lucky ones...

Hi All,
It feels like it's been forever since I've updated but I guess it's only a week and a few days. Last weekend, Alexa and I took a quick trip to Milan. When Andrea turned 13 we made a big deal of it and took her a few of her friends to see Mamma Mia on the stage and went to a great restaurant for dinner after. Last year when Alexa turned 13 we didn't have that option...and her situation presented different obstacles. So, Nick suggested a trip somewhere. Alexa chose Milan, the fashion capital of the world. This was the first 3 day weekend of the month so it seemed like a good time to make the get away. The Castello Sforzesco

After we went to the Castle we decided to check into our hotel. Unfortunately there was water in the hotel room from the rain and they had to put us up in a hotel down the street. So after a bit of moving around we were able to rest for about an hour before the itch to see more of the city got the best of us. The sun was starting to come out so we ventured back to the Piazza Duomo.

It's a beautiful Gothic cathedral in pictures...in person it's simply breathtaking.

Pictures from the inside...the stained glass windows. Each panel depicts a different biblical story.

Underneath the altar is the remains of Saint Carlos, who was a Cardinal..or Bishop of Milan. It was cool and a little creepy to walk past his glass coffin. The picture of the altar came out incredibly light. The Cathedral is done in the Gothic style so it's very dark. I'm not sure where the light came from to light it as the flash was off, but the picture came out pretty cool.

They used taper candles for the offertory candles. It was the most beautiful candle offertory I've ever seen. I couldn't resist taking a picture.

Another shot of the marble statues on the facade.

From there we took a quick turn into the Galleria, which is a famous shopping center with Prada, Gucci, etc.lol Window shopping was fun.

We got lost coming out of the Galleria...or turned around in the streets.lol But we found ourselves in a Piazza with a statue of Leonardo DaVinci....which is also across from the famous Teatro La Scala opera house. We didn't realize it at the time as it's a non-descript building. We met a friend of mine, Sara who lives near Milan and she told us that they only do tours on Thursday so we missed that one.

After getting lost we found my friend Sara and walked over to the Cenacola church, where Leonardo Davinci's Last Supper is painted. The church itself is a beautiful roman style church.

You can't take pictures of the fresco. It's beautiful, not as vivid as I'd have thought based on the posters I've seen throughout my life. But, still amazing in person. On the opposite wall is a fresco of the crucifixion which is also beautiful but not done by DaVinci. The frescoes are in the dining hall of the rectory. It was commissioned by the Monsignor who ran the church at the time as decoration for their dining hall...can you imagine, eating between those two frescoes, one of the last supper, one of the crucifixion. Humbling....to say the least.

After we left the church we walked back to see the Duomo at night...notice our halos.lol My friend Sara, I met online on the bulletin board for my favorite author. It was an interesting conversation I had with my daughter who reminded me that I wasn't to meet people I met online.lol. But, I'd known Sara for over three years so I felt pretty safe.

And she delighted in showing Alexa all the fashion ins and outs of the city. She truly made our visit memorable!

The weekend we were there the city was celebrating the remembrance of the end of WWI, much like our veterans day. There was a military ceremony in front of the Duomo the next morning, complete with a small military band parade.

Alexa and I spent the day shopping around the city....

We stopped midmorning for a cappuccino. The Waiter brought us out our grande cappuccinos complete with nutella rimmed glasses...warm and toasty and oh, so good.

Then we went back to shopping again. We met Sara again in the afternoon and went to the Brera art gallery where we saw some interesting sculpture and a some beautiful Renaissance paintings. Then Sara walked us around the shopping quarter that we hadn't been to yet. The 4 famous streets for shopping in Milan...and had fun window shopping.

Our last morning was cold and rainy but we still walked to Saint Ambrose's Cathedral to have a look. It's a 4th century church built in the Roman style. We'd just planned to visit quickly but arrived as mass was starting and decided to experience Mass in Italian.

We took one last turn around the Duomo and the Galleria before heading out to the airport. There is a tradition to spin on the bull three times for good luck...

All in all a great weekend for Alexa and I. Nick had the other three. They went to the boat show that was happening in Barcelona that weekend. We got updates via the phone on the boats that they wanted to buy. We're still shopping for that perfect boat.

We are all very blessed.