Watch Over Me (Milano)

After such an epic day, dear reader, we opted for a sensible, more relaxed approach to today. After discussing the many options, some of which involved revisiting places from yesterday, but in more depth, we opted for canal country. Navigli.

Our hotel is in an excellent position near two Metro stations and Milano Centrale for heavy rail. Gioia was our Metro destination this morning, no more than a 5 or 6 minute walk. After a relatively crowded metro trip, we alighted right at the end of a street that led directly to the Grande Naviglio with its many bars, restaurants and bridges over the waterway.

At first welcome, it's not particularly pretty, but it is a night time destination when some of the graffiti would be harder to see. And you're not there for the bridge anyway.

Free woman? No comment.

We wandered past the dining options, having determined that we would have lunch here, particularly seeking out the 2 signature dishes, cotoletta di vitello and risotto alla milanese. There would be no trouble with this quest as almost every restaurant offered the required items on their menus.

While we were musing about the different lunch options, we heard chanting coming from the canal. On investigation, 2 boat crews of school kids were paddling their way up the canal, chanting to keep in rhythm. 

Stroke, stroke.

We continued down one side of the canal until we came to a small bridge, heavily adorned with the usual love locks, and crossed over to find exactly the same kinds of cafés and restaurants on the opposite side. This area is known as an evening destination for aperitivo and sunset watching - hence the proliferation of food and drink establishments. While it was pretty quiet now in the middle of the day, we could imagine the buzz later in  the afternoon.

Eat your heart out Paris.

We continued to the end of the Grande Naviglio and witnessed some more serious skullers racing down the canal while their coaches rode bikes along the adjacent walkways, shouting instructions. How could that pose a problem in a major tourist area? Rather than continue on, we decided to retrace our steps to have our lunch before the area became busy. Restaurant selected, we both settled on the cotoletta which arrived occupying most of the plate - a rather daunting prospect to consume but somehow we managed it. The risotto would have to wait for another day.

I'm not sure about serious.

After we had waded through the less than spectacular crumbed veal, we walked back along the canal to locate Vicolo Dei Lavandai, a small shed with cement blocks that was the site where men from the Brotherhood of washermen, or women depending on who tells the story, would gather each day to wash clothes. 

The washing stones.

Once we reached the end of the canal, we found ourselves at the junction of the other Naviglio, Parese and the old 17th century harbour, Darsena, the sunset vantage point. It was not sunset so we had no reason to pause and continued along to Piazza Ventiquattro Maggio, dominated by a large arch.

I've seen better positioned arches.

Although we saw a number of churches, we attempted to visit only one. It was quite large with extremely loud bells that continued to peal well after the mandatory twelve gongs. at midday. However, the entrance proved elusive.

We have another big day tomorrow (which concludes this post) so we returned to the Metro and the hotel to complete some domestic chores.

Thursday

Breakfast was planned for somewhere around the Cathedral zone. Roberto told us of a rooftop bar/restaurant that was directly opposite the Cathedral in a department store, reminiscent of David Jones back in Australia. However it would not open until 10am and the Metro had us in the piazza by just after 9am.

First stop was a return to the Galleria to snap a photo of the legendary bull without a queue of people trying to twist its balls into the pavement. It was much quieter than our previous visit but not deserted. Then it was out into the Piazza Duomo.

The bull.

A frescoe.

Entry or exit depending on your direction.

We circumnavigated the Cathedral to find our entrance point for the Duomo walk. There are three separate entrances but only one has lift to the rooftop. Our entry point located, we were advised to arrive 30 minutes before our scheduled time, even though we had purchased "fast track entry" tickets. 

My suggestion of breakfast in the Galleria was met with disdain when Jayne saw that a caffé was €5. So out into the piazza we walked and looked around for a suitable café. It was a street away from the tourist hub so maybe the prices would be more reasonable. Can you hear me laughing, dear reader?

The food hall.

Breakfast: two espressos and two very average croissants came to €18 because I wouldn't change venues. When the department store opened, just after we'd finished breakfast, we made a beeline for the food hall. Coffee was €1,50 and the food looked delicious. Ah well, next time.

