This weekend I went down to the Duomo area to take in the Christmas decorations and caught a free show at Palazzo Marino. This time it was Cupid and Psyche. I didn't think we were allowed to take pictures in there, so I didn't. It's cool, at this palace right near the galleria, they have small free shows with a few pieces at a time, changing every month or so. This time it was a great Canova sculpture and a painting by François Gérard. Both of these pieces were on loan from the Louvre, and are pretty much masterworks. Anyway, pretty great. Anyway, the snow is still up on everything. The Christmas tree in the Duomo square is actually much smaller than last years, but still nicely decorated. (It's not as big as it looks in this picture!)
Well, this is my last day in Italy, I am on my way to the airport right now... I guess this spells the end of my blog on Italy! Maybe I will take up another blogging project, but until the end of the year expect greatest hits, odds and ends, and some reflection of my time here. Goodbye Milano!
Friday we took the train out of Venice, after a crazy hunt for a mask that Vio fancied. The good news was that our plot to obtain it went flawlessly, and we made it out of there with no problems.
We regathered our strength at my apartment for a few hours, then braved the incredible cold and snow to head to the holiday festivities. We went to Basilica Sant'Ambrogio to see the saint himself, and we ended up sticking around for mass. It was one of the pretty ones with a choir, and wasn't too long since they really pack them in on the holidays!
After we headed to Fiera degli Oh Bej Oh Bej and did some shopping. I bought some cool stuff, and Vio bought a few things too. We didn't end up snacking out there since it was so cold out there, we headed over to la Rinascente instead so we could sit inside and have cocktails and cheese. Lots of cheese.
Look at how much snow is falling! I know that it's not a lot by New England standards, but seriously for Milan that it pretty snowy for early December.
We made it home and even to bed at a decent hour. Thank goodness it's toasty in my apartment, my toes were chilly after that evening!
Heather and Konrad came to visit me from Firenze last weekend. They took the train up Saturday morning. After dropping off their bags at my place, we headed to the center. First we headed to get snacks, passing through the Galleria on the way. Heather spun for luck!
There are new displays at the Louis Vuitton store!
We were on our way to Luini's and Cioccolati Italiani to grab quick and delicious snacks before heading into the Duomo. (I tried a new flavor of panzerotto, with onions, olives, and tomatoes, yum!)
After the Duomo, we headed to La Rinascente to shop and dine. We spent a long time in the basement Design Super Market.
Konrad let Heather and I shop our hearts out. We had dinner up at Obika, the mozzarella bar on the 7th floor. We split a really good apple and fig salad and the mozzarella sampler for two. Yum!
We headed back to my house a little early, since the rain was still falling and trying to melt us!
Before Mark and Mary left for Firenze Monday morning, we went to tour a bit around the Duomo. Always recognizable for the floor!
In the Piazza, they were setting up a mock-train engine for Freccia Rossa. I think it was just a promotional thing.
On Tuesday, Ross and I got out of the house to head to the Triennale. You never know if the exhibits there are going to be interesting or not, but we ended up seeing a lot of good stuff and spending just over four hours there. Seriously. The first exhibit we went to was on public architecture, and while there was some focus on current projects, there was also historic stuff. Photos, drawings, videos, models. This LED-lit model of a deep commuter rail station was one of many cool models.
We also saw the design exhibition, this year it's on graphic design, so fonts, periodical and book design, posters, packaging, brand design, even video exercises.
We saw an exhibit on prehistoric European rock carvings, and one on the lighting design of Gino Sarfatti. There was also a tribute to the Lady Dior handbag!
We even ended up skipping a few of the smaller exhibits because it was getting late. On our way home I caught a picture of the new Chanel perfume ads. These just appeared in the last week or two, and they are everywhere.
Ross and his parents made it here on Friday! I let them get a nap in before we started sight seeing, as per my European Recovery Plan. We headed out to the Pinacoteca di Brera after grabbing a panzerotti at Luini's...
After we headed to La Rinascente to get aperitivo and dinner at Obika. Yummy! It's also one of the best places to browse. This bean flask caught my eye. It has instructions and marking levels for the beans.
After dinner, we walked over to Cioccolati Italiani for gelato... Yum!
We headed out past the Duomo on the way back to Mark and Mary's hotel.
It's a place, not just a cheese. Actually, the cheese comes from that place. And that place is on the subway system of Milan!
On Sunday, I went to Gorgonzola for the Sagra Nazionale del Gorgonzola. Essentially, the Gorgonzola cheese fest.
I joined up with Tommi, Ali, Linda, and Monica, and met their fun friends Gemma and Carlo. We all ate lots of great cheesy food! Here, we're eating gnocchi in gorgonzola cream with walnuts and grapes, and pizza gorgonzola!
We headed back to town after filling ourselves with cheese, and headed over to do some browsing at La Rinascente. Linda wanted to see these Marc Jacobs mouse shoes!
The Duomo was light up that evening, which I always like to see. They don't light up the stained glass every night, and I don't know the schedule, but I suspect that it's just on the weekends?
For dinner we went to L'Altra Taverna, a Neapolitan pizza restaurant. I figured it would be good since it was Tommi's choice. (I always trust Tommi's restaurant and wine picks, he's a pro after all.) But it was amazing! Tommi recommended the stuffed crust pizza. It looks small on my plate, right, but I could not finish it. It's like a pizza with a calzone crust. To stuff the crust, they use ricotta with porcini mushrooms blended in. It's so creamy and delicious, and so filling! I will definitely be going again...
Linda, Chris, and Gerri are in Italy right now, at a big FINA meet in Riccione. I got to show them around the town a bit this past weekend. Here they are in front of the Duomo on Friday. When we stopped by the Duomo again Saturday morning, there was a big ceremony going on for ordaining priests! It was quite lovely.
