The Last Supper Day 03, 07/06/18

We had a full day scheduled for today. After a good night's sleep ( I slept 10 hours), we were somewhat rested and ready to start our day. After our morning breakfast we left the hotel to go meet our guide who would take us on a tour of the historical area of Milan. When we travel to a major city in Europe, we take the local tour and enjoy learning about the city we are in. This tour is no exception. The company we selected was the "Frog Free Walking Tour of Milan". The price was right and Lorenzo was our guide. It started about 10:00 and lasted 2 1/2 hours. We had greater success today in finding our meeting place. We took the metro and got off the subway where we needed to be. We visited the University of Milan, the central plaza, the Duomo, and the shopping mall. This mall is unlike anything I have seen in the US. All the major fashion companies in the world are located in this area such as Prada and Gucci and many others. Linda and Amanda can tell you about them. Not to understate this, I am not talking about an outlet mall.
After our tour we then took a metro to the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie. This is the location of Leonardo's painting of the Last Supper. This painting represents the scene of the last supper of Jesus and his Apostles. It was at this time that Jesus announced that one of his Disciples would betray him. Leonardo chose to use the end wall of the dining hall in the monastery on which to do his painting. The painting was started in 1495 and completed in 1498. It is said that one of the priors from the monastery complained to Leonardo about dragging his feet on the painting and this really aggravated Leonardo. Leonardo told the head of the monastery to get this guy off his back. He was undecided on the facial features to use for the face of Judas and he just might use the features of the prior that complained. This painting has had a hard life through the centuries. The elements, vandals, bombings, and any other hazards through the centuries. We are just lucky there was still a wall after the allied bombers got through with Milan in WW II. Tickets are hard to come by to visit the painting due to the demand. 30 people at a time are allowed to view the painting for a period of 15 minutes. 120 people per hour. The concierge at our hotel secured our tickets.
While walking back to our hotel we passed a cute restaurant down a one way street that we decided to come back for dinner. It was a great restaurant. I had linguine with clams, Linda and Harry had thick noodles with prawns and Amanda had eggplant pasta. Great meal. Afterwards we returned to our hotel and went to rooftop bar to view the city lights. Tomorrow we go to Tuscany.