One of you will betray me...

I slept in. The bed was so warm. Pietro and Anna both had to get up early and go to work and Alex sleeps like a zombie, deciding to wake only when I awoke. I quietly walked over to the bathroom to take a shower and looked out the window. The Zoncas live on the top floor, the 8th floor, of their apartment building and the view from the bathroom window looks out towards the city center. You can see the Duomo through the hazy, humid sky. The morning was gorgeous. A little overcast but warm. And the view out to the city beyond from this window was no different then the view from the city from atop the Duomo from the day before. I’m getting the sense that all of Italy is this pretty and picturesque.

After getting ready for the day, Alex and I left the apartment and hopped a tram to a cafe for some breakfast, Cafe Titanic, one of Alex’s favorite places for an early meal. We both had pastries, mine filled with a marmalade jam and his filled with cream, and cappuccinos, a good breakfast coffee. Then we walked back to the Piazza del Duomo and then a bit further to go explore the city’s castle. Long before Italy was united in the 19th century into one state it was split into many regional states. One of these was Milan and the Lombardy plain whose capital was here in the center of Milan and whose king and royal family resided in the beautiful and distinctly Italian style castle. When one thinks of castles one usually conjures up images of tall English castles with towers, damsels, and dragons (or maybe I’m just generalizing that assumption, that’s what my mind conjures up in any event). This castle looked more like a gigantic southern villa. It centered around two very large square plazas bordered by high walls within which was the castles interior. The walls were made of brick and glazed over with stucco siding to which paintings and murals and mosaics were fixed. The tops of the walls had walkways for leisure and probably for guards and sentries. And above the walkways were the same Italian style red tiled roofs that you see all over the city. In the plaza were large, lush, green grass fields and gardens bursting with colorful flowers and ponds and fountains. The air was mild enough for bugs and butterflies to buzz around. Below the plaza were canals that moved water around, supposedly for plumbing and as water sources for the inhabitants. It was kind of a magical place.

We stumbled upon this photography exhibit, part of design week Milano

The best photograph I have of the castle, I should have taken better ones...

We walked through the castle to the other side and exited to a large park of much the same thing. We walked very slowly, enjoying the occasional glimpses of sun in between clouds and watching the ducks in the small ponds. Many Milanese were doing the same. But we were getting hungry for lunch. So we walked back to the Duomo, caught the tram back towards the south (and in the direction of my surprise!) and got off near the Zoncas’ neighborhood and found a small local pizza place for lunch. The shop had a small bar with a display of the various prepared pizzas and a small counter opposite the bar for sitting. Each pizza looked amazing and had been prepared with Italian ingredients. We both ordered a slice with mushrooms, artichokes, capers, and olives and both got a coke from a tall, thin can. It was a tasty meal. Our stomachs satisfied with our lunch choice, we started walking towards the Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie, a monastery, where my surprise awaited me.

We ate lunch here, Breadly, a small pizzeria

My half eaten pizza with Italian meat, artichokes, capers and olives

We got to the church and I immediately knew what I was in for. We walked around the small church first, part of a Dominican monastery, and Alex, knowing a lot about architectural design, explained that the church, and many other churches in Italy, was built in the shape of a cross. The entrance to the church was like the bottom of the cross shape and the altar was located where the two lines of the cross intersect with the three other points extending outward from the altar and hold more pews and the choir stalls. The top of the church was formed in the navata style, like an upside down boat. The church was elegant and quiet, very peaceful. But the real reason people come to this monastery is to go visit the Cenacolo Vinciano, the refractory, to see Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous Last Supper painting. Most people that I know that have visited Milan have all gone to the monastery to try and see the painting only to have been disappointed and turned away because they had needed to make prior reservations. I didn’t bother either because usually the reservation needs to be made weeks in advance. But Anna, the night before, searched for tickets and two luckily appeared, and she quickly reserved them and Alex and I showed up at the appointed time.

