Life After Kimchi...: Let's Do the Duomo - Milan, Italy

So we walk out of our hotel room on Monday, at the Westin Palace Milan. First day in Italy. The hallway to the elevators was being guarded by two employees who instruct us to take another set of elevators on a different floor. We exited the main elevators and the lobby was bursting with people who didn't look like they were about to go sightseeing. Most were armed police and security. Curious as to what could possibly be going on, and receiving nothing but "Something important" or "We can't really say" from the various employees we asked on the way out the front door, RCP finally got his answer from the doorman out front who most excitedly offered up the information: "The President's having lunch here today!"

Not a bad start to the trip...or for something I booked using Hotwire.com and got a great deal on, don't you think? I also must add that Rich is in charge of all other hotel bookings for the trip, so we'll see if he can produce such stately company and events. Sorry, but there are no pics of us with the Prez.

We only planned on two full days in Milan at the recommendation of basically everyone and everywhere on the internet. All said it's just a big city with only a couple of note-worthy sites and to only give it two days max. A big city it definitely is -- diverse, fashionable, hectic -- so we treated it just like NYC and made our way around efficiently and cheaply by subway and hit three major sights in two days. This first day was the The Duomo di Milano and the surrounding streets. The weather was perfect which made for a fantastic first day.

Milan's Central Station
About a 15 minute walk from our hotel and it's subways took us everywhere we wanted to go.

The Italian version of the Knock-Out roses from home.

The Duomo di Milano.
Construction began in 1386 and is a late Gothic style, more typically French than Italian.

The Duomo di Milano is the cathedral church of Milan and the seat of the Archbishop of Milan.
It took close to six centuries to complete is the fourth largest cathedral in the world
and the largest in the Italian state territory.

The size was unbelievable.

An unbelievable gallery of works hung between the arches.

Me next to a column for some scale....wearing my make-shift skirt I had to construct
out of my scarf because my legs had to be covered. I made it work, I think.

Creepy, but what an incredible drawing model he would make!

Almost to the top of the Duomo roof...200+ stairs.

600+ years worth of detail work, all in marble and stone...pretty impressive.

On the roof of the Cathedral di Duomo.
The spire was under cleaning or renovation but the views were none the less impressive.

And there's Milan!

As in most European cities, there are lots of bike riders, of all ages.

I'm kinda into roses and pretty much horticulture as a whole, as of about two weeks ago...
might be an early sign of aging (and turning into Mom and Dad)....
...but here are more of the Italian Knock-Out roses, as I'm
calling them. These were all over the city but the most stunning were red,
like that deep blood red, representative of all things Italian.

A one-seater!

Lunch near the Duomo.
Let the dousing of all things with olive oil begin!

After popping into the Tesla dealership, at the recommendation of the salesman,
who turned out to be from New Yorker, we stopped in here for our first scoops of gelato.
It's supposedly the best (and fanciest) in all of Milan....
and when wandering around neighborhoods with things like Tesla dealerships,
you usually end up finding your way to "the best"
of something a little more affordable.