Milan Day Two

 I tried my hand again at the Milanese breakfast. The caffeine rushes into my body and I’m shaking. I hate it I hate it I hate it. Somehow it feels right. Today’s mission is the Duomo, Milan’s central cathedral that the whole city is based around. I hop the nearest tram in, all the lines go directly to it. I buy my ticket and since my time slot isn’t for another two hours, I start with the museum.

Rain day

What an incredible collection. The Duomo Museum was an incredible primer. This 600 year construction project is an incredible statement of unity. Just the thought of a people deciding to build a church and 600 years keeping that going is so incredible to me. When they started building it, the continent I live in hadn’t even been seen by an Italian. The museum is the usual orgy of immaculate hand work. It is incredible, breathtaking, and a display of the love that the local people feel for God and this church. Crazier still, it is only the scraps. Test pieces from ideas that went nowhere. Trials from statue makers that didn’t make the cut. Worn out decorations from the outside. It is a garbage heap. It is gorgeous.

I still had an hour left so I spent it in the only way one can out here. Find the nearest cafe and have an espresso. The caffeine corsed through me while I wrote my account of yesterday. At 12:30 my time had come. I entered the Duomo. This may be the most beautiful thing I’ve seen on this trip that was built my human hands. Just an incredible display of craftsmanship and dedication to a multigenerational project. Photo do not do it justice. The cherry on the top was the roof. There are not many ways to make me anxious but loading me up with caffeine and putting me somewhere high up is a good start. Add countless wet marble steps and the beauty of the structure was nicely enhanced with a healthy dose of cortisol. I know this makes it sound like I hated the roof. Quite the opposite, it was amazing. To be so close to the carvings and immersed in such a view was unforgettable. I took is all in as fast as I could and scurried down the stairs to level ground. Somehow it felt good to not be standing on a 600 year old rock pile.

Lunch needed to follow the beauty of the Duomo and I found it close by. A restaurant specializing in the local cuisine of Lombardy. The hostess at the front was a nonna who appeared to not speak any English. I was certainly not about to press, we communicated just fine. Every diner here got a risotto with their meat sauce. Incredible. Just a fantastic little welcome dish and a welcome bit of warmth on a chilly wet day. Chianti and some thinly sliced steak followed. Just perfect. 

Cue the nap, when I woke up I was very excited. I was on my way to do something I was not sure I’d be able to do, see a show at La Scala. Being such a famous opera house, rush tickets are expensive and hard to come by but tonight everything was working in my favor. It was the off season, Monday, raining, and not showing opera. The last point hardly mattered to me. The orchestral lineup they had planned was more my style anyway. I grabbed a quick dinner next door, had the best risotto of my life, and entered. 

I made an effort to dress as well as I could with what I’d packed. I was easily the worst dressed person at La Scala that night. The elegance and reverence that the locals display for this space is incredible. I’d like to apologize for showing up so casual, I did my best. The program was a fundraiser for a local charity. Gershwin’s Cuban Overture, Rachmaninov’s opus 43, and Muskorgi’s Pictures of an Exhibition. It was an amazing show and such an incredible experience.

Worst dressed at La Scala

After the show I went back to my hotel for some social time. Tonight I managed to find a group of English tourists to play Scum with and some Spaniards to play Cards Against Humanity with. Teaching the more difficult cards was great fun. The game holds up well even though the first edition came out over a decade ago. My evening came to a crashing halt when I came into my room to see one of my roommates wearing my shower shoes. You could tell in her face that she knew she wasn’t supposed to do that. I want to bed angry.