Milano

I am not really sure where to start....I was having computer issues and couldn't post.  We have already been to Venice and are now in Rome, but I haven't even posted on Milan yet.  I guess "the beginning" is as good a place as any.  :)  After our days in Paris, we took a high-speed French train to Milan.  This allowed us to see a little bit of the French Alps, which were beautiful and made me add seeing the Swiss Alps to my bucket list.  I did not get great pictures because of the glare off the windows and the reflections of the interior train lights but here are a few:

 Ben and Chris at the train station in Paris.

We spent our first full day in Milan with a wonderful tour guide named Alice (pronounced Alee-chey ~ it just doesn't seem right to have you imagining it is "Alice", like the maid in The Brady Bunch).  She was born-and-raised Milanese, loved her city and while I think we would have gotten the "facts" of the city on our own, we would never have truly gotten a "FEEL" for the city without Alice.  She was passionate about Milan, God, art, and sharing all of that with us.  

This is Alice with the boys outside of our first stop ~ The Duomo.

Duomo, the "home for all", was begun in the late 14th century,  and is one of the 3 largest churches in the world (behind St. Peter's [Vatican City] and St. Paul's [London]) and is at the very center of Milan.  We often used it's spires as a landmark as we navigated the city.  It is an amazing building of beautiful marble, vibrant stained glass, magnificent artwork, rich history and details too numerous to note.  I could go on for hours about the Duomo, but I think I will just post some pictures and comment on them.  

The Duomo is dedicated to Mary ~ there is a huge golden statue of her at the top of the highest spire.  This Mary was always supposed to be the highest point in the city.  Well, eventually they began building skyscrapers.  I believe Alice said that there are now 2 buildings higher than the Duomo and as each was finished it was topped with a statue of Mary so that she is still the highest point in the city.

The front doors had amazing bronze sculptures all over them ~ one in each little square.  I wish I would have gotten a picture from close range.  They were really beautiful.

These tapestries and others like them were on temporary display in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the sainthood of a man important to the building of the Duomo.  

This is a view from the back of the church.  In the distance you can see the high altar and the lovely stained glass windows behind it.  I loved the huge columns.  The statues at the tops of the columns are 6 feet tall.  They are perfectly carved all the way around ~ even in the back where no one can see ~ this was to symbolize how God sees all.  

I always love the stained glass windows in churches, but these were especially colorful and bright.  Also a bit difficult to follow.  As we have learned in many of these old churches, the windows used to be the way people learned their bible stories because not many people could read.  These windows were all removed during wartime to protect them and were put back in in the wrong order.  They have a BIG project ahead of them some day.

This is a famous statue of St. Bartholomew, who apparently was martyred by having his skin cut off of him ~ that is it draped over his left shoulder.  Every muscle and tendon was precisely carved.  We couldn't decide whether we liked it or were grossed out by it!

This was a room created especially to house the crypt of a man important in the building of the Duomo ~ same guy from the tapestries upstairs.  The room was beautiful but it is always a little creepy to look at people's bones.

This is the "catheda" ~ the archbishop's chair ~ it is what makes a church into a "cathedral".

Another view of the massive columns.

We took an elevator up to the roof of the Duomo.  We had amazing views of Milan and I loved the views of the building itself....SO much detail.

The view of the Square below

This is my attempt to be artistic ~ bear with me. :)

Alice also took us to "The Galleria", which is right next to the Duomo.  The official name is the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, after the first king of Italy.   It was built in the mid-1800's and was not initially all that well received ~ it was too modern.  The architect actually jumped off the scaffolding and killed himself right in the center of the Galleria.  Not long afterward people fell in love with the building.  Guess he should have waited just a little longer.  The building is very old but it is filled with modern, fancy stores.  There is even a McDonalds ~ but no yellow arches here ~ they are gold to fit in with the rest of the decor.  I don't think I took a picture of that but I should have.  I had another picture from inside but for some reason it refuses to load, so if you want to see more, you will have to look it up. :)

We ended the day with a visit to a church called Santa Maria delle Grazie.  It is there that Leonardo da Vinci painted "The Last Supper."  The fresco is painted on the wall of what was once the monk's dining hall.  It is HUGE (I never realized that) and beautiful.  Alice knew SO many details about the painting that she shared with us.  I never knew that da Vinci had painted the moment right when Jesus had said that one of the disciples would betray him, so the painting shows all their reactions to those words.  Also, Jesus' feet are cut out of the painting because long ago the painting was fading so they figured it was ruined and the monks expanded the door between the kitchen and the dining hall, cutting out part of the painting.  Can you believe it?  

This is Santa Maria delle Grazie.  The Last Supper is actually in that yellow building to the far left.

Of course, you cannot photograph the painting ~ this is a much smaller copy that is in the room just outside of The Last Supper.  You have to have reservation to see the painting and you only get 15 minutes in the actual room so we stood outside afterward and looked at this copy as we talked more about the painting.  

This is Alice with Ben and Chris at the end of our day.  She made that day really special for us!  THANK YOU Alice.  

I have to decide whether I want to post more about Milan or move right to Venice.  Our trip has been amazing so far ~ each city is so unique.  We are learning so much, though we miss you all.  

More to follow soon........

"La Ville~Lumiere" ~ The City of Light

Despite our excitement to get to Italy, our days in Paris seemed too few.  It is a wonderful city with so many sites, the beautiful River Seine, and amazing food.

This is a picture of our hotel, the Hotel Luxembourg Parc ~ it was right across the street from a huge park called Luxembourg Gardens.

