My newest love
Jul. 25th, 2009 10:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kareinaI fell in love with a roof-top this morning. Not just any roof-top, mind you, it is the roof of Milan Cathedral.
They charge 5 Euros to climb the stairs to the roof (an 8 if you want to take the lift, which, no surprises there, I didn't (and wouldn't have, even if the cost were the same--climbing is more fun)), and I wish they had some sort of season pass, so that I could pay one fee and return as many times as I like. Instead, I'm simply going to have to budget 5 Euros a week to get my fix.
The whole building, including the roof top, is made of marble, and it is lovely. Inside the Cathedral is impressive, as only Medieval Cathedrals can be, but it is still obviously a place of worship, and whilst I respect others to worship as they will, I can't help but feel myself that any god which desires worship isn't worthy of it. As a result, while I think the building would make a fabulous site for a Kingdom 12th night (for a Kingdom which expects a *huge* turn out to 12th night), I'm not overly interested in that part of the building; having seen it, I would be content to not see it again till my next international visitor arrives. (Will it be you???)
But, oh, the roof top! I could have stayed up there for hours, sitting in the shade with my sewing, admiring the architecture, the view of the Alps, the shade, the stone work, the fact that I was *up*, and the feeling of contentment that just being on such a glorious roof imparts. I actually got a bit teary eyed when it was time to go; I really didn't wish to leave. (Though, I would have been quick to leave once the sun finally cleared the highest part of the roof (upon which we weren't allowed to ascend)--shade is essential to my existence in such a hot place. The building having been built as a religious institution, it is no surprise that the highest part of the building is on the eastern side, and we had the good sense to not only get up early for the day's adventures, but make this our first stop of the day, so there was a fair bit of shade up there to enjoy.
There are lots of photos from/of the roof in![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
clovis_t's facebook page, and a few in mine, but here are a few for those of you without the time/energy/inclination to go there.
View looking west along the main roof.
View looking east along the main roof. Behind the poster is restoration/cleaning work in progress. See why I had plenty of shade?
View to the north-east, looking down at buttresses. Note Alps in the distance.
And looking down on the buttresses to the north-west.
View down to the lower level of the roof (place he stood to photograph me looking down from the upper roof).
The upper roof has a nice wall, with windows in it, from which you can enjoy the view, but, I imagine, those who fear heights might feel safe behind.
See, there are mountains out there--only 50 km away, but you can't see them from my flat, nor anywhere in my neighbourhood.
After I, reluctantly, left my beloved roof-top, we wandered over to the "Castle" (if you can call a brick building a castle), and enjoyed the museum there. They have lots of random bits of decorative stone carving there, much of which looks like it was broken off of some building or another. My preference for the early middle ages really showed there--every time I went "ooo" at a carving, or the clothing the figures in the carving were wearing it turned out to be something dating from the 8th to the 12th century. The ones I simply glanced at and kept going were from the 15th century onwards. I also looked closely at the clothing depicted on the 13th and 14th century stuff as "mildly interesting", and nice to note details, but it didn't make me go "ooo", like the early stuff did, save for the fancy embellishment on the neckline of a religious person's clothing--I hadn't realized before today that while the 14th Century is very plain in clothing for secular stuff, the religious clothing was still highly embellished.
The morning's adventures had us out of the house from 9:30 to 14:30, walking most of the time. Then I had some lunch, read a bit, and took a nap.clovis_t had stated a goal of eating out in a restaurant while here, and since we didn't do lunch while out earlier, we thought about going out for an evening meal, so about 17:00 we set out to see what we could find. One of the first pizzarias we passed had a menu posted in the window which listed their food in both Italian and in English, but the sign by the door listing the hours they are licensed to be open showed that they didn't open in the evenings till 17:30, so we decided to explore further and see what else could be found, knowing we could come back to it if we didn't find some other option. We saw a few other options, but they weren't open yet, either, so after a suitable delay wandering around and exploring, we returned to that first place. The doors were open and the Chinese girl working there was busy setting up tables in their outside area. Alas, she explained that they don't actually open to serve customers till 19:30. Darn! We were hungry now! So we explored another direction, passing more places which were either shut with no opening times posted, or with times posted saying that they wouldn't be open till 19:30. About 18:30 I was starting to get cranky (anyone who knows me knows that it is important to keep me fed during the day!), and we eventually found an open bakery, where we purchased a large bread roll thing, and I soon became a cheerful person again. Yay, food!
