Milano to Verona

Saturday 7^th May

Milan, Verona and Venice Today we have front seat in the bus  Yeah

We arrive early in Milano after a very early start, I kinda felta  sorry for himself, but I really shouldn’t of as it was a classic case ofa over indulgence you knowa.  We quicly skyped home to wish our dear mothers happy mothers day, even though we were a day early but we didn’t want to miss the opportunity.

Arriving in Milano we walk through this beautiful  exclusive shopping centre which was very fancy and full of very flash expensive shops like Louis Vitton, which I am definitely not a fan of.  The floor of the centre was covered in mosaics and there was a mosaic of Taurus  the bull which according to local folk lore it is lucky to touch the testicles of taurus, and very lucky to turn around on the testicles of the bull.  Well of course I know that I am lucky, but wanted to be very lucky and so did the full turn on the balls.  It was amazing to watch from a distance all the tourists pivoting on the balls of the bull.  They wear away annually and have to be recreated.  This really is an amazing centre with a large dome, unfortunately the man who was responsible for the building fell off a ladder and died the day before it opened.  Tough luck.

We then visited Milanos Duomo cathedral. It is an exceptionally large and elaborate Gothic cathedral on the main square of Milan, the Duomo di Milano is one of the most famous buildings in Europe. It is the largest Gothic cathedral and the second largest Catholic cathedral in the world. It is made all out of marble and took over 600 years to complete, it is magnificent , it has 1300 spires and about 130 towers.  We have certainly seen some amazing cathedrals of a magnitude that we have never before seen in our lives.  Pure brilliance.

When in Milano we also visit La Scala the opera house, which is fairly ordinary from the outside but most impressive inside and we were able to go into the royal boxes, unfortunately we were unable to take any photos.

We asked about going to see the picture of the Last Supper but the tickets to this are very hard to obtain and are only released on the 1^st of the month and are all sold out within an hour.  Because it is a dry fresco it had deteriorated so they commissioned a company to do the restoration but when they completed in 2 years later they found that they did such a terrible job of it that they had to engage another company to undo the restoration and re-restore it.  It is now kept in an air locked vault so as to protect it and they only allow 20 people in every 15 minutes.  So we lucked out on this one.

Just out of Milano there is a huge bronze statue of a horse, it is taken from one of Leonardo da vinci’s sketches of a horse standing on two legs.  A multi millionaire wanted to see if the science and the art would work and so he had it built.  It did work and he sent it to Milano and gave it to them as a gift.

As we make our way to Verona there is miles upon miles of vineyards.  Verona is known for its vineyards of both white and red vino.  Himself can’t keep his eyes open this morning and I allow him to sleep on until he breaks out in humungus snores and then I just have to slappa him.  He is putting on a brave face, typical Lennard boy.  I know a little boy at home is doing the same thing, trying to cover his feelings by purchasing a 4 wheel drive, if I was at home I would slappa him also!!

 Verona is where my maternal grandfather’s relatives stem from and so I am very eager to have a good look around.  When they came to Tasmania they named Verona Sands after their homeland in Verona.  Of course Verona is where Romeo and Juliet’s balcony is located.  The story based on the writtings of Delaporte and Shakespeare took it and modified it a bit.  There is also a bronze statue of Juliet and the tourists flock by the thousands to see the balcony and to touch the right breast of Juilet !!  Verona also is home to a large roman arena second only to the colosseum.  In summer they hold the opera in this colosseum and it holds up to 25 thousnad people, they do have to use the microphone for this venue.  We have a lovely visit to Verona and really enjoy the sights.   Verona is very easy to get around as it is built on the flat.  The we get back on to the bus bound for Venice.