I somehow got sidetracked into a rather circuitous route back to the USA after my stay in England during September. I had discovered a rather good deal on flights from Berlin to San Francisco. If I looked for a ticket from London to SF then business class was coming out way too expensive ($3,500) whereas if I looked for Berlin to SF then it was half the price (approx $1,500). That is a good deal. I had to return my car to East Midlands Airport and usually you can get cheap flights to Berlin from there, courtesy of RyanAir. However, that didn’t turn out to be the case on the day my car rental was up. But for 10 pounds I could go to Milan. Admittedly to carry my bag was another 35 pounds but that is still a deal. So I flew out on a Saturday afternoon to Milan. I would then get the train from Milan via Zurich to Berlin - a nice little adventure.
Actually the flight wasn’t to Milan airport but to Bergamo airport (one of those RyanAir cheaper airports that are just a bit further out from their destination). Not to worry though there was a comfortable coach waiting at the airport for the 45 minute drive into Milan. I was dropped off at the Central Railway Station, a magnificent building, and I walked the half kilometer over to my hotel -the quite nice and modern and affordable iQ Hotel.
After check in I walked down the street to a lovely little restaurant where I dined outside on the street. A delicious Margherita Pizza. I discovered that in Italy they don’t slice your pizza for you they deliver it whole so you have to tackle it yourself with a knife and fork. Oh the inconvenience.
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| Milan Central Station |
Next morning, I was up early before breakfast and went to explore around the Central Railway Station. This is a magnificent structure. Started before WWI it struggled to be built and was not finished and opened until 1935 in the Mussolini era. Frank Lloyd Wright apparently said it was the most beautiful station in the world. It is still the largest by volume in the world.
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| Central Station Interior |
It was back to the hotel for breakfast and then off for a walk around town. It was a pleasantly warm morning and only a 45 minute walk to the more interesting parts of town - i.e. the Piazza Duomo. The first interesting thing I discovered was the statue of Leonardo da Vinci in the park outside the La Scala Opera House. A nice small park, a quite modest statue of Leonardo and the not at all remarkable La Scala. I discovered that while normal operas were not being performed there was a piano concert that evening - alas it was sold out.
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| La Scala Opera House |
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| Leonardo Da Vinci Statue |
Just past La Scala is the very fine and ornate Galleria Vittorio Emanuele. This is a most splendid arcade of very high end shops, cafes and restaurants. Versace, Prada, Louis Vuitton - they are all there. It was built in the 1870’s and it is truly a wonderful structure even if you can’t afford to buy anything there. Apparently in the 1990’s McDonalds moved in. When their lease was up 20 years later the owners would not renew. Obviously McDonalds customers were not the clientele they were trying to attract. McDonald’s sued but later dropped the case.
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| Galleria Vittorio Emanuele |
Passing through the arcade you come out onto the Piazza del Duomo. This square is dominated with the exceptionally beautiful and ornate Duomo, the Cathedral of Milan. It is truly a wonder to behold, so many spires, so many statues, so much ornamentation - all in a light white marble - the building just takes your breath away. Its construction was started back in 1386 but it was not fully completed until the 1960’s. It is the largest church in Italy, St Peter’s is larger but that is not in Italy, it is in the Vatican, an independent state.
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| The Duomo |
I purchased a ticket to go inside the church and it is almost as spectacular inside. Being Sunday there was a service going on, but of course that did not stop the flow of tourists around the edge of the church. You can also visit the roof of the church to get a closer view of all the carvings and ornamentation on the exterior. I must have taken a hundred photos. There is so much ornate carving and decoration - no wonder it took nearly 600 years to complete.
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| Rooftop exterior of the Duomo |
From the rooftop you can see a nice view of Torre Velasca, an interesting looking modern building with a wider top section than its base. Some people like it, some people don't.
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| Torre Velasca from the Duomo Roof |
There is a Duomo Museum next to the church that I visited but that is just more statues and carvings - literally hundreds more of them. I was getting overloaded with viewing carved stone.
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| Entrance to Galleria Vittorio Emanuele |
The Piazza del Duomo is certainly the highlight of the city. It has the wonderful Duomo itself, then the entry arch into the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele and then there is a statue of King Victor Emanuele himself seated on his horse and of course decorated with pigeons and their excrement. There was a man, a blind man I believe, that was playing a Theramin in the square. I love the sound of that instrument, so spacy and weird, but I had never seen one played before in real life.
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| The Theramin Player |
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| Castle Sforza |
Next stop on my walking tour was the Castle Sforza. This dates from the 14th century though most if what we see today was from the 15th Century. Not the most impressive of castles but pleasant enough. There are several museums on the complex, three of which I visited - one for Michaelangelo’s last attempt at a Pieta, one for old musical instruments, and one for Applied Arts. It was a combination ticket, the Pieta was the draw for me. Actually the Pieta is not that remarkable - it is unfinished and is quite simple and basic. I do recognize its historical significance though.
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| Michaelangelo's Pieta |
Beyond the Castle Sforza there is a nice park, Sempione Park, leading up towards the Arco della Pace, the Peace Arch. There was one guy playing electric guitar in the park and he was quite good - Shine on you crazy diamond - Pink Floyd - it made for a most enjoyable walk through the park.
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| Arco della Pace |
I was getting tired now but I though I would make an attempt to see Leonardo’s Last Supper which is hanging in a refectory attached to the Convent of Santa Maria della Gracie. I found the convent but alas there was no signs of life. It looked like it was closed on Sundays or closed for coronvirus.
From there I headed over to the nearest subway station and caught the subway back to the Central Station and to my hotel. Navigating the subway was straightforward - tickets were easy to buy for 2 euros, and the stations and trains were clean and not too crowded.
A brief cleanup at the hotel followed by a light late lunch/early dinner and then I went off again towards the Duomo to see if I could get a ticket for that night’s La Scala concert. There were a few people milling around the ticket office and I was told to come back one hour before the concert and see if there were any tickets turned in. This I did and was fortunately rewarded with a single ticket. A bit pricy at 95 euros but it’s not every day you get to visit La Scala.
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| The La Scala Concert |
The concert was a piano recital by Mauricio Pollini - a bit of Brahms, a bit of Schoenberg, a bit of Beethoven. Pollini, a local Milan boy, is 76 and the poor guy looked it. I felt sorry for him as the audience gave him so many encores and he had to keep hobbling off and then back on to the stage each time. Of all the pieces I liked the Schoenberg best.
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| La Scala |
Inside La Scala it is quite small. A small main floor where I was seated and then 6 levels of small boxes around the perimeter. With the Coronovirus restrictions only around a third of seats were available. My row had 13 seats with only 5 available for sitting.
After the concert I took the subway back out to the Central Station and to my hotel. My phone told me I had walked 13 miles that day. No wonder I was a little tired. The next morning it was off again with an early start for my 7:10 train to Zurich.
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| Early Morning Train to Zurich |
There are more photos here.
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