Friday, June 9th
Jim and I get up early to start sightseeing. Jim decides to let Earl sleep,
as he�s not use to all of the traveling. We leave Earl instructions on where
to meet at 11:30. We also have walkie-talkies, so if he gets up earlier he can call.
The breakfast at the hotel is pretty good. I like the prosciutto and cheese.I
get a croissant, which has some type of jelly filling. The breakfast is the
typical European hotel breakfast. There is yogurt, juice, and various breads, but
most of the time no eggs or potatoes, which is the case here.
We walk across the street to the main train station to catch the
Metro down to where the Duomo
is located. The weather is beautiful, sunny and around 75�. We get a two-day
pass that gets us unlimited travel on the Metro and trams. I would recommend
this type of pass for most places in Europe. The Metro station is very crowded
because it�s underneath the central train station.We see all manner of people, from
professionals going to work, to other tourists. You can always figure out
who is the U.S. tourist because we wear shorts. In Europe, if you see a woman
wearing shorts it�s almost assured that they are American. There are two Metro
lines that have stops at the central train station.We figure out what train to take
to get to the Duomo.
Coming up from the Duomo 
stop you end up being in the huge Piazza del Duomo.
There are pigeons everywhere, so the statue in the middle of the square is filthy.
Of course the other constant of traveling in Europe, it�s almost 100% that one of
the major monuments or cathedral you want to see is under construction due to restoration.
There is a huge sign in front of the Duomo; you can barely see any of the front
face of the Duomo. We find out that the Duomo had started renovations in 2003.
The Duomo is around the 4th largest church/cathedral in the world besides
St. Peters, the
Seville Cathedral,
and one in the
Ivory Coast. From what I can tell there is a
debate as to which church is the largest.
You are required to where pants, according to the signs, to enter the Duomo.
Jim and I were prepared with pants that have detachable bottoms to become shorts
(you can find them at most outdoor shops). There is a line to get in because
they check everyone�s bags. Photos aren�t allowed supposedly, but everyone
takes pictures anyway and nobody seems to care.
Once inside, you immediately see the depth of the church. 
The ceiling is pretty
high up also, so I can�t get any good shot of the ceiling. There are draperies
hanging from the ceiling between all of the columns.I always like to check out the
stained glass windows. For some reason the depictions in the glass have a
lot of biblical figures, Jesus, Joseph, etc. I�m usually looking for something more
Armageddon related in the stained glass. I do get a good shot of a portion
of
the stained glass with a snake and what looks like a Minotaur. I want to
get up to the Roof Terraces before the sun gets higher in the sky (draining color)
so we go back out of the church and around to the back.
It costs 6 Euro to take the elevator to the top of the Duomo. I didn�t read
about any steps but when we come down we do see another entrance that might be steps
to the top. Our bags get checked again before we can get on the elevator.
At the top you see statue after 
statue, spire after spire and a great view of the
city. You can see some places with new stone as part of the renovation. Some
statues have spikes sticking out of them to stop the pigeons from sitting on them.
It�s always amazing to see the detail that went into creating a building like the
Duomo. You walk along the outside wall at the top and then into the middle
of the roof. You get to see almost the whole roof. Some workers are
hauling up material to do renovations. The workers seem to be going very slow
and with great care to make sure they don�t drop anything.
We take the elevator back down and when we come out of the back of the church we
see a soccer store, so we go check it out. I get an Inter Milan polo shirt
and Jim gets an AC Milan goalie jersey. I don�t find an Italian National Team
goalie jersey, which is on my list of apparel to get for friends and family.
It�s getting closer to 11:30 so we need to start heading over to the
Teatro alla Scala (the Opera House) where we are going to meet Earl.
We walk through the
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
, which is an arcade with shops and restaurants.
The Galleria is an open air arcade shaped in a square cross. In the middle
of the arcade on the floor are four frescoes of the major Italian cities: the bull
of Turin , the wolf of Rome , the lily of Florence and the red cross of Milan.
I can only get 3 of the frescoes since the lily is covered by an exhibit.
As we are looking at the frescoes a number of women step up to the bull of Turin
put their foot in a hole where the
bull�s jewels would be located 
and spin around 360�. I think you can
see the hole in my picture. There is netting towards the top of the four entrances
to the Galleria, which helps keep out the pigeons. It would be nice to get
up to the top balconies to take pictures but I didn�t see anyplace to get up there
so it�s probably private.
We hear Earl on the walkie-talkie and head over to the statue across from the Teatro
alla Scala. Earl is happy because he got down here all by himself. He
said he asked about 10 people to make sure he was going the right way. We
go back through the Galleria and Jim and Earl stop in the Mercedes Benz store to
check out the sunglasses. Jim buys an pair of very cool sunglasses, and as
a result Jim and 
Earl get to sit in the Mercedes convertible in the store, so I
take a picture. Earl wants to go to the Ferrari store so he gets directions from
the store clerk. I help them find the store since its back toward where Jim
and I went to the soccer store. I get a picture of the Ferrari store and tell
Jim and Earl I�ll meet them at the statue of monument to Vittorio Emanuele II in
the middle of the Piazza del Duomo.
