Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Too many places too little time

I have returned from Milan and leave for London next weekend! The weekend after London I head to Portugal and the first week of December I am on a Christmas Market cruise.....but the icing on the cake is a trip to Lapland (Finland to see the northern lights)!! Every once in a while I work and put your tax dollars to work!

Milan was amazing, I remember thinking there are not enough superlatives to describe this city and everything it has to offer. I flew to Milan on Saturday and once I was checked into my hotel I went to the city center. Unfortunately on the way to Milan I realized that despite all of my good intentions I had forgotten the battery to my camera! So my first stop was the camera shop....I then went to La Scala which is the most famous Opera house there is. I didn't have a spare $445 to attend the opera so I went on a tour during the day. It was an amazing site, I was able to walk inside and see the stage-which was tiny. I then walked over to the Duomo (cathedral), this Duomo is very unique in that you can walk around on the roof. It was amazing-the sky was picture perfect and the views spectacular (once again not enough superlatives). I spent quite a bit of time just enjoying the view and the peace and quiet. After one or two or maybe even three gelato stops I made my way back to the hotel.

On Sunday I had a reservation at 8:30 to see the Last Supper-I didn't realize until I started researching Milan that the Last Supper is not a painting (embarrasing I know) but a fresco on a wall in a room next to a church. Sadly the fresco is slowly crumbling. They only allow 15 people into the room at a time and you have to be "sprayed" before you go in the room. When you walk into the room the Last Supper takes up a whole wall and it is breathtaking. You are allowed to be in the room for 15 minutes and can't take any pictures. Luckily there are benches so you can sit down and just drink it all in. Believe it or not at some point in history someone thought it was a good idea to cut a door into the fresco. After enjoying my short time with the Last Supper I headed to the train station and Lake Cuomo. At Cuomo I hopped onto a boat and headed to a little town called Bellagio. The two hour trip was (need a new superlative) spectacular. The Alps are visible in the background and the shore is dotted with little towns. I decided not to take time out of my touring to visit George Clooney-who famously has a villa on Lake Cuomo. Once I arrived in Bellagio I walked around the town and had a gelato or two or three. The town is built onto a hill which means quite a bit of up and down (which is a good thing when eating your weight in gelato)!

I have been enjoying listening to my beloved Cowboys on the internet! I still get nervous, even 3,000 miles away.

I am looking forward to Halloween, we have a party at the Marine House on Saturday I have decided to go as "joe the plumber" I have a plunger and a grey t-shirt what else do I need!!!