Buongiorno!

Saturday dawned warm and sunny. We enjoyed a very nice breakfast buffet at our hotel, then walked over to meet our friends and continue back to the Duomo.

Like I said. Ginormous! I forget the exact height, over 300 feet, so that’s over 30 stories tall! You’ll notice the line to get in…we found it very worth the few extra Euros to skip that and buy a Fast Track Pass. We also paid the few extra bucks for the elevator ride. That’s right, you can go walk around the roof!!! I was a bit worried, as open spaces tend to give me vertigo lately, but I wanted to try it. And I did okay! So, yay me! It was crazy to see the backs of the stained-glass windows, and the minute intricacies of the carvings. Despite it being the 1300’s and nobody being up that high, the details on this church are ridiculous! The view was spectacular, and they only let so many up at a time, so it wasn’t stupid-packed, either.

After our wander around the heights, which included nearly 200 spires and several M.C. Escher-esque stairways, we went down 166 stairs (3, turn, 3, turn, all the way down a tower) and into the actual cathedral.

It is a working church, and there was a service in session, so we were treated to some classic hymns. The church has three enormous stained glass windows, at least 100 feet tall. My photo skills fall somewhere under “meh”, so you’ll just have to look online for good pictures. Also, there’s this YouTube video!

Along with the three cernterpiece windows though, were dozens more. The entire cathedral is supported by redwood-sized pillars, all out of marble. In fact, everything everywhere is made of marble.

The floor included. The different color marbles are different hardnesses. The black marble is much tougher than the other colors, and has worn down more slowly. So as you walk, the floor is all wavy and bumpy, because the ‘outlines’ stick up a bit.

After a good look around, it was back outside to the piazza. The square in front of the Duomo also borders a huge, covered shopping center. It was the first place in Milan (all of Italy?) to have electric lights, or something like that.

Anyway, we wandered back to that delicious pizza place for lunch (and beers) then visited a museum on the piazza. Everything is so conveniently close! The Museum of the Twentieth Century focuses on art from, yes! the Twentieth Century! You can read about the museum here.

After the museum it was late afternoon, hot and sunny, and our feet were tired. Except the bears, lucky chauffeured guys. We began the two mile trek back towards the hotels, to yet another pizza place that had been recommended. It pays to know people. That have bears. On Twitter. Following the best, and biggest, calzone I have ever had, we limped back to the hotel bar for consolation drinks. Paul and I limped on to our hotel around 11pm.

You can learn all about the Duomo in Milan here!