Quick Trip to Milan

I could make a long list of things that I like more about Europe than the United United States, and towards the top of that list would be budget airlines.  One of my favorite budget airlines, Wizz Air, is based in Budapest and has excellent fares and actually quite convenient travel times.  Two weekends ago we managed to take a trip to Milan for 36 hours and the cost of two round-trip tickets was a whopping $90. It's amazing how much you can see and do when you arrive before eight in the morning and depart at ten in the evening the following day.

We were in Milan for the 'oh bej oh bej' festival, which originally was celebrated to honor the patron saint of the city, Saint Ambrogio. Today it is just a big street festival with a bunch of vendors selling overpriced food, items mostly made in China, and helium balloons.  "Oh bej oh bej" actually translates to "oh so nice, oh so nice;" so the jury is still out on whether this name is actually appropriate for the present day festival.

Here are some of the highlights of the visit:

Lake Como

It is about a 45 minute train ride from Milan to get to the town of Como which is where the lake begins. We got to enjoy the scenery of rolling hills dotted with fancy villas as we embarked on a brisk morning walk. 

Spine of the Duomo

I have been in more churches than I can count, but I have never gotten to walk the uppermost terraces where you stand amongst the towering spires that crown the church. It was incredible seeing the level of detail that was tucked away in places that would never be seen by anyone from below. 

Statue of St. Bartholomew in the Duomo

Via

The statue of the martyr St. Bartholomew is extremely powerful and quite gruesome as you see him devoid of skin and actually holding his own skin as if it were almost a cape. This was probably more of a highlight for Bill than for myself, but the real highlight for me was seeing Bill"s face when he finally saw this statue. A little over a year ago we were in the Cathedral of Seville and we spent 45 minutes searching every nook and cranny of the church because Bill was convinced this statue was there. Sure enough when we left Seville Bill looked online and realized it was in Milan, and had been looking forward to a trip to Milan ever since.

First opera of the season streamed live in the Galleria mall

When we stepped into the Galleria with its glass vaulted arcades and expensive shops, we noticed crowds of people with their eyes fixated towards a large 'jumbo-tron' which happened to be playing Verdi's Rigoletto, the opening performance of opera season. They take opera quite seriously here, and let me quickly illustrate this for you. At the end of the performance two well dressed 'opera experts' appear on the television and give a recap of the night's performance, including replays of particular scenes and interviews from exiting guests of the show. It was at this point in the evening, when I saw women in gorgeous black leather stiletto boots, tiny dogs in sweaters, and Gucci, Prada, and Verdi as the backdrop, that I knew all the stereotypes of Milan were true :)

Monumental Cemetery

Some of the best places to see beautiful art and the changing trends in art are in cemeteries.  The Monumental Cemetery in Milan was one of the most impressive cemeteries I have ever seen. The size, intricacies and unique nature of many of the tombs was incredible. The most surprising part was that none of the tombs belonged to famous Italians, which I think is a reflection of the wealth that Milan possesses. 

Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper

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Ever since taking intro to art history as an undergraduate, I have had a long list of paintings that I have been dying to see in person.  I am a bit of an Italian renaissance nut, and so you say da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Botticelli, or Giotto, and I say show me? I normally have a pretty good handle on where the works of art I want to see are located, but for some reason I had completely forgot that the Last Supper was in Milan. Bill reminded me of this three days before we were going to leave and suggested we get tickets ahead of time. They were all sold out, every last one of them, even tour companies that buy up the tickets and sell them in packages for 10 times the actual price. I was quite determined though, and in the 36 hours we were in Milan we went to the ticket office for the Last Supper four different times. Luckily our perseverance paid off and we got two tickets (and it did not cost us an arm an a leg). Seeing the Last Supper was spectacular.  It is hard to put into words what makes a masterpiece a masterpiece, but when you're standing in front of one, you can feel exactly why it is a masterpiece. It sucks you in and you literally don't want to take your eyes off of it. There is something special about seeing a painting that can bring you to tears, and that is something that sticks with you forever.