With a bit of quick thinking Corban turned an Emrites
blanket into a skirt and enjoyed dancing to some violinist in the street. The violinist and on lookers enjoyed her
enthusiasm. PERFECT!
Friday, April 18, 2014
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Milan City (Day 2)
Today
didn’t get off to the best start. We
planned to be at the L’Ultima Cena where Leonardo Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper”
is displayed. We didn’t have tickets and
the only way to get in is to turn up and hope for a cancellation. Unfortunately we didn’t plan for the morning
commuter traffic into the city and spent over 1 ½ hours in the car, we then
also missed the walking tour that started at 10.30am, lucky we have seen the
other “Last Supper” at the Louvre in Paris .
Changing our plans we then decided to take a 1920’s tram around Milan,
however Leo had fallen asleep and the buggy didn’t fit between the bars on the
tram. By now were hitting lunch and not
seen anything new. Getting out the trip
advisor app we made our way to the Brera Picture Gallery (Pinacoteca di
Brera). This was a University museum so
you got to see how paintings are restored and kept. We saw the most reproduced painting in Italy
the ‘Hayez’ (The Kiss) and a selection of paintings from Raphael, Caravaggio
and a bunch of other Italian painters.
Taylor had received a facebook message this morning from a girl she went
to Bethlehem College with, to say she was living in Milan! So at 3.30pm Taylor met her back at the
cathedral. Crazy that Taylor managed to
catch up with an old primary school friend on the other side of the world. Taylor was shocked to learn that Italians go
to school on a Saturday! Ended up being a
good day even though it got off to a rocky start :+)
Lake Como
Today we drove north to Lake Como area. There are many little towns/villages dotted
around the lake district, the road is a skinny tight road with buildings and
walls on either side barely room for two cars!
Lake Como is where lots of movies have been filmed, there are many cool
villas. We passed by where they made
Oceans 12, 007 and Star Wars. Unfortunately we went on a Monday and the
villas were closed (we might come back later in the week, depending on our
schedule). The area is beautiful, Corban
and Leo even got into their togs for a dip in the lake! On the way home we stopped at a nice play
park and the little kids had a train ride while Taylor read a book in the
park. Another great day exploring the
Italian countryside.
Musei del Castello Sforzesco, Duomo Cathedral & Galleria Vittorio
Our first day in Milan was nice and hot. We drove into the city and began our day at
the Musei del Castello Sforesco (Castle).
On the scale of castles and museums that we have seen, it is on the
smallish/modern side. Luckily we went on
a free day that was part of a festival here in Milan, as there are several
museums located in the castle and usually you have to pay for each one
individually, good bonus. Today Allan
was harassed by a guy painted in gold who wanted £10 for a photo & then
Taylor and Nicolette were also asked for £10 for a little cotton bracelet, we
don’t mind tipping but this is the first time we have come across quite
aggressive street vendors (made things a little interesting!). We had finished the museum by 1.30pm, so we
wandered through the city to the Duomo Cathedral. It is a gothic cathedral and took 500 years
to build, so was big and impressive. We
took a couple of photos on the inside before finding out that you weren’t allowed
to take photos, oops! We took a good
look at the priests in the glass coffins because they looked so real, only to
come home and research that they were!!
At least they put a silver or gold mask over their faces. After the cathedral we walked through the
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (shopping mall).
This mall was built in the 19th century with a glass topped
barrel-vaulted tunnel roof, the floor was designed with lots of little
colourful tiles and the mall was home to expensive shops like Prada. Finally we walked to the Arco Della Pace (arch). Everyone was tired and ready for home by the
end of the day, all in all a great day out.
Milan Home Exchange
Another holiday and another home exchange, this week we find
ourselves in Milan, Italy. We arrived at
our home exchange and were greeted by the nicest family, within 10 minutes the
kids were out playing in the street and enjoying our new neighbourhood. All of the kids in the street are really
friendly and inviting. This trip we also
have our friend Nicolette from Australia staying with us, so we are off to a
great start!
Ice Skating
Riverside hired an ice skating rink for the night. Corban and Leo loved being out on the ice, Corban even played with the ice hockey puck with her bar. Even the adults had lessons, we were skating on one leg and around tires, all kinds of stuff. A great night out!
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