Sunday - last day in Milan

Tomorrow we head back to Halifax. It's been a wonderful trip as you might have concluded by reading our blog. Our last day was pretty quiet. After breakfast at the hotel, we walked over to Milano Centrale to meet Kevin's train from Venice. He had a short stop in Milan to change trains before heading to Genoa.  He seemed very happy with his Italian travels to Rome and to Venice since we had seen him in Florence. Wally and I did a lot of walking around today. There wasn't much vehicle traffic on Sunday although lots of shoppers were on the sidewalks along Via Buenos Aires.  In the previous entry you will see that we took some photos of cars for vehicle-loving Johann. We also window shopped and I must admit that I weakened and bought a pair of Italian leather shoes - nothing fancy. (These weren't tango shoes, after all.) Later, we packed up and then had our last supper at a trattoria a few blocks away from our hotel.  This was a place recommended by our bar tender, Max (of opera tickets fame), so we knew we couldn't go too wrong.  They offered  complimentary bruschetta and Prosecca when we sat down which we found to be a pleasant introduction to the restaurant. Wally had pasta with baby clams and I had Risotto Milanese for our first course which we followed with sea bass served with artichoke sauce. (Artichokes are in season and seem to be featured everywhere.) At the end of the meal, our waiter plunked a bottle of limoncello and two small glasses on the table. We were to help ourselves to as much as we wanted as a gift of the house. We were a little too full for more than a small sample, but it was a nice way to celebrate the end of our trip. Walking back to our hotel, we were impressed again by the size of Milan Central Station seen at the end of the photos in the evening light. Tomorrow morning we are off by train to the airport for our flight to Toronto and then to Halifax. We have had a grand time!

For Johann - some wheels in Milan

Saturday - Milan (Lake Como)

I was so excited about the opera yesterday that I didn't mention our exploration of Milan's subway system which we later found quite useful when it started to rain. We also visited the famous Duomo di Milano, a huge late gothic structure which took 6 centuries to build!  The outside is extremely ornate with hundreds of statues, gargoyles and filigree. We found the inside dark and gloomy. It didn't help to see a statue of a skinned St. Bartholomew holding his skin over his shoulder like a cloak. We also looked around the nearby galleria which is a huge glass covered shopping mall.  Wally bought a silk tie there for last night's opera. (They say formal wear is required for opening night so we thought a cheap tie would do the trick!). 

So now on to today which dawned bright and blue. With the skies clear, we decided to take the train to Como, near the Swiss Border. It's a pretty place and today full of happy tourists and families enjoying the weather.  We thought we might take a boat ride on Lake Como to Bellagio, but we didn't allow enough time, so settled for a walk around the town, a delicious asparagus risotto for lunch, and a peek at the farmer's market featuring local cheeses, salamis and wine. Just wish we could fill our suitcases with these wonderful products, but since we can't we might just have to return to Italy to enjoy them! The first pictures are of Como followed by yesterday's Duomo and Galleria. 

Friday - La Scala

Today I keep humming Nessum Dorum and can't seem to stop. Yes, we went to La Scala!!!  The opera, Turandot, was wonderful and what a thrill to be inside what has been called "the temple of opera".  The staging last night was very effective. and the interior of the opera house was quite stunning with its red velvet chairs and boxes and its gold trimmed ivory coloured balcony facades.  The conductor, Riccardo Chailly, was great to watch as he energetically controlled the segments of the orchestra while mouthing evey syllable which was sung. Lui got the most response from the auduence - obviously a favourite. But Turandot and the others were also up to the task. Perhaps Nessum Dorum wasn't the very best we have heard. We wanted Calef to bring the house down by soaring over the orchestra which he didn't, but it was more than agreeable. I could go on but won't on this blog, because we also had a fair bit of drama ourselves surrounding this opera event. We were never quite sure that we would be able to get tickets for last night's opening performance of Pucinni's Turandot. The online tickets had sold out long before we left Canada, so we had 2 options:  wait in line for one of the 120 tickets released on the day of the performance or hope that the hotel could help us. We shared our situation with the hotel bartender who knew someone who could sometimes get tickets at the last minute although the price of the tickets would be higher than normal. Faced with an extremely long lineup for last minute tickets and heavy rain, we hope our Max would come through. At 5 pm, an envelope arrived for two tickets in the second balcony. We took the subway near our hotel. When we arrived the area around the opera house was cordoned off and ringed by shoulder to shoulder riot police complete with shields, etc. There were many onlookers outside the protected area. When we approached, they asked to see our tickets and one of the riot policemen was told to step aside and let us pass. We then walked through an evacuated square to a second checkpoint, again showed our tickets and made our way to the steps of La Scala. It was opening night and the opening day of Expo 2015. Media cameras were all around. The who's who of Milan was present including the prime minister of Italy, celebrities, and many fashionable people including a gorgeous svelte 6 foot 2 inch blonde with a glittery gown the neckline of which was more of a navel line. Earlier in the day, there had been riots nearby protesting the Expo and the huge cost of it.  Cars had been torched, banks had been robbed and store windows broken. Of course, we had heard nothing of this ahead of time. At the end of the opera, we were thrilled that we had finally been to LaScala and had heard an opera by Wally's favourite composer, Puccini. We returned to the hotel when we thanked our Max and had a celebratory drink. Unfortunately in all our excitement, we had left our camera and my iPhone at the hotel, so only have two photos to share of this memorable experience - a portion of the exterior of La Scala taken earlier in the day and our program.