No purchases at the Ferrari store for Jim or Earl. We walk up Via (tr. street)
Dante, which is a pedestrian street. We stop at a little pizzeria to have
lunch. It�s nice because everything is outside and we can enjoy the weather.
More white wine and some water since we are getting dehydrated from the walking
and warm weather.We get a simple salad with fresh mozzarella, which is very good,
and a few pizzas. A couple of girls from the U.S. are sitting at the next
table. They are backpackers, and are only in Milan for the day. They
were coming from Barcelona are off to Rome next. Earl starts feeding the �little
birds� not the pigeons he says. Jim and I are a little dubious as to Earl�s
ability to keep the food away from pigeons.
We continue walking up Via Dante to
Castello Sforzesco. The castle was originally built in 1368 as a fortress
and 
has been used for different reasons over the years. It was going to be
demolished at one point but was converted into a museum. There�s a bunch of
construction going on in the main court so we move into the Ducal Court and Cortile
della Roccchetta. We don�t go into the museum.
Outside the back of the castle we run into a Toshiba promotion tent. We go
into the tent and use the computers to get on the Internet and send an email.
Jason is at work when I send the email (it must be 6am in Ohio) so he responds right
away and I get to send him another email letting him know what World Cup match we
are going to see. We find out we aren�t supposed to be using the computers
to check email so they kick us out.
We are now in
Parco 
Sempione. There are plenty of people laying out enjoying the
sun. There�s a nice pond, an arena, a museum, and the
Arco della Pace in the park.The Arco della Pace was built to celebrate Napoleon�s
victories. It looks a lot like the
Arc de Triumph in Paris. I swear that guy built the same monument
all over Europe. Since Wellington beat him I think the English felt compelled
to build Wellington the same type of arch because the
Wellington Arch in Hyde Park, London looks very similar. We have been
walking for a while so the boys take a break and I walk towards the front of the
castle again to take some more pictures.
We start going back towards the Duomo down Corso (tr. Avenue) Magenta. Supposedly,
there is supposed to be some nice �Palazzo�s� on the avenue. We must have
started past most of those buildings because there�s not much to look at other then
a busy city street. The
Santa Maria delle Grazie is nearby somewhere, but I didn�t listen to my
sister Eve and book reservations soon enough to get to see the Last Supper.
When I finally checked it out a month before we came, all reservations were booked
through the summer.
When we get back to the Piazza del Duomo we hop on a tram to take us to
Naviglio Grande. It�s still way
too early for anything much to be
going on around the canals but we wanted to at least see the area. According
to the guide book and websites there are discos on barges in the canals. As
expected there doesn�t seem to be much going on but we do find a small caf� with
the seats outside and stop to have a beer.
As we start walking back, I try and take a picture of an Old Italian women leaning
out her window, but can�t change my lens in time before she goes back inside.
We see a tram that has the name of the central train station on it and hop on.
An older British woman tells us we are on the right tram if we want to go to the
station. She doesn�t like Milan and lives in Como and is taking a train back
to Como. The tram takes a round about way to get back to the station but we
get to see some of the city.
Earl takes a nap and Jim and I go to the Westin to watch the Germany vs. Costa Rica
match (4-2 Germany). We end up having 4 glasses of wine since they start bringing
out some good snacks at the bar, olives, proscuitto, and cheese balls. Jim and I
head back to the hotel after the match.
Back to Via Brera area for dinner. Since its Friday the vendors are already
out by 10pm selling the wares. The gypsies are still there telling fortunes.
It�s harder to walk because more people are out on a Friday. The streets are
cobblestone so the women have to walk on a single path that�s not cobblestone because
of their shoes. There are many locals sitting at the outside bars tonight.
You can tell they are locals because they all smoke like chimneys.
I get to pick the restaurant tonight so I walk farther down the street. We
get a spot close to a corner so we can still see all of the people walking around.
Tonight we find out the word for butter (burro). I split a good swordfish
appetizer with Jim and have pasta as a main course which is very good. More
wine, so Jim and I are feeling good at this point. Earl finds out where to
hang out for the evening, which is the Corso Como area of Milan .
We get a taxi to take us to Corso Como, which isn�t far away. We go to the
Hollywood Club and there�s a lot of techno music playing. After a while we
think to try another place so we go outside. Earl meets 3 Russian girls who
we think speak some English. We take them to another bar and buy them a drink.
By now I realize that Laura, the one I�m talking to, doesn�t know a lot of English.
I don�t know any Italian or Russian so it becomes comical how we try and communicate.
I think we got across that we are all single and visiting Milan from the U.S. I�m
still not sure what type of job they had in Milan , but they had been living there
for some period of time. We go back to the Hollywood club with the girls since
we can�t talk to them, and start dancing. I leave Laura after she starts dancing
with a Fabio look alike.
I leave the club and take a taxi back to the hotel. Jim and Earl come back after
a little while. Jim was worried that he would have wound up in an alley somewhere
in Milan if he didn�t come back soon enough. We are loud because we are drunk
so someone calls the front desk on us and they tell us we need to quiet down. I
have to turn on my IPOD and listen to music because Earl starts snoring. That�s
Ok, because I know I�ll start snoring after drinking so much.
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