About 18:45 we found a small shop selling affordable clothing, and stopped there to kill time and found a lightweight cotton dress that was cooler than anything I'd brought with me, so I bought it (15 euros). I didn't really need more black clothing, but the other one in that style was white, which would be even cooler in the summer heat/sun, but would also quickly get stained/dirty, so I choose not to get it. They did have a fair few items in the correct shade of navy blue, but either the cut was dreadful, or the fibre content not natural, so we passed.
By 19:00 there were still no "restaurants" open, andclovis_t was getting really hungry, so we stopped into a take-away place and bought him some lasagne to go, intending to take it to the park across the street for him to enjoy there. Alas, when we reached the park we discovered that the lasagne was cold--apparently one has to select the "eat here" option to get them to heat it. I suggested we go back and ask them to heat it for us, but since our wanderings had brought us reasonably near my flat, he said we should just go home and stick it into the toaster oven there.
So he didn't achieve his goal of sitting down in an Italian restaurant and eating food there, but he enjoyed his lasagne nonetheless, and we now know that if we want to eat restaurant food in Milan and I'm one of the people eating, we'd best do it during the official lunch hour, because they aren't going to open early enough in the evening for me to still be interested in food. (Good thing I honestly prefer my own cooking!)
They charge 5 Euros to climb the stairs to the roof (an 8 if you want to take the lift, which, no surprises there, I didn't (and wouldn't have, even if the cost were the same--climbing is more fun)), and I wish they had some sort of season pass, so that I could pay one fee and return as many times as I like. Instead, I'm simply going to have to budget 5 Euros a week to get my fix.
The whole building, including the roof top, is made of marble, and it is lovely. Inside the Cathedral is impressive, as only Medieval Cathedrals can be, but it is still obviously a place of worship, and whilst I respect others to worship as they will, I can't help but feel myself that any god which desires worship isn't worthy of it. As a result, while I think the building would make a fabulous site for a Kingdom 12th night (for a Kingdom which expects a *huge* turn out to 12th night), I'm not overly interested in that part of the building; having seen it, I would be content to not see it again till my next international visitor arrives. (Will it be you???)
But, oh, the roof top! I could have stayed up there for hours, sitting in the shade with my sewing, admiring the architecture, the view of the Alps, the shade, the stone work, the fact that I was *up*, and the feeling of contentment that just being on such a glorious roof imparts. I actually got a bit teary eyed when it was time to go; I really didn't wish to leave. (Though, I would have been quick to leave once the sun finally cleared the highest part of the roof (upon which we weren't allowed to ascend)--shade is essential to my existence in such a hot place. The building having been built as a religious institution, it is no surprise that the highest part of the building is on the eastern side, and we had the good sense to not only get up early for the day's adventures, but make this our first stop of the day, so there was a fair bit of shade up there to enjoy.
There are lots of photos from/of the roof in
clovis_t's facebook page, and a few in mine, but here are a few for those of you without the time/energy/inclination to go there.View looking west along the main roof.
View looking east along the main roof. Behind the poster is restoration/cleaning work in progress. See why I had plenty of shade?
View to the north-east, looking down at buttresses. Note Alps in the distance.
And looking down on the buttresses to the north-west.
View down to the lower level of the roof (place he stood to photograph me looking down from the upper roof).
The upper roof has a nice wall, with windows in it, from which you can enjoy the view, but, I imagine, those who fear heights might feel safe behind.
See, there are mountains out there--only 50 km away, but you can't see them from my flat, nor anywhere in my neighbourhood.
