Halloween in Milan

Tuesday morning came early, at least for B.  He was up and ready and standing in line in hopes of securing last minute tickets to the Last Supper almost before the sun rose.  And he almost did it but the only available time they had was at 3 pm which is exactly the time I had booked our tour of the Duomo.  I thought of seeing if I could reschedule it but it was too complicated and so we would just have to accept that we would not be seeing the Last Supper this time in Milan.

But since we were all up and ready to go we decided to take advantage of the gorgeous day (who knew it would be so sunny!)  We were to wander the streets again until it was time for our rooftops tour.  We headed back over to the Sforza Castle.  We had walked through it the night before but wanted to get a chance to really see it.

Built in the 1500's and fortified over the years, it is no longer a castle but rather houses many of the cities more prominent museums.  We wandered a bit and decided to have lunch before coming back to check one or two of them out.  Sadly, when we got back and saw that the museum we really wanted to see (Michelangelo) was closed for renovations, we just played around a bit.

The girls nod to Halloween since they would not be trick-or-treating that day :(

Lunch.  Yep, pizza topped with French Fries.

By this time we were ready to head back to the Duomo to make sure we made our tour time.  We had missed the Last Supper for this tour; we certainly didn't want to be late.

As the 3rd largest church in the World and the largest in Italy  (St. Peter's is in Vatican City and the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida is only slightly bigger and in Brazil), it makes sense that it took over 6 centuries to complete.  Over those 6 hundred years, many different architects had many different ideas about what should be done and it has left the Cathedral an amalgamation of styles.  Some love this, some hate this but no one can say that it isn't interesting and awe-inspiring.  Our tour took us through the main sights of the Cathedral, then underground to the tombs and the remains of the church that stood before and then up onto the rooftops for a jaw-dropping view of the city.

The panels of stained glass are all passages of scripture with the most important one missing  - the birth of Jesus - until it is placed on Christmas Eve each year and stays through Epiphany.

The statue of St. Bartholomew the Flayed (1562) is arguably the most famous in the Cathedral.  What looks like a scarf or fabric thrown around his neck is actually his skin (notice his muscles showing).

One of the 3 alters.

We were lucky enough to have seen the Quadroni, a series of paintings celebrating the life and miracles of St. Charles Borromeo.  They are hung in late October and early November to commemorate his name day.

Upon the rooftop.

The view!

The details!

The Madonna which is the symbol of Milan and the Cathedral.

The Family.

We ended the day watching the sunset up on the roof and then heading out to an early dinner.  B had a flight to catch at 5 am the next morning and we were all a little exhausted.