Milan Cathedral Day

 Hello from us tired and achy twins - 

Yesterday kicked our butts and I have unlocked a new pain - both hips hurt!

Today we spent most of our time at the Milan Cathedral.  Took a rooftop tour and then toured the church. 

In the entrance we passed the baptistery of Santo Stefano alli Fonti - which was built in 313 toward the end of the Roman Empire.  Most everything on the site was demolished in 1386 to build the Cathedral.  This bit of history was discovered in 1899. 

 So, we were prepared for a few stairs after the elevator ride to the roof - but it was 90 steep steps.  Everyone in the group was moaning and groaning. 

Being on the roof was really cool.  There is a lot of scaffolding, as they are in a continuous state of cleaning.  Our guide, Simone, who is a boy with a girls name told us to clean one section takes about 4 years -  see a section below

Simone also pointed out the first tour guide with his flag - (a joke)

Being on the roof you can see all of Milan and even the Alps - but it was too cloudy today to see the Alps.  

Here are other pics of the roof and the 150 stairs down…no, that part wasn’t in the tour description!

If you look closely on the top of this carving you will see 2 wires wrapping around the top portion - these wires disrupt the pigeons magnetic ability or something so they don’t perch and poop all over the cathedral!

The church was beautiful - has 4 organs - they are huge!

The above picture shows a part of the stone that has been cleaned - bright and airy - the dark part to the right has not been cleaned.

After this tour, we took a break sitting on the steps of the square. We had just walked about 1.3 miles inside the church - 

 People watching is so much fun! 

We then walked over to FAO Schwartz to look around.  

Then lunch at Burger King - we wanted something quick and didn’t want to have a sit down 2 hour lunch. 

Shan did some more people watching from the dining area of our hotel - 

If you notice there is a bull in one of the squares.  It is supposed to be good luck and a certain return to Milan if you place your heel on the bull’s balls and spin 3 times.  As and aside - the ‘balls’ have been worn away of the years and now its just a big indention.

The Italian police!  Quite dapper

Shannon in our black light hallway! 

We are done for the day - our feet hurt!  Tomorrow we are off to Verona. 

Total number of “Are you Twins” - the look or the question:  4

Full day in Milan

Welcome Gentle Reader, 

The Galleria Vik Milano is our hotel here in Milan.  It is housed within one of Italy’s most iconic landmarks - Galleria Vitoria Emanuele II.  It was built between 1865 and 1877.  The Galleria Vittorio is known as Milan’s Living Room and houses top tier shopping and restaurants.   As an aside, the original Prada store is housed here.   And YES we watched The Devil Wears Prada this evening  :)

Now for some interesting trivia - since the hotel is part of this amazing building, getting to our room is interesting.  Here are the directions:

• Make a U turn off the elevators
• Take 5 steps then turn Left
• Take 16 steps then turn Left
• Take 5 steps then turn Right
• Enter the “black light” hallway
• Take 32 steps 
• Go down 2 stair steps
• Take 8 steps
• Go up 2 stair steps then turn Left
• Take 22 steps then turn Right
• Take 7 steps then turn Left
• Take 40 steps 
• Go down 3 stairs steps then turn Left
• Take 10 steps then turn Right
• Take 14 steps then turn Right
• Take 5 steps then turn Left
• Take 4 steps
• FINALLY you are at our hotel room

Now on to our day about town - 

We started bright and a bit too early with seeing Leonardo DaVinci’s Last Supper.  Left the hotel at 7:45 

The process to see this painting is quite strict.  You are only allowed to be in the room for 15 minutes.  But, before that you have to wait outside for the EXACT minute to go into a vestibule type room.  Here our guide shared a lot of information - Such as, the building was bombed during WWII and just a small part of the painting was untouched - the building was just rubble around it.  They did find pieces and put it all back together - however, with various ‘restorations’ over the centuries, only 20% of the paint is from DaVinci. 

While our guide was imparting her wisdom, there were 3 people toward the back talking to each other quite loudly.  Several of our group kept looking over to them but they continued.  So what does Missy finally do?  She Shushes them!  The group was happy that she did. So while in the vestibule you wait for the EXACT minute to go into the refectory (dining hall). When the doors magically opened our tour guide went and told off those 3 folks (who were not with our tour). 

 It is an amazing painting even with it being ‘restored’ and the method used by DaVinci held up poorly. The door in the fresco was created by the monks for better access to the kitchen, then Napoleon came along and made it even larger.  Here are some pictures

From here, we took a short pause and hit up the local cafe for beverages - Missy a Coke and Shan a cappuccino.

From here went went to the Sforza Castle, which is a 15th century fortress turned Renaissance court.  There were tons of school tour groups and people just hanging out inside and out.  

Then it was on to the Persol Sunglass store.  Missy has had her pair for about 10 years and the lenses are scratched up.  So she had the grand plan to go to the Milan store and see if they would replace the lenses for her.  You know what?     

No?  What?

They replaced them for her!  There was a charge, but hey she has new lenses and the sunglasses can go on for another 10 years!  :)

We continued meandering around and ended up at a Le Creuset store, where Shannon fell madly in love with some plates, bowls etc.  They were in a color that she loved - Riveria    It also happens that this is a brand new color.  She passed on spending the big bucks and may just order them online later. 

During this time we did stop for lunch.  Where we COULD NOT SHARE A PIZZA!  Each person had to order their own entree.  Our poor waiter had a hard time explaining it and we had a hard time understanding what he was trying to say.  So we ended up with large pizza’s, with some sort of dried ham on top - who knew!  It was an ok pizza, but nothing to write home about.  

