wanderlust: milan

a lot of the shops around milan were closed when we arrived. walking down their streets, we wondered where everyone went. we learned later on from our airbnb host that everyone was on vacation because it was summer. whut? may panahon pa magbakasyon ang mga tao? ika nga ni little mermaid, “what would i give to live where you are?” sa ekonomiya ng pinas di afford ng workforce magsara ng business for a few months kasi magbabakasyon sila. major na-inggit ako. not that i dont take vacations, i do. but my travels is the exception, not the norm. hayy

the main goal in our decision to go to milan was to see the last supper by da vinci. do not even bother walking into the ticket office without a reservation because it is almost impossible getting a ticket that way. the slots are normally booked and sold out for months and there are very few cancellations, ive been told. i checked for tickets online via select italy at 22 euros each (although cheaper at the official website at 10 euros plus reservation but tickets run out fast) and learned the only available date within our stay in italy was september 1. at 6.30PM. other tour companies also offered tickets but the prices would have doubled. so i changed our itinerary to accomodate that last supper schedule, booked for tickets, and cut down the days we would stay in rome so we could catch da vinci’s masterpiece there. it did not disappoint. you can only stay for 15 minutes at a time though. did not realize it was so big, a whole wall in fact. years of being exposed to the elements plus the fact that da vinci used a dry plaster technique to this resulted in its current faded state. there have been restorations done but yeah, it is what it is now. yet still powerful.

so after going to the last supper at the maria dela grazie chapel in milan, we basically had no other plans lined up here. it was kinda winging it as we walked around milan. one of the pleasant surprises was the triennale in milan. the last time the triennale expo opened in milan was around 20 years ago so this year’s expo was highly anticipated. tickets allowed you to visit all exhibits in various venues around the city. was so much fun.

it pays to do research before traveling. bloggers have talked about the long lines at the last supper and advised to get tickets way way ahead online. so i did and we just went to the designated time and swoosh. we were in. the other thing i learned was that the museums were free on the first sunday of the month. and sept 2 was a sunday and we were in milan. so i figured it would be the best time to go to the pinacoteca de brera, one of the biggest museums in milan.

one of the famous paintings in the roster of the brera is andrea mantegna’s the lamentation of christ. while the gallery displayed other dead christ masterpieces in that same with mantegna’s, this famous painting was lauded for the unusual foreshortening of the body of christ, aside from the masterful techniques in painting done by the artist.

and still, another door knocker photo. i have tons actually. so enthralled by this. grotesque or gorgeous, they greet you the first thing you come up a door. and such an interesting welcome. this one looks like the flying monkeys elpheba made in oz. defying gravity, i say.

pics in the duomo. we didnt bother going in and up already. all this traveling has made us wiser in choosing our battles. and going up another flight of stairs is one for the young-er, not ours. we’d rather enjoy the view from down at the square. lol. this was probably taken our 6pm. or 7. people in europe is having too much day time on their hands.

gorgeous architectural detail all around. so fascinating to see and experience. i wish we had a teacher traveling with us. or if it were an architectural history class tour and just go round the old city and identifying each detail and what it’s called and its origins. lovely lovely lovely. i shifted out of studying architecture but i never lost my love for buildings. and europe has the motherload of monumental, intricately designed buildings. you reach a point where it gets confusing if it’s renaissance or baroque but they are all still so gorgeous.

more photos will be uploaded in the milan facebook photodump album. up next is venice. wohoo venice!