Day 1- Milano

After a 7 hour flight that left at 6 pm from New Jersey, we landed in Milan at 8:45 am. Austin and I slept for about 3 hours, but since today was our only day in Milan, we wanted to make the most of it. Our first stop- the Duomo. It took a really long time for the builders to finish this magnificent cathedral, and we especially enjoyed the art featuring Jesus Christ. There were many sculptures of different saints and the stories surrounding their lives, but the most poignant one for me was a huge carved depiction of multiple saints, but then Christ was carved into the ceiling looking over them all. We climbed the 250 steps up to the first roof level, and a number of other steps to the very top of the roof. It was an incredible view.

Excited to finally be out of the airplane!

Out in front of the Duomo, trying to avoid being harassed by Africans

Duomo Roof- the intricate details were amazing!

Our next stop was Pinoteca di Brera that featured several galleries full of Italian paintings. Besides dealing with several school groups and very tired feet, it was a nice little museum.

After looking at a million paintings, we were ready to take a nice leisurely stroll around the gardens at Castello Sforzesco and eat lunch. Austin had kebap (meat shaved off of a huge meat stick in a sandwich) and I had very American style pizza (although it was very filling and very cheap, it tasted like Little Caesar's cheesy bread). The gardens surrounding the castle were beautiful and expansive, and the castle even had a moat! We decided to visit the museums inside of the castle, and saw sculptures, paintings, bronze works, porcelain, tapestries, frescoes, musical instruments, weapons, and anything else that the city of Milan cared to collect to preserve it for the future. The castle itself had little holes spaced evenly on the inside and outside walls. Austin thinks they were for airflow, and I think they were for arrow holes to ward off attackers! With some of the guns they were using back in the day, they needed all the help they could get!

Guns so large they had to have a stick attached to the ground holding them up!

After the Castello, we were so tired (ok, mostly I was really tired) so we caught a train to Como. We stopped by the supermarket to pick up some items for dinner, which included DELICIOUS strawberries, cookies, sandwiches on fresh bread and pear juice. Pear juice tastes just like mushed up pears, and is much thicker than I was expecting.