My day in Milan, Italy

On Sunday April 13, I spent the day with Uncle Jeff and two friends, Ingrid and Ross sightseeing in Milan. I got to Milan by mail, but it took a lot longer than it does to get from Edina to other places in the United States. Milan is the largest city in the northern part of Italy. It is not a big town for tourism, but it has 4 really cool places to see. It has the Duomo, the Castle Sforza, the La Scala opera house, and it is home to the very famous painting "The Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci.

Milan is a busy city and there aren't a lot of places to park. Driving a car isn't very practical so to get around we either walk, take the subway, or ride a bus or streetcar. To get downtown we rode a streetcar.

First stop, the Duomo. A duomo (pronounce dew-woh-mo) is a cathedral. There are a lot of large cathedrals all over Europe. This is the 2nd largest church in Italy. They started to build this one in the late 1300's and did not finish it until the 1800's. It is made mostly of marble and everything is carved by hand because they didn't have the fancy machinery they did today. On top of each of the spikes there is a sculpture of a person. You can even take a tour of the roof.
This is a closer look at the roof from another part of the roof.

This is a view of Milan from the roof of the Duomo.

This is the inside. The stained glass was BEAUTIFUL!!!

LOOK, they even have McDonalds in Italy. And, yes, they do have happy meals.

Milan is the fashion capital of the world. A lot of famous designers have stores there. Shopping in Milan is really popular. Below is a picture of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele. It's an early version of the enclosed shopping mall. It is a VERY expensive place to shop. Also, this Galleria connects 2 of Milan's famous landmarks, the Duomo and the La Scala Opera House.

The La Scala opera house was built in 1778 and today is one of the world's great opera houses. Below is a picture of a really cool restaurant near the Opera La Scala. Speaking of restaurants, I needed some food. In Italy they serve olives with almost everything! This is Sforza Castle. It was built in the 1300's for the ruling family of Milan. There are rooms here that were decorated by Leonardo da Vinci since he worked here for the Sforza family. Also, there is a famous unfinished sculpture that Michelangelo was working on at the time of his death.

That looks easier than walking but I think we'll take the subway to Jeff & Janet's instead.

This is a cool place to hang out near where Uncle Jeff and Aunt Janet live. It's a carousel in a park. Also, close to their house is a Gelateria. Gelato is Italy's version of ice cream except it's softer, has less air, and has less fat but tastes A LOT better!!! There's a gelateria on every corner and it's not uncommon to have a scoop of gelato every day.

Here I am with some of the things I collected; a newspaper, a key chain, a patch, and 4 postcards.