At 10:30 we joined our 'skip the line' fast entry to the Duomo. Every time I looked up there was another carving staring down at me. Which is the segue to today's title Watch Over Me by Bernard Fanning. With the gargoyles pointing directly down on the queuing lines, it would have been interesting to see where the torrents of water would have landed had the day been inclement. 

Yes, I'm watching you.

At exactly 11:02am, we entered the lift to the roof. There was a lift attendant. What an inspiring job riding up and down all day in a crowded lift. She was managing to keep herself sane by not taking her eyes off her phone screen as she operated the lift.

The Duomo was crowded, as you would expect, crowded with the insta and tic toc crew, blocking every available passage way while their long suffering partners snapped away until an acceptable image was acquired. I feature in many photos having moved to zero f*** mode. That or I want to be a social media star. You decide, dear reader.

I love a gargoyle. Imagine if it was raining.

The structure of the Cathedral is complex - amazing and beautiful. There are so many statues and gargoyles and arches and spires. In one area, it looked like a series of stalactites that went on forever. Different parts of the roofscape are under reconstruction. The whiter sections of newer marble obviously stand out.

Despite the very rigid dress code, particularly regarding footwear, some women disregarded the rules and were allowed to wear thongs on the very slippery marble. Sadly, while we were there none fell to their death, although I did want to nudge a couple closer to the edge.

Walking from the lift takes you around three sides of the Duomo, up a flight of stairs (complete with warning sign for those with heart conditions) to a central space where, happily we got to join the queue that heads down. As we waited for our time on the stairs, members of a tour group commenced joining the line in front of us because other members of their group were there. The line at this point resembled a snake that had swallowed an emu egg. There is no point arguing with the ignorant but I do find it frustrating.

The few stairs we then descended led to another walk along the side of the Cathedral roof, ultimately to a set of stairs that Jayne thought were descending into hell itself. They went on and on, you know, like the song that never ends. Eventually we were spat out into the Cathedral proper. Jayne was unimpressed with the interior compared to the exterior. However, I love a stained glass window and they nailed it in that regard. The largesse of the exterior is replicated with an interior full of massive ornate support columns and with a capacity of 40,000!

The organ and dust covers.

Columns everywhere.

Behind the altar.

Part three of our Duomo tour was in the crypt. The crypt is not your usual one; in Milano, it is an archeological display. As is the trend in Europe, everything is built on something else and churches, particularly, use this method. A pagan temple can be re-birthed as a Christian church. One church uses the foundations of another as is the case here.

Sarcophagus in the crypt.

The baptistry.

Drainage.

The final part of our tour was the Cathedral Museum across the piazza. It was filled with pieces from within the Cathedral as well as the outside.

A wood model of the Cathedral.

Statue after statue.

They had some cool tapestries too.

And a Tintoretto.

Some dude.

That's enough of that religion for today; it was time for another religion, opera. Back we went through the Galleria to Piazza La Scala. Timing was perfect because it wasn't open for a fully lighted viewing for much of the day. 1pm was the Goldilocks zone and we made it. After we worked around a tour group blocking access to the ticket office.

We purchased our tickets from a very happy man who sang to himself while the tickets were printed. Onward and upward. I'll let the photos tell the story.

Recorders locked away. The way it should be.

The waiting room.

The royal box.

The stalls.

Prep for tonight.

What an angry person.

Next stop the Parco Sempione. The one behind the Sforza Castle. It wasn't as large as I expected although it contained things not on Jayne's map, like some sporting arena. There was a good view to the triumphal arch and once photographed we just followed whatever path took our fancy, with the aim of getting to the arch.

Is it real?

That didn't happen. Apparently we should have zigged when we zagged and the arch remained some distance away. Having chalked up 10km we called it a day and navigated to a new Metro station to head home. Via Aldi of course to buy some sub €5 wine.

Hello.

We discussed dinner options and decided to eat at home and use up our previous purchases. Tomorrow is a transit day to Bologna. the dreaded October 2 'strike day' that nobody seems to know about. Except Jayne.

Alla prossima.