I Would Walk 500 Miles

After waking up in Switzerland and catching and early train, we arrived three hours later to enjoy a beautiful Fall day in Milan.

If today had a theme, it would have been walking.  Because we did a LOT of it.  Whereas our hotel was super close to the train station, it wasn’t really close to any of the other activities that we had planned.  Instead of wearing my tennis shoes, like a sane person, I wore my boots, where were much cuter, but not really comfortable.  So by the end of our day, and after walking a total of fifteen miles, I was in pain.

But looking back over the pictures from our day, I’d have to say that all of those miles were worth it.  We got to see a lot of the city and it was pretty big.  In some ways it reminded me more of New York City, only a bit more European and with more very old things to see.

We walked our way all throughout the fashion districts of Milan.  Some of it was very fun and beautiful to see, but much of it was just odd.  Considering I’m not into fashion at all, I probably didn’t appreciate it as much as someone who loves fashion would.

Fashion aside, one of our main destinations of the day was to go and visit the Duomo, Milan’s Cathedral.  It was absolutely breathtaking to see.  The outside was so intricate and the inside was quite beautiful as well.  We ended up joining a line and got to go in as worshippers as opposed to tourists.  It mostly just meant that we didn’t have to wait in the super long line.  We did worship in our own respects and enjoyed seeing part of the service that was going on at the time.  When the choir sang, it echoed through the church in the most wonderful ways.

Outside of the church, there were a lot of people and a lot of pigeons.  For a price, you could pay to get your picture taken with them which I would have done if it weren’t for fear that one would leave a gross present on me.

After visiting the Duomo, we walked over to check out the church museum.  For only 3 Euro, we were able to enter the museum, another small cathedral and also had admission to the main Duomo.  For higher prices, you could go up on some of the terraces of the church, but we were content to save money and enjoy it from the ground.  I do have to say that the church museum was fascinating.

We really enjoy looking at and admiring religious art because it ties into God and the Bible in such beautiful ways.

This was a pretty interesting storeroom of various sculptures that were connected with the Duomo.

And finally, a huge kudos to whomever created this incredible wooden replica of the cathedral.  It was quite spectacular in itself.

Earlier in the day, we had secured tickets to see something Jeremy had always wanted to see.  But since our viewing time wasn’t until 7:45pm, we had quite a few hours to kill.

We ended up walking around and enjoying the views of Milan at night.  I am a tiny bit sad that our trip came up just a bit early for enjoying the beautiful Christmas markets that Europe has to offer.  But we did enjoy seeing many of the decorations that were up already.

We ended up entering some sort of Italian version of Macy’s.  We rode the escalator up about ten floors until we reached the coolest market st the very top filled with great food and all sorts of fun sweets.  We also got to check out a great outdoor restaurant with a beautiful view of the Cathedral.

By the time 7:45pm rolled around, we were ready.  Jeremy was so excited and I was so excited for him.  He had done his research earlier on and could not wait to check out the timeless piece that was just behind these doors.

And I have to admit that seeing The Last Supper with Jeremy was quite remarkable.  We got to learn some of the history of this incredible work of art and it was so fun to be able to see it in person.  I only wished it was as vibrant as it must have been when Davinci first created it.

Afterwards, we made the long walk back to our hotel and I have to be honest, there were times that I was really to give up because my feet were in such pain from my boots.  Thankfully I survived, and enjoyed a nice relaxing evening in our hotel.  And that pretty much wraps up our trip.  Tomorrow we will head out for an early train ride and then flight home and I could not be more excited.  I’m praying for an uneventful and safe flight and cannot wait to see our kids.  Thanks so much for joining our journey and sharing in the memories of our vacation.   It was fun and full and we were thrilled with all that we were able to see and do.