milan

So I am sitting in an Internet cafe in Milan, and I cant find the apostrophe key, I apologize.

Milan is pretty awesome. Its a fairly large city, but feels small and intimate. There are tons of art museums and churches to explore, and Im having a really good time so far! Today I saw the Duomo, which was very large and Gothic, but the inside was not as impressive as it seemed like it would be. It just did not feel like a holy place like other ones do - Notre Dame and Chartres, for example, are swarming with tourists, but still have a sacred feel. There were a lot of interesting things to see though, like a Medici tomb and a bunch of statues and such.

Then I went to the Ambrosiano Museum, which has a truly stunning collection of art, including many da Vinci sketches from the Atlantic Codex, one of his portraits, part of the sketch of Raphaels "School of Athens", some Caravaggio, and Botticellis "Madonna of the Canopy". The latter was most impressive in person, besides the da Vinci sketches, though the Raphael was really cool too. The museum also has a library attached to it which I probably spent about 10 minutes just staring into, but its closed on the weekends.

I also saw the Basilica Ambrogio, Chieze Maria della Grazie and Basilica San Lorenzo. The first, Ambrogio, is Milans oldest church and is really, really intersting. It was started in the 5th century by Ambrose himself (eee!) and even has his remains! Which were kind of gross, as its his entire body still dressed in robes and somewhat preserved. It is bad to take pictures of dead saints? Anyway, its cool and Byzantine and Neoclassic at the same time, smallish, and has tons of hidden mosaics. It was probably my favorite church so far. When I was leaving a flock of nuns came in!

Da Vincis "Last Supper" is in a refectory connected to Chieze Maria della Grazie. I did not find out until I arrived in Milan that you need a reservation at least a week in advance to view the painting. Sad. So I didnt get to see it, but I took lots of pictures of the outside of the refectory (which is a cafeteria for monks - an appropriate place for the "Last Supper"), and the church itself was pretty cute, but weirdly decorated.

San Lorenzo was very impressive from the outside but rather disappointing on the inside. I left it and went into the small courtyard in front and sat and watched the punk kids for a while and tried not to laugh too much at the irony of Goth-punk kids hanging out in front of a church. Then I met a rather nice Italian boy who discussed Italian music with me for a while and then I left him - if he is to be believed, and he isnt - completely heartbroken.

And now Im here, and in a moment I will leave for dinner. Ciao!