June 23 - The change across the border is obvious, even if there is no break in the buildings along the train track. That casual negligence of infrastructure: exposed cables, broken cement, mounds of debris whizzing by. Move through a few more hilly areas, bursting with dark green summer growth that borders on tropical.
A British couple boards, who spent a week in Como. Apparently there is plenty here to see. They are nervous retirees who seem unsure of themselves, but I give them credit for stepping out and doing things on their own instead of riding a tour bus.
Milan, once known as Medhelanon by the Celtic tribe that is the earliest known group to inhabit the area, is situated in a flat plain with no particularly large river flowing through it. Being so flat, it seems to have grown like a culture of bacteria in a petri dish, spreading out in a circular shape around the old city. From our first perspective on the railway, it looks awful, with dismal rusted tracks and lifeless apartment complexes for km after km.
As if I haven’t been reminded enough already (by our Milan booking host and from reading), the train PA reminds us all that pickpockets are everywhere in Stazione Milano Centrale.
The station has that old look, with an arching roof and full of windows to the rainy sky. Secure all valuables in places where they cannot be easily grabbed, and we charge through the thick mobs outside and downstairs to the metro station.
It takes about 40 minutes by metro and bus to arrive at our apartment. It is in a residential complex with a large park in the center, containing both squirrels and rabbits. The host meets us to hand over the keys, and has read my online writing because he immediately comments on some articles I wrote.
Go for lunch before places close in the afternoon. It is a typical small local restaurant, serving up good meals quickly and without little fanfare.
On into the town center to get some site seeing done today. Go to the Santa Maria delle Grazie Church, hoping to get tickets for Da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Not only are tickets sold out for the next month, but because of the rainy weather today, no one can see it at all.
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Behind the church is a courtyard (Cloister of the Frogs), and a free guide is available who gives us a tour of the Sagrestia Vecchia (Old Sacristry), where the numerous friars stored their personal effects in cabinets along the walls. The cabinets were designed by Father Vincenzo Spadotto in 1489. The ceiling is painted with cord designs and a starry sky. Each cabinet along the walls relates some story from the Old or New Testament, and appear as windows with their edges in perspective, as though the viewer were looking out of a window, but at an angle. This was the method used before understanding of foreshortening and other 3D painting skills came about.
