Italy Trip - 2010

ITALY -- 2010

We have been looking forward to this trip to Italy for over a year. Oksana and Damiano announced that they would be getting married in Bra, Damiano's home town, and Oksana asked Jill to be the Maid of Honor so we were excited. We and a few of Oksana's American friends would be sort of her 'family' since she had no other relatives making the trip from Ukraine. The American family was made up of me and Jill, Donna Haley from Columbia, Tom and Karia (Basta) Hansen from Phoenix, and Carmen and Jenny Chicone from Mo. University (Carmen was Oksana's advisor).

The three of us, me, Jill and Donna, made arrangements to meet at the airport in St. Louis and fly to Atlanta and meet Tom and Karia for the (Delta) flight to Milan on June 9th. Our flight connections were fine and we all met in Atlanta -- the flight to Milan was overnight and very long but otherwise uneventful. Sleeping on the plane was nearly impossible so we were pretty exhausted when we arrived but it was mid morning and no time to rest. Donna, Tom and Karia were going directly to Bra while Jill and I planned to spend a day in Milan and do a little sightseeing before going to Bra. They took a bus to Torino and then a train to Bra.

MILANO
We took a shuttle to the Milan Stazione Centrale, the larger railway station dating from the days of Mussolini, and then managed to find the metro and a kind lady who showed how to purchase tickets. For some reason, you have to go through a turnstile to get to the metro. That is OK if you are just going by yourself but we had two huge rolling suitcases and a hefty duffel bag as well as a camera bag and Jill's shoulder bag. Of course the luggage got hung up in the turnstile and we were too tired to figure out a better way to handle it so eventually it became a process of kicking the suitcase in front on the floor in front of you as you negotiated the turnstile and tried to keep the other stuff from getting hung up. Luckily it was not busy when we were trying to get this done. Once through the turnstile you have to descend to the platform and hope you are on the right one -- we were! We had to ride just a short distance to the Muscova metro station where we popped out of the ground and stood on the sidewalk looking for Corso Garibaldi. Once again, a kind lady provided directions as we were about to wander off the wrong way...I'm not afraid to ask directions -- that's almost the only Italian I know. So we got started in the right direction to the hotel and walked about two blocks and found it -- the Hotel Ritter.

Hotel Ritter is OK for one night but it has seen better days...I hope. Its major positive attribute is its location...within walking distance to the things we wanted to see. Our room was sufficient - two twin beds and a bathroom. The bathroom was a challenge at first but we managed to get it figured out. The desk clerks were helpful every time we needed any directions or information. You must surrender your passport every time you check in at an Italian hotel and they must do some sort of report to local police and then you get the passport back next time you go out. You also often have to surrender your key at the desk when you go out and most hotels had a safe in the room for valuables. We both took showers and freshened up a little and then headed out looking for the Duomo with a map and directions from the desk clerk. The area we were in was the "Bohemian" section of Milan and it looked very much like the set of the movie Evita -- many old apartment buildings, old churches, shops and offices. The streets were fairly narrow and had antique trolley cars running on tracks and connected to overhead wires. Old street lights were suspended over the street on wires.

After about a 20 minute walk down Corso Garibaldi we found the Galleria Vittorio Emanuel, an enclosed shopping mall from the late 1800s and one of Milan's high fashion spots (think Prada). It has a glass roof over the pedestrian area between the shops and restaurants and the place seems to be a draw for all sorts of people, some shoppers, some walking dogs and some sleepy tourists. Since we couldn't afford anything Prada offered we just looked around and then headed out into the main piazza and the Duomo. The piazza was large and full of people enjoying the day or watching others and being watched -- or posing in their Prada outfits, perhaps. At one end is the huge gothic church made of white stone and decorated with statues and intricate stone filigree.

The Duomo is one of the largest churches in the world and it certainly has an imposing presence -- it too seems to be posing in its finery on the piazza. For all of its whiteness and airy filigree on the outside it is dark and cavernous on the inside. The word "awesome" is an appropriate description in this case. It is huge and surely there could be several church services going on at the same time and one would not be interrupted or distracted by another one. We explored the church but chose not to climb up to the rooftop observation area that looks out over the piazza. It is clearly a living church with several daily masses and active devotional chapels and confessional areas. What you can see of the pipe organ looks puny in comparison to the space. The Gothic arches in the nave soar almost 150 feet above the floor. We just sat for a while and took it in because it was so amazing ...and because we were tired.

We left the Duomo and took a shortcut through the galleria and came out in a smaller piazza facing the La Scala opera house where many of Italy's opera giants performed. A large statue of Leonardo Da Vinci presides over the piazza which was a little calmer and relaxed compared to the larger piazza by the Duomo. While La Scala was an imposing building, I was a little underwhelmed after seeing the Duomo and the Galleria. We were really too tired to appreciate much of anything at this point and did not try to get in but just stayed in the piazza. We were getting hungry so we went back into the Galleria and found a restaurant that wasn't too pricey and sat in the 'indoor-outdoor' cafe under the glass roof enjoying my beer and pizza and Jill's lasagna. Our first meal in Italy was pretty good. We found our way back to the hotel and collapsed....we were both in bed by 5 PM.

We slept soundly for about 10 hours but then woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. It was barely 6 AM when we went out on the street and headed off toward Santa Maria de la Grazia, the church that houses Da Vinci's "The Last Supper". We were the only ones out on the street and even the bakeries were not open yet and trash collectors were just starting to pick up the huge piles of trash. I think that watching a city wake-up in the morning is really an interesting thing. As we walked we started to see more people out and a few trolleys and buses going through the streets. Cars were still less frequent but delivery trucks started to be more common. Newspaper stands were starting to arrange the paper bundles to display the various morning editions...print journalism is still alive and well (I guess) in Italy. We were hearing the morning church bells ring as we walked along -- something that I really like that we don't have much here at home.

Of course, we arrived at the church (Church and Dominican Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie) much too early and didn't expect to actually get in to see the painting...tour groups have it booked up well in advance. The church is a World Heritage Site and dates from the 1480s and very impressive in its own right even without the painting. The small piazza in front of the church is a construction site but we couldn't tell what they were doing. The famous painting is in a different building adjacent to the church -- not in the actual church -- and there was a sign that said the church did not actually own the painting. We found a gate and went in and discovered a very pretty and peaceful courtyard garden as part of the church.

Leaving the church we headed back toward the hotel and got to the Castello Sforzesco, a medieval castle fortress in the heart of Milan that now houses a number of municipal museums and is surrounded by a large park. It was built in the 1400s as part of the old city wall system that protected the city but now is a stand-alone structure complete with moats and drawbridges, bastions and huge towers. The castle is divided internally into several sections with some residential and military structures. There are a number of feral cats that live in the fortress and people leave trays of food for them. There was also a display of replica Chinese Terra Cotta Warriors which seemed a little out of place.

After our morning ramble we got back to Hotel Ritter in time for breakfast. I really needed a cup of coffee but the automated espresso machine was acting up. I managed to get one small cup of 'caffe' before it went belly up. The bar man was being accosted by other guests wanting espresso and he was about to go berserk trying to operate the manual espresso machine fast enough to satisfy the guests. That's when I decided to switch to hot tea and he had plenty of hot water. That was also our first encounter (on this trip) with blood orange juice that we really liked.....that and the chocolate-filled cornettos.

After breakfast we packed up and checked out of the hotel and headed back to the central station -- again fighting with the satanic metro turnstiles. We had a later train ticket but it was good for any trip to Bra so we took an earlier train.