On Miranda's last day in Milan, we did what one must do... go to the Duomo. The insides were lovely as usual. The crowds are up since tourist season is starting, so there were lots of people lighting offerings.
The stained glass was Miranda's favorite thing, and rightly so. The grand windows in the back are just awesome.
The stained glass comes from a variety of periods, some are even modern! I wish we were able to puzzle out the ages for the big ones in the back, which were clearly older, but... didn't look like they were original to the earliest period of the church. This pic below has a great detail, of Moses and a tiger.
By the stained glass in the back is a good spot to get a picture of the marble floor patterns unencumbered, too!
And we did head up to the roof. The oncoming clouds were actually a benefit for picture taking!
As always, seeing the roof is inspiring, and you notice random details you've never seen before. And you get to take sweet pictures!
One of the highlights of Esther and Tom's visit was going up to the Duomo roof. We took the elevator, at my insistence. Apparently they walked at all the other major sights, like St. Peter's.
Now, the Duomo is huge, and of course, the roof is huge. The cool part is the tiny details, though. Everything is decorated and different. There are saints all over, there are plant motifs everywhere. These satyrs were over one of the doorways on the roof walkways.
Random monsters and creatures show up everywhere. And seriously, no two things are alike. The highest level of the roof affords a good view of the city, and some great cute couple photo ops.
Now, I hope I have time to do some posting this weekend, but my friend Miranda is coming for a visit, so I will probably by quite busy! But, this means more exciting sights photos next week!
Our first stop Saturday morning was to tour the inside of the Duomo. I guess I always go during mass times, when they have the center roped off, so it was cool for me to be able to take pictures up the central aisle and of the altar in general.
We took a walk all around the interior, taking a good look at the stained glass.
There's this statue of a saint, which is a pretty striking statue. I think it's possibly Saint Bartholomew, who was skinned alive? The statue is perfectly lit, too.
We headed down to the crypt, to see the relics of the saints.
On Tuesday, I watched the second of the big Quaresima masses on TV. (Channel 14 Telenova!) It's a fascinating concept to show these big masses on TV. You can see the Duomo Diretta logo on the TV here!
When I was at the mass last week, you could see all the cameras around the cathedral shooting for the TV broadcast. They have a variety of views, at least three cameras, maybe more? This long shot is clearly from the back of the cathedral.
Seeing the close-ups of the readers and the choir was actually very nice. I didn't realize that the choir was full of boy sopranos when I saw them in person, and I really had a decent seat, a quarter of the way from the front!
The main readers were the same as from the last mass, and they are all picked for their great voices. In the TV version, there was also a commentator! So whenever there was no talking or singing, she was narrating. I think most of it was descriptions and explanations of the actions happening, including naming the pieces read or sung and their writers, and occasionally actual commenting, for example, praising one of the readers for giving a stirring rendition of one of Maria's speeches.
I would have been a little lost without the program booklet I picked up at the first mass last week. The booklet is beautifully produced, and it also provided the channel and time info for me!
Women's winter fashion week was last week, the 22nd through the 28th. (There's two fashion weeks a year, the other is in... September or October?)
Getting tickets for fashion week is really challenging, so I did not attend any shows. Bummer. I just went down to get the lay of the land on Sunday. They put out a black and pink carpet on Via Mercanti.
They have a few little booths, including the news coverage hosting. They had a few cool booths where you could get hair and makeup consultations. I didn't quite have time to wait in line, but next fashion week, I'd go for it.
I walked around to check out the different venues and do some people watching. They had one of the major stages inside the courtyard of the Castello Sforzesco!
And this was my fashion week look. I think I rocked it!
So, this time of year is the end of Carnevale, the start of Lent, Ash Wednesday, that sort of thing. This being a largely Catholic country, there's been lots of going ons for these events. I was chatting about this with my mother, who asked me if I saw lots of folks with ashes last week, and I realized, no, none. Not at the university, not at the street market. And, in an unrelated thought, I knew Milan's carnival season lasted until last weekend, a few days after Venice's. Another (seemingly) unrelated thought was the "Ambrosian" adjective that seemed added on to a lot of the paperwork at the Duomo.
So, last night, I went down to the Duomo, and it all clicked. I headed down to see the big light show they were doing on the outside of the cathedral that they have been advertising everywhere, and realized it was about Quaresima "Lent" and that it was the third day of Lent. Tuesday, the 28th... It's because of the Ambrosian Rite thing! Only here in Milan, really. It even gets a special mention on the Wikipedia Lent page. Carnival is four days longer under Ambrosian Rite, lasting until sabato grasso Shrove Saturday. There is no Ash Wednesday!
The first four Tuesdays in Lent here are dedicated to the stations of the cross. Last night was the first night. The light show debuted on the cathedral at 8, followed by Cardinal Scola's first big mass for the stations.
These four big masses are being televised on broadcast TV here. The Duomo was the most crowded I have ever seen it! The stations of the cross masses are pretty cool. They show off some great painting depicting the portion of the crucifixion, and the description of the painting is part of the service. They have more music than usual, with a full choir. Some Latin mass stuff. And the acting out of the stations of the cross. Since the crowds are so huge they throw open the big doors.
Anyway, enough about that Catholic stuff. On to the light show! The crowds were crazy in the Piazza Duomo. I spotted this lounge that they have been building on the roof near the Galleria over the course of the last couple of months. Looks done!
The show was pretty cool, I ended up watching it three times. The videos I made aren't great. I took them handheld and unfortunately, my camera won't let you set the focal length zone for video... But some of the photos are really great!