 Ben and Chris on the street right outside of the hotel ~ they are ready to hit the city.  Having been here before, we all felt pretty comfortable navigating.  The Seine runs right through the center of Paris, so using that as a landmark and navigating around it makes it easy.  

We were all starving and went to lunch at a cafe near our hotel.  This is me with a cappucino.  We had been looking forward to Croque Madame ~ which is basically a grilled cheese sandwich with a fried egg on it ~ one of our favorites from the last trip.

One of our favorite French treats is macaroons.  We have been to Laduree in London too and were excited to see one between our hotel and the river.

I LOVE their window displays ~ SO elegant!

Chris and Ben enjoying their macaroons... we are hoping to try to make these once we get home.

We did a lot of walking that afternoon, starting outside the Louvre (above), through the Jardin des Tuileries with its beautiful gardens of purple and yellow flowers, past the Obelisk, to the Eiffel Tower.

Then we took a cab to the area known as Ile Ste. Louis, behind Notre Dame, to go to a restaurant recommended by a friend of ours who has visited Paris multiple times.  The restaurant is pictured below.

It was a very unique restaurant, run by the same family for three or four generations.  I wish I would have gotten better pictures of the decor but it was very dark and they didn't turn out.  It was very narrow in front, but then the back opened up into a beautiful, rustic room, which is where we sat.  Below you see the first course ~ "the vegetable course".  They DO NOT mess around when it comes to vegetables. They served you this basket at your table and you ate from it, cutting up the vegetables you wanted for yourself.  I wish I would have realized from the get~go that it was going to be a six~course meal, because the veggies were delicious and I ate a ton of them, not leaving room for much more.   I love the expression on Chris' face below ~ it is the moment when they placed the basket on the table. :)

You filled pitchers of wine for your table right from a barrel ~ as much as you wanted!

Chris thought he should have a turn!

Mike (or Amy), if you are reading this, thank you SO much for the recommendation.  We would have never just stumbled across this place and it was not just a meal, but an experience.  Although I would have liked it better if they had toilet seats!  This leads me to digress a moment about what I have discovered about French, and now Italian, public bathrooms.  They are very different than our separate, proper, WELL-EQUIPPED American bathrooms.  First of all, they are usually either up or down a couple of flights of stairs ~ ground floor space is too valuable for bathrooms.  In a couple of the restaurants we visited in Paris, I thought I had walked into the men's room (wouldn't be the first time!) because the urinals were right out in the open.  Most of the time you go into a main room with a shared sink/sinks with separate rooms/stalls (walls go all the way to the floor and ceiling) for the men and for the women right next to each other.  It feels very awkward!  At Nos Ancestres, the men's room had a hole in the floor for a urinal and the ladies room toilet had no toilet seat.  Apparently they do not want to encourage you to spend much time in there.   Thank goodness none of us needed to. :)

After a delicious and incredibly filling dinner, we walked around the island a bit before heading back to our hotel ~ had to walk off some of that food!

Notre Dame from the back at night ~ it is such a beautiful example of pure Gothic architecture.  The boys and I spent some time prior to this trip studying architecture and I am so glad we did.  It is helping us appreciate and enjoy everything so much more.  I just wish I could get them to stop giggling about Notre Dame's "flying buttresses".  Guess I have to remember they ARE 8 and 10.

We spent one morning at the Musee d'Orsay ~ it was amazing.  It is right across the street from the Seine and just up the street from the Louvre.  I took some pictures on my iPhone but every time I try to upload them my computer freezes up so I am just going to have to tell you that we saw some breathtaking art by Monet, Van Gogh, Degas, Rodin, and many others.  My boys, like most others, would rather be out in a park throwing their football around than going to an art museum, but I guess because we have always taken them, they handle art museums really well and actually do enjoy them.  We study three artists in-depth per school year, so with each year of homeschooling that passes, they have more of a framework on which to place all the things they are seeing and experiencing when we travel.   It is such a good feeling to go to a museum and have them recognize and get excited about some of the pieces they are seeing because they KNOW them.  Makes all the effort of homeschooling worth it in a second ~ I DO love my job.

Next we went to a section of Paris called Montmarte, from which you can see much of Paris.  It really gives you a feel for the immensity of the city.  

 This is a famous church called Sacre Coeur ~ it is beautiful inside with an amazing painting of Christ on the dome.

This is the view at the base of Sacre Coeur.  There were tons of people just sitting outside ~ eating, chatting, watching the singers and dancers that were performing ~ just relaxing and enjoying the beautiful warm, sunny weather.

A view of the Eiffel Tower from Montmarte ~ it was pretty hazy the farther away you got.  There is a lot of pollution.

I loved the feel of the area around the back of Sacre Coeur ~ it is just what I always pictured Paris to be like ~ so quintessentially French.

Then we headed back to the area around Notre Dame to find dinner.  We stopped to take a few pictures because the light was so gorgeous.

Ben and Chris burning off some energy.

Back to Ile Ste. Louis.....another area that is "So Paris" ~ a maze of streets filled with cheese shops, flower shops, candy shops, fruit markets, little boutiques, etc.....LOVE this area.

The Mitchell Family at dinner at a creperie ~ gotta love being able to have a butter and sugar crepe for dinner.  Our waiter was SO nice and friendly ~ I love how you can see him in the mirror as he was taking our picture.

I will try to post soon about Milan.  Tomorrow is our 5th day here and we are loving it.  I was so focused  on Rome and Florence that I really hadn't given "Milano" much thought, but it is an amazing city with much to offer.  

Ciao for now!