No photos allowed at the Last Supper, but here's proof I went

The painting was one of the most impressive I have ever seen in person. It depicts the scene of the last supper, of Jesus and his twelve apostles sitting beside him on a long table. The scene shows the reactions of the disciples just after Jesus makes the announcement that one of them is about to betray him. All the disciples are in a fit of shock and confusion, questioning whether they are the ones that could be the betrayer. I had an audio guide that explained that the painting is in dire need of constant attention and preservation because Leonardo decided to paint directly onto the surface of the wall which allows the sharpness of the contrasting lines and colors to shine more acutely. But this method doesn’t last as long as a fresco painting. So much of the painting is crumbling or faded. But even still, the painting is a masterpiece and seeing it in person was a privilege. I thanked Alex for taking me and then we walked out.

We strolled around for a bit and stumbled upon some more design exhibits. We walked into the courtyard of one building because we thought it was beautiful and worth a look and it turned out that there was a free photography exhibit inside. But more interesting to me than the photos was the building and house itself. We learned after talking to one of the guides inside that this building once housed Leonardo Da Vinci when he came to Milan to paint the Last Supper. The house was incredible. The courtyard in the front was filled with damp moss and ivy and old Roman statues and faces and fountains. The back of the house led to a yard centered around a fountain and had lush grass lawns and gardens. It must have been a nice place to come, sit and think.

The courtyard that drew us in to Leonardo's Milano residence

The courtyard was full of plants and old Romanesque statues

A view of Leo's inspirational backyard

We went in to view another one of design week's photography exhibits

We walked around a bit more, got some coffee and gelato, but we were getting a bit tired of walking around for so long so we hopped the tram back to Alex’s apartment. Dinner was waiting for us. Pietro and Anna had prepared an excellent home cooked meal of focaccia bread, olives, and salami to start followed by a course of risotto with mushrooms, followed by another course of veal covered by a tuna and mayonnaise sauce and finished with some local greens and balsamic vinaigrette. We had some local fruit that tasted like a cross between an orange and a pear and some local Italian pastries from the market. It was a stellar meal. The Zoncas were so kind to spend all the effort in preparation for me and I was grateful for the meal and the authentic Italian experience. It didn’t take long for us to get sleepy and crash for the night but before I did, Pietro helped me come up with an itinerary that would take me through the best parts of northern Italy. I was grateful for the local insight.

I didn't take photos of the meal, but at least I remembered the pastries!

But I left the Zoncas and I left Milan this morning. I hopped a train to Venice, a city along the northeastern coast, a city famous for its lack of roads and winding canals. The train took about two hours, the city is very close, and besides all the trains in Italy are ridiculously fast. The train zipped through beautiful Lombardy plain countryside and out to the coast, over a long bridge extending out into the sea, and then eventually to an island off in the distance. Actually, Venice is a grouping of islands. Walking out of the train station you immediately get a sense of the place. The steps of the station extend out to the Grand Canal, the city’s major thoroughfare. Ancient buildings extend right up to the water. The whole place is a miracle of architecture and construction. The city has no roads and therefore no cars. All transport is by boat or gondola or by foot. And the day was sunny, warm, and the city smelled like the sea, my absolute favorite smell in the world, the salty air hanging in the warm sun. I hopped the local water taxi that makes runs along the canal and got off and wandered through the dense and imposing alleyways that make up the city towards my hostel. I got lost. I got really lost. But I had plenty of time and wandering around was kind of nice. Eventually I found my bearings and wound my way up to the hostel, located in a back alley of a back alley of a side canal off a canal off the main canal. The route to get there takes you deep into the heart of the small city, around some ancient Roman fountains still spewing drinking water for locals, and through many small turns and twists until you reach the door that leads you up several steps and floors to the hostel. The place is beautiful and laid back. I settled in and then walked around some more, got lost, and returned to the hostel. I wait until the next post to give you a real sense of the place. But Venice is the kind of place that you dream could only exist. I have the day today to walk around, get lost some more, and explore. Hopefully I make it back!