We got to Milan, Italy on day 184. Milan one of the fashion capitals of the world… with some of the most extreme prices. There was a purse on display in a shop window, that was probably about the size of my hand, that was on sale for $13,000!! We spent 2 days in Milan and went to the Milan Cathedral, and to see the Last Supper. The Milan Cathedral is the 5th largest church in the world. It has a stature of Bartholomew with his skin that was peeled off draped over his shoulders. After you walked around the enormous and beautiful inside you go and walk on the roof of the cathedral and look out for a lovely view of Milan. Caleb was not able to accompany us on our tour of the Milan Cathedral because he had salmonella for the last part of Athens and through our time in Milan. We did drag him out of the hotel room to see the Last Supper. The Last Supper is a painting from the late 15th century. They have been trying to restore it for awhile but it’s slow going because of how many times it has been painted over, and they have been trying to get it back down to the original layer of paint. That was pretty much all we did in our short layover in Milan. We hopped on the train to Pisa the next morning.
Pisa
We got to Pisa on day 186 and stayed for one week. We spent the first day just unpacking and finding out where the grocery store and all the good restaurants were. On the second day we took the bikes the apartment came with and biked to the leaning tower and to the two churches that were around it. The Piazza del Duomo is the square the Cattedrale di Pisa, Baptistery, and Leaning Tower of Pisa are in. We went inside the Cattedrale di Pisa and the Baptistery but did not make it to the tower that day. The Cattedrale di Pisa is just like every other church so I am not going to go into detail about it. The Baptistry however, was in unique in one way. Every 15 minutes they would shut the doors and a lady would come out and sing, very softly, but because of how the place was built it would echo and and make it sound much louder and enchanting. The next day we went back to go in the Piazza del Duomo museum and climb the leaning tower. It was very wonky! It leans because it sunk into the ground on one side, like 9 feet. While we were in Pisa we also went biking around the countryside. We biked on the shore of the river Arno then veered into the woods and might have gotten lost a few times.
Now onto the pictures!
-SLaff
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- Milan Cathedral in Milan, Italy.
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- Roof of the Milan Cathedral.
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- Statue of St. Bartholomew with his skin wrapped around him.
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- The Last Supper. Napoleon used this room to stable his horses.
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- First Leaning Tower sighting!
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- Bottom of the Leaning Tower so you can see how one side has sunk into the ground.
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- It really does lean! Pisa, Italy.
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- View from the top of the leaning tower in Pisa.
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- The echoing Baptistery.
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- We saw many holy Christian artifacts (it is Rome, after all) and reliquaries, including the bones of saints, the Chains of St. Paul and St. Peter, and the head of John the Baptist. Well one of them anyway. Evidently there are several to be found.?!.
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- I thought this was funny. It also reminds me of the face Dad made when they charged us money to use the bathrooms, after already charging $125 to see the buildings. Toilets in Italy always cost money, and never ever have toilet seats!
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- Biking on the outskirts of Pisa.
I like very much!!!