Milan, Italy, Day 2, 07/05/18

Planes, Trains and Automobiles. As mentioned before, we arrived at the Malpensa airport in Italy, took the train into Milan and then boarded a taxi for a ride to our hotel, Our stay for this portion of the trip is at a very nice hotel in the city center. It is somewhat contemporary, but very nice, I must say, though, there was a hideous green chair in each room, (pictures to follow). I had read that Milan was the fashion capital of the universe. I am at a loss as to what statement this chair made. It was comfortable.

Our purpose for the two night stay in Milan was to recover from the jet lag associated with the time changes for an international flight and to visit Leonardo's painting, "the Last Supper". While here we signed up for a walking tour of Milan. This is on tomorrow's agenda. Today was lunch, orientation, rest, and I needed a haircut.

After our first lunch in Italy, we decided to find the location where we were to meet our tour guide the next day. The concierge at the hotel said it was no problem to walk there. It was an easy 15 minute walk. It was determined that since I had spent my adult life reading a map while flying helicopters and airplanes all over the United States and several foreign countries that I would lead us to the meeting place. We started our easy 15 minute walk from the hotel and about 1 hour later it was determined that I was totally lost. We saw areas of Milan that few tourists have seen. We made a big circle and when we finally found out where we were, we were only 1 and 1/2 blocks from our hotel. I blamed this navigation error on jet lag. We gave up the search and returned to our hotel. I got a haircut and we took a break.

Roberto was my barber. He did a great job. He was much better than the barber I used a few months ago when we were in Greece. I did not speak Greek and neither did my barber. He was Pakistani and I left his shop looking like I was still in the army. Roberto was much better.

Later we stopped in a local pizzeria and had a great pizza. After dinner we returned to our hotel, went up to the rooftop terrace bar to view the city at night and then turned in. It had been a long night and day.

Before I close this, I would be remiss, if I did not mention the Duomo of Milan.The Duomo is literally at the center of Milan. Streets radiate from the cathedral or circle it. The cathedral occupies a site that has been the most central location in the city since its founding. The Duomo di Milano, Milan's magnificent Gothic cathedral, is one of the world's largest churches. Its dazzling white front facade, arguably the world's most beautiful, dominates the cathedral square. Construction on this church began in 1386 and finishing touches were made as late a 1965. Kind of like our Interstate system in the US.