Had to set the alarm this morning to make sure we'd be up in time, although didn't need it because we woke up before it anyway. Slept relatively well despite the heat.
Had our last breakfast in the café next door then packed up and left, out the door at 07:15.
Then drove straight to Milan. Two tolls later. And a GPS that had another hiccough and I freaked out cause I thought I'd missed an exit that I literally didn't even need to take. Stoopid GPS.
Filled up at the Esso just down the road from Europcar. I actually asked Europcar exactly where we needed to return the car before we left. But the Australian support referred me to some other address which I emailed but never got an answer. So I headed for the big underground carpark underneath Europcar. Got down there and asked a dude is this where to go and he's like nup, go back up. So went back up and got Mum to go into the store while I waited blocking the driveway. The dude came out and told me to double park behind a bus that was double parked. Anyway, all good, hurray!
Then walked our bags down to our hotel. Too early to checkin but we did get to leave our bags.
We sat down with a map we got from reception and had a look to decide a plan of attack. I hadn't booked tickets for the cathedral because you had to have timed entry and I didn't know what time we'd be able to get there plus we had to be at Santa Maria delle Grazie by 11:30. So we decided to just get a train to Duomo and see if we could get in.
So after negotiating the Metro machines to get tickets, we took a metro train from Porta Venezia to Duomo.
Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral)
The cathedral is definitely an afternoon shot. I knew this but the day wasn't going to work for that. We walked straight into the ticket office at 09:45 and were able to book rooftop tickets for any time during the day (we booked for 10:00-10:30). But the interior was sold out except for a short period in the middle of the day. So skipped that.
Walked around the cathedral exterior for a bit.
Milan Cathedral from the southeast
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping mall
Statua di Vittorio Emanuele II - statue of Italy's first king
Then climbed up to the rooftop (bag checks at the entrance). Sadly there's restoration works at the western end. And the view isn't super spectacular. So not really sure it's worth the 10 Euro each. But it was still nice enough.
Mum climbing the steps to the roof of Milan Cathedral. Mum was fricken amazing - I lost count of how many bell towers, cathedral roofs and mountains she climbed!
Roof of Milan Cathedral
Madonnina statue on Milan Cathedral
Spires on Milan Cathedral
View north over Chiesa di San Fedele from Milan Cathedral
View north to Milano centrale from Milan Cathedral
View southwest from Milan Cathedral
Roof of Milan Cathedral
Stonework on Milan Cathedral
Me on the roof of Milan Cathedral
Photo by Mum
Stonework and statue on Milan Cathedral
Then we walked west to Santa Maria delle Grazie. We arrived there at 11:22 for a 12:00 session (they said arrive thirty minutes early). Yeah stoopid advice. We could have taken our time and gotten there a lot later. And the guy inside had no idea about our online ticket, he said we booked it through a tour group and would have to get the ticket from them. hmmmmm. So went and sat down for a bit to chill and let Mum write up her photos. Have I mentioned how much I hate timed entries? They're so stressful and waste so much damned time. Hurry up and wait. You have to get there earlier than you need to be because you don't really know how long it will take to get there in the first place, so you end up wasting time you could have been doing other things. Anyway about a quarter to twelve I went looking around again, and found there's an actual ticket office off to the side, and that's where they change the vouchers for tickets.
Palazzo Litta
Santa Maria delle Grazie
So at 12:00 we went in. The Last Supper!! Wow. Pretty amazing to see something so famous. And they let you take photos too which is awesome. What is even more awesome is how it was spared during the war when the building around it was bombed. Although if you read the history of it, what we see now is more the result of various restorations than the original art work. But still, pretty cool!!
The Last Supper in the room it was painted in
The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci
Closeup of The Last Supper
Closeup of The Last Supper
Closeup of The Last Supper
Closeup of The Last Supper
Closeup of The Last Supper
The Crucifixion by Giovanni Donato da Montorfano
Next up we wandered through Castello Sforzesco, at least the exterior parts (this is a city of museums, so many museums), to Lanza metro station, where we took a green line train up to Centrale.
Castello Sforzesco
Castello Sforzesco
Castello Sforzesco
Castello Sforzesco
Fontana di Piazza Castello
We arrived at Centrale with half an hour to spare before the train we wanted to catch. You'd think that would be plenty of time. You would be wrong. Because after photographing the exterior of the building, we then had to find where to buy tickets, plus I wanted a quick takeaway lunch, and needed to fill my water bottle. Well getting a ticket was easy enough (I went into a Trenord ticket office because I wasn't sure of the ultimate destination of the train I wanted) but finding lunch was super stressful (we ended up getting Burger King) and I never managed to fill my water bottle (because you have to pay to go into toilets and I wasn't going to do that). Made it to the train with a few minutes to spare but I was super stressed. Sigh.
Milan train station
So train to Cremona. Took a bit over an hour. And "masks mandatory" translates to "masks optional" to most Italians. Including the big group of African guys all around us. Not impressed.
Me and Mum at Cremona train station
At Cremona we first walked down somewhat of a back alley, and thought the whole town was deserted. But they were all at the street markets we intercepted part way down. So that was much more pleasant.
Violino sonoro - Violin sculpture
Chiesa di San Vincenzo
Oh just a harpist playing in the street
Markets in Cremona
Galleria XXV Aprile
Antonio Stradivari Statue
Got to the cathedral which looked lovely in the afternoon sun, but we didn't have time to climb the 502 steps of the tower. Oh well.
Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta
Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta
Battistero (baptistery)
Interior of Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta
Crypts under Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta
Then meandered back to the station again.
Comune di Cremona
Stradivari's house in Cremona
Palazzo Cittanova
Chiesa parrocchiale di Sant'Agata
Chiesa di San Luca
Cremona train station
Where we then had to wait an extra forty five minutes due do delays. Sigh. I literally don't have three quarters of an hour to sit around station doing nothing when we still need to get back to Milan, have dinner, download photos and blog.. and then do research for tomorrow, because I still haven't done any!!! Gah!!! Not impressed.
Anyway, got back to Milan, found a restaurant on the way back to the hotel (Osteria Italiana). It was a little pricey, but the service was awesome and they were happy to let us share a spaghetti carbonara and even split it into two bowls for us!! And it was really nice too. I'd happily go back there.
And finally arrived back at the hotel I think at 20:10. And OMFG an *actual* hotel!! Our first since Munich. And it is *so good*. A proper reception, safe, fridge, fast wifi and AIR CONDITIONING!!! I've been craving aircon, since we haven't had any since Munich. So good.
But now it's 21:30 and I still haven't done any research for tomorrow... hmmmm...
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