Milan

After much Skyping we were not really up for an early start but the fast train to Milan would not wait. Lyn beat me at cards on the way. It went downhill from there.

Milan Centrale is hugely impressive.  

It is also supposed to have a tourist information centre. After 40 minutes of confusion there proved to be no such place. Eventually I bought the day public transport passes at a tabacchi. Milan is too big for walking.  (And I have a sore toe.)

In the absence of tram or bus route maps Lyn had to use the underground Metro all day. This is, as people who know Lyn are aware,  a crowded and highly efficient system especially designed to entomb her in a tin box in a dark tunnel. I owe her big time for allowing this to happen. She behaved magnificently.

We went to Milan's wickedly pointy cathedral and admired the scale of it and the stained glass. 

Then we headed for Da Vinci's  'Last Supper' and grabbed a quick lunch on the way. It turned out to be a solemnly impressive ghost of a painting. We had to see this as part of a guided tour. The guide then tooķ us to Castle Sforza but we didn't care about her stories, we just wanted to sit in the shade. 

Finally we were restored by a drink and returned to the Duomu piazza.  Everything seemed to be heavily guarded by the military. We strolled through the grand shopping mall and then I climbed to the roof of the cathedral. I saw all the marble frippery up close and took my second selfie.

After our 4th Metro trip of the day we are now heading back to Bologna. Thinking about the amazing architecture of Milan, it seems to me to sum up the three things Italy does extraordinarily well: railways, shopping and churches.

Tomorrow - Rome.