Seeing the Last Supper, Finding God and Touching the Sky!

Day 4 Milano

Don’t worry, this is not an overly religious post!

Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper, even after more than 500 years, even in its very terrible, faded shape is awe inspiring. (No pictures inside, this is from their website)

 

There are no words….but I’ll try to find some!

We had the honor of seeing it the last time we were in Milan.  We tend to only go to specific sites once.  I felt I wanted the opportunity to see it again, and the Blog Fodder agreed.

They only allow small groups of 25 in for fifteen minutes.  The tickets sell out very quickly.  The last time we had to go on a long, boring, expensive tour to get to see The Last Supper. (Note: the Ministry of Cultural Heritage just realized there are going to be a heap of people in Milan for the Expo, so now they are allowing groups of 30 and have extended their hours.  Surprisingly, they didn’t raise their price from 8 Euro a person.  I would have delightfully paid 50!)

 This time was going to be different.  So, the day the tickets went on sale for May, I sat up until 1 AM (10 AM in Milan) with my finger on the go button and I got my second choice of entry time.  Later that day, the whole month of May was sold out.

I printed our tickets, placed them in The Binder and we were ready to go.

We had the first time of the day at 8:15.  We were advised to show up ½ hour early, and made it to the church by 7:45.  They opened the doors and exchanged our voucher for real tickets and had us sit in a waiting room.  I did have a moment of panic, when I thought they might need my passport for id, but no problem, no id was asked for.  We then were escorted through a series of room, to dehumidify us and were ushered into the Refectory to see the Last Supper (no photos).

 

This is the church, the entry door is in the yellow building on the left

 

 

Other side of church

 

The room is dim and cool.  The Last Supper is on one wall, and another fresco done at the same time is on the other.  The other fresco is in much better shape, but nowhere near as inspiring. 

 

Crucifixion, Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli

If you ever get any where near Milan…go see the Last Supper.  Even if you have to take a long, boring, expensive tour to do so!

When our 15 minutes were up, we exited into another waiting room, then out through the gift shop.  There was a “free” bathroom, and, in Italy, if you have the chance…go!

We then exited into a small garden.  The fresh, green smells were amazing, and I only wish I could share them.

 

 

We then wanted to tour the Duomo.  The BF thought we could walk, it is only 2 Metro Stops, not far at all!

Famous Last Words!  Especially considering we were going back to Expo later that day.

But walk we did.  And we passed a church with a sign saying it was the location of a Tour group and there was free entry.

The church is being restored and was spectacular.  It is a part of the Archeology School of Milan.  We enjoyed the artwork, and placed a small donation in the bucket.  We were then invited to tour the rest of the church.  Again, just spectacular artwork.

This was my favorite

 In this case, the extra walking gave us something we would not have seen otherwise.

We then continued to the Duomo.  It was started in the 1300’s and finished last week.  It is pretty darn impressive both inside and out. 

 

 

 

 

This was out front, not sure what it was all about

 

 

 

The lay of the land

 

We started our tour with a trip to the Terraces, which is the top of the Cathedral and had some pretty impressive views of Milan.  It was interesting to see some of the architecture up close.  We had our choice to take the elevator for 13 Euro or the steps (250 of ‘em) for 8 Euro.  Elevator it is!

 

The BF does not do well with heights, but didn’t have much trouble here.  The railings were high enough for him, and we weren’t often at the edge.

 

For some odd reason they had modern art sculptures up here.  There were staff members scattered around to answer any questions.

See, construction projects never seem to end

 

The old and the new

You know his mom just caught him doing something wrong

 

Gargoyle

 

 

We then came back down and went into the Duomo.  It is huge and impressive.  There were many stained glass windows and art work everywhere. 

 

 

Proof of just who gave what apple to whom!!!

 

St Bartolommeo

 

Since we got up so early to make it to the Last Supper, we did not have breakfast, so we stopped at our favorite café, the Majestic.  I had a Bismarck Pizza, which had bacon and an egg on it.  Kinda strange, but really, really good.

 

Then it was back to Expo to continue the fun there!