Milan 2
Trip Start
Nov 14, 2008
1
54
102
Trip End
Feb 26, 2009
Milan,
Italy
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
This is I think the 3rd largest Cathedral in Europe, and it was pretty full because it's a Catholic holiday. A Cardinal conducted the service with some powerful music, and then he made an odd trip outside where the TV cameras filmed him, flanked by many priests, blessing individual congregants.
Virgin Rock 'n' Music exhibit
This was mad, filled with memorabilia from all the greatest rock and pop stars, focussing pretty heavily on the Rolling Stones, Elvis, and the Beatles. They had some original jukeboxes from the 1940's and loads of things like guitars, letters and signed records by the stars.
La Scala Opera House
Along with the Met in New York, this is one of the world's most famous opera houses, where all the major opera stars have performed. The museum was pretty boring but the theatre was magnificent, I took photos from inside a private box - the vast majority of seats are in private boxes, it really is a place for the upper class.
Castle Sforzesca
The castle's pretty enormous, and now it's being used to hold 12 museums. I checked out the Michelangelo sculptures (nothing like the ones in Florence), ancient artefacts, and the Egyptian section. A few people were building snowmans as the snow was crazy - on the ground the snow was higher than my shoes!
San Siro
I've been a fan of AC Milan since they came to play the Socceroos when I was 7 or 8, so I visited the San Siro - the home ground of AC Milan and Inter Milan. I paid to have a guided tour, where we were taken to the ground (though not actually on the surface), and the dressing rooms of both clubs. In AC Milan's dressing room I had a seat in captain Paolo Maldini's chair, they currently have an awesome side with Maldini, Kaka, Ronaldinho and now David Beckham! I also checked out the museum for both teams, which had some trophies including the UEFA Champions League trophy! Unfortunately no photos allowed though.
Afterwards it took me two hours to get home, catching 2 trains, 2 buses and then walking for about an hour, because all the people on the street were giving me conflicting directions. It was really frustrating, but didn't dampen too much an otherwise active and exciting day.