After I, reluctantly, left my beloved roof-top, we wandered over to the "Castle" (if you can call a brick building a castle), and enjoyed the museum there. They have lots of random bits of decorative stone carving there, much of which looks like it was broken off of some building or another. My preference for the early middle ages really showed there--every time I went "ooo" at a carving, or the clothing the figures in the carving were wearing it turned out to be something dating from the 8th to the 12th century. The ones I simply glanced at and kept going were from the 15th century onwards. I also looked closely at the clothing depicted on the 13th and 14th century stuff as "mildly interesting", and nice to note details, but it didn't make me go "ooo", like the early stuff did, save for the fancy embellishment on the neckline of a religious person's clothing--I hadn't realized before today that while the 14th Century is very plain in clothing for secular stuff, the religious clothing was still highly embellished.
The morning's adventures had us out of the house from 9:30 to 14:30, walking most of the time. Then I had some lunch, read a bit, and took a nap.
clovis_t had stated a goal of eating out in a restaurant while here, and since we didn't do lunch while out earlier, we thought about going out for an evening meal, so about 17:00 we set out to see what we could find. One of the first pizzarias we passed had a menu posted in the window which listed their food in both Italian and in English, but the sign by the door listing the hours they are licensed to be open showed that they didn't open in the evenings till 17:30, so we decided to explore further and see what else could be found, knowing we could come back to it if we didn't find some other option. We saw a few other options, but they weren't open yet, either, so after a suitable delay wandering around and exploring, we returned to that first place. The doors were open and the Chinese girl working there was busy setting up tables in their outside area. Alas, she explained that they don't actually open to serve customers till 19:30. Darn! We were hungry now! So we explored another direction, passing more places which were either shut with no opening times posted, or with times posted saying that they wouldn't be open till 19:30. About 18:30 I was starting to get cranky (anyone who knows me knows that it is important to keep me fed during the day!), and we eventually found an open bakery, where we purchased a large bread roll thing, and I soon became a cheerful person again. Yay, food! About 18:45 we found a small shop selling affordable clothing, and stopped there to kill time and found a lightweight cotton dress that was cooler than anything I'd brought with me, so I bought it (15 euros). I didn't really need more black clothing, but the other one in that style was white, which would be even cooler in the summer heat/sun, but would also quickly get stained/dirty, so I choose not to get it. They did have a fair few items in the correct shade of navy blue, but either the cut was dreadful, or the fibre content not natural, so we passed.
By 19:00 there were still no "restaurants" open, and
clovis_t was getting really hungry, so we stopped into a take-away place and bought him some lasagne to go, intending to take it to the park across the street for him to enjoy there. Alas, when we reached the park we discovered that the lasagne was cold--apparently one has to select the "eat here" option to get them to heat it. I suggested we go back and ask them to heat it for us, but since our wanderings had brought us reasonably near my flat, he said we should just go home and stick it into the toaster oven there. So he didn't achieve his goal of sitting down in an Italian restaurant and eating food there, but he enjoyed his lasagne nonetheless, and we now know that if we want to eat restaurant food in Milan and I'm one of the people eating, we'd best do it during the official lunch hour, because they aren't going to open early enough in the evening for me to still be interested in food. (Good thing I honestly prefer my own cooking!)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-25 10:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-26 08:50 am (UTC)But then, the parks I've walked past thus far are small things in the middle of intersections of multiple roads ("piazza" in the local parlance) or in a wide middle strip between lanes of traffic, so there wouldn't be room for such games. I did see a bocci set up in one of them though.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-26 12:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-26 02:50 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-26 08:51 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-26 05:23 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-26 08:46 am (UTC)When
Date: 2009-07-26 01:34 pm (UTC)Re: When
Date: 2009-07-26 05:05 pm (UTC)Re: When
Date: 2009-07-26 05:09 pm (UTC)I will do research. I'm looking for some sort of reasonably priced tour to Rome, and possibly Pompeii also.
Re: When
Date: 2009-07-29 10:54 am (UTC)Rick Steves web site has a lot of useful info on traveling to Italy.
We had