Talking about something to write home about was our dinner last night - We went to Biffi’s - which has been in the Galleria since it opened in the 1800’s.  The food was amazing - we were sad we could finish our meals as we were stuffed. 

The “Are you twins” count so far is 2.

Stay tuned for a more relaxing day tomorrow as our feet are killing us!

We have arrived in Milan

 We have made it back to Italy - this time we are starting in Milan. 

However - *record scratch sound here* Shannon got pulled for extra security and wasn’t happy one bit!

 

We did not enjoy Premium Economy seats for the flight from JFK to Milan.  We both chose different rows so we would each have window seats.  

Shannon did not make friends with her seat mate - as she spilled water all over him and his computer bag.  Thankfully the computer wasn’t in the bag!  Missy’s seat mate was rocking bold fuchsia pants - he was very kind and funny.

Once we got to Milan and were going through Immigration etc Shannon continued what she started in Kansas and had to go through the ‘special’ line along with tons of other folks - It did take a while and she rewarded herself with a coffee -  more like a shot of coffee - she ordered wrong 

 

We took the train - Malpensa Express from the airport to the city, then got a taxi to bring us to hotel. 

This hotel is rather unique - it is part of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuel II - which is a shopping arcade that was built in the 1850’s.  The hotel is quite artsy and we did score an upgrade to a room with a small patio 

I’ll get more pictures of this shopping area tomorrow.  Also - the Milan Cathedral is right behind me as I took this picture.

It takes a while to get to our room, a lot of turns, a few steps, a hallway filled with Black Light art.

We went out and explored the shopping - all luxury brands - Chanel, Tiffany, etc.  We ended up getting gelato - 

Tomorrow we are seeing The Last Supper - we are both very excited about that!

Off on another trip!

 Good morning

Shan and I are off on another adventure - sitting at the airport awaiting our first flight.

Where are we going???

Starting in Italy - Milan, Verona, Venice, bologna, Florence, then boarding a cruise with stops in Croatia, Montenegro, Greece, and Turkey.  Once we disembark the cruise we will be in Istanbul for a few days before heading home.

We have a long day of flying but it’s well worth it!

More to come from the very fashionable Milan

Back in Japan for a Couple Days

 Hello all from Narita Tobu Airport Hotel! 

Our flight back home on Thursday was cancelled and rescheduled for Saturday.  So here we are in an airport hotel with a ton of other people and various airline flight crew.  (Seems to be the go-to hotel for the airport)

But back to the beginning - 

• we saw the flight change - 
• then the time changed for the flight 3 times in a couple of hours.  
• When we checked in at Changi Airport in Singapore - they didn’t show any cancellation for that leg of the flight.  Weird right? 

By the time we got to the gate - they were calling our names to make sure we knew the flight had been cancelled and rescheduled- so nice of them 

Back to this amazing airport.  Again it’s just stunning.  It’s also luxurious- as in couches in the gate area, lounging areas with what could be pool chairs (poor description) plants.  It was no where near as ratty like some of the US airports.  I failed you all in not taking any pictures.  Sorry!

Once we landed in Japan, the American Airline staff were great.  We did receive hotel and food vouchers.  Easy peasy - no fight or discussion - just yes - let me get that taken care of for you.

So during all of this Shan and I were looking for other flights back to Kansas and Florida. Why?  We booked that segment separate from the flight to Japan.  Why?  Missy couldn’t get a flight from Florida at a reasonable hour to make it to Dallas in time for the afternoon flight to Japan.  So we just booked Florida/Kansas to Dallas on a separate ticket and spent the night in Dallas prior to Japan flight. 

So with the international part of the flight being rescheduled - we had to reschedule this separate flight.  So now Shan gets in at a reasonable hour in Kansas, while Missy arrives in Florida after midnight.  YUCK!

We are planning on visiting the Naritasan Shinsho-ji Temple today since it is nearby. 

 

Botanic Gardens

 Beware - there will be about 8 million photos posted of the 210 million photos we took!

Before that - just in case no one goes to the end of flowerama - we had a late lunch at Chatterbox - Asian inspired food.  

I had the Beef Hor Fun

Shan had the Mandrian Chicken Rice - which is a world famous hainanese dish.

For dinner - we went to one of the nearby “malls” to grab something sweet.  By the by - these ‘malls’ have Gucci, Tom Ford, Rolex, Burberry, with a ‘food court’ on the lower level.  Anyway - we saw these guys making and filling dumplings. 

Also Shannon played the ‘big sister’ card in the gift shop.  I saw some cutting boards - really nice wood and size - she sauntered up to me and said…”If you buy that I’m telling Tiffany on you”. Really funny moment!  😂

The Botanic Gardens are huge - over 100 acres.  We initially started in the very special Orchid Garden.  Which as it happens - is also where we finished our time.  That damn “Sweat” Gene got us good.  I hate it!  Especially when you see others in cute outfits - not sweating - or men in a sport coat - not sweating.  I curse you all!

Anywho there were tons of beautiful orchids - you will see our very honed photography skills - Sam - Shan’s friend who IS a professional photographer should find the humor in us calling ourselves professional photographers -

Here goes - 

This rooster was greeting everyone.  

On our way out we saw 2 of these - Monitor Lizards.  

This palm tree was huge - we couldn’t wrap both hands around the frond stalk. 

Look how tall these orchids are - at least 7-8 feet tall.  They are supported by rebar.