourself)

We left Sforza Castle and returned to our room for nap number 2 and a shower.  

We finished the evening with (in this order) a stroll around the neighborhood, a yummy gelato, dinner, sleep finally.

That brings us to today... we woke early with the assistance of a (yikes) alarm.  We had an early entry into the Milan Cathedral aka the Duomo.  As sad as we were to wake up the lack of lines and the almost empty cathedral were well worth the effort.

And the roof top terraces were amazing.  It seems the marble used to build the Duomo is very soft and there are constant reconstruction projects underway. Even with the scaffolding the sites were amazing.  I’m not sure how many steps we climbed but by11:10AM after  almost three hours into the Duomo we had walked 3 miles and climbed 20  flights...thanks apple.

And then, we wandered stumbling upon a tiny museum, Museo Studio Francesco Messina.  Messina was a Sicilian sculptor who relocated to Milan, “bought” a decrepit about to be demolished church for “80 sculptures and 26 works on paper”. It became his home, studio and gallery space.  The museum is small, such that each visitor gets a private guided tour.  He worked in bronze, wax, clay and plaster and tended towards boxers, dancers, horses and bulls.  Pretty amazing little gem.  

It turns out the museum is operated by the Touring Club Italiano.  They are a group of volunteers that work to keep the lesser museums and historic sites open and available to the public.Our guide gave us a map of the 17 sites they support in Milan.  Most of which are closed today because during  the month of August all of Italy is on holiday.  But we were able to get into two other sites.  

The Basilica di Santa Maria presso San Satiro, built between 1476 and 1482, the church is made monumental by a trompe l’oiel  illusion.

We followed that with the Chiesa di San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore.  It was described to us as the “Sistine Chapel” of Milan.  It did not disappoint.  It also had a “Last Supper”.  Not da Vinci’s but quite lovely nonetheless.

While I am writing this post Lester has been figuring out our plan for tomorrow; we’re going to Genoa for the night then heading to the Cinque Terre.  

Pictures to follow, having internet troubles. Apple and Google don't seem to like each other very much. Thank you to Nora for being my technical assistant and posting this post! (and writing this sentence)

barnstormers Return

After 5 years, the Barnstorming Summer blog returns.  This  time, it’s the Italian version.  There will be some differences, we won’t be posting every day.  It is a shorter trip.  Last time we were traveling for 5 weeks, this time just a short two and a half week jaunt.  Much will remain the same, we will once again be free styling our trip.  We have a couple of key hotel rooms booked and a rental car reserved but nothing else other than a loose “to do” list in mind.

At the risk of being contradictory, it feels like both yesterday and forever, since we’ve had a free-styling road trip extravaganza.  Our rough outline for this trip includes flying in and out of Milan. Spending two days and nights exploring then heading out and about Northern Italy.  We’ve pre-booked a hotel in Milan because who wants to try and find a room at 6AM local time and 12 midnight body time.  Surely not us, we’re not that crazy.  And, we have an airport hotel for the night prior to our departure just so we know we’ll make the return flight on time.

Our Milan plans include the Duomo but sadly not the Last Supper. Conventional wisdom holds these need to be pre-booked we were successful in obtaining cathedral and roof top tour tickets but not Last Supper tickets.  They sold out the day they went on sale.  Really all this means is that we will need to return to Milan someday.

We arrive in Milan on Friday morning.  On Sunday, we pick up a rental car and begin barnstorming Italy.  Our loose plans include Turin (home of the shroud) and or Genoa.  Then the Cinque Terre for two nights.  Our fingers are crossed that the weather will cooperate as we are hoping to walk between all five towns.  Then we head east across the Emilia-Romagna region. We expect to stop in Parma, Bologna and Modena.  We are looking to tour a parmesan cheese dairy, a balsamic vinegar production facility a prosciutto farm,and an olive oil orchard and a winery.  We fully expect to partake in the bounty these facilities produce.  

In 2017, I met up with Will while he was being “Willfully Free” or “Will, fully free”, I never did get a clear answer to that particular question.  While we were in Italy we stumbled upon Ravenna.  It is an amazing town on the Adriatic cost, just south of Venice.  It boasts 8 world heritage sites all covered in mosaics dating back to the Byzantine era.  It was a highlight of our trip and will definitely be a Barnstorming Italy stop.  

From Ravenna we will head back north and west towards perhaps Padua, Verona and or Treviso.  Then further north to the Italian Lake District.  Rounding out our trip back at MXP for a solid night sleep and an early morning departure.  

So, not many pictures worth posting from JFK waiting to board but stay tuned for the weird, the wild and the wonderful as we circumnavigate Milan.  

Thanks for joining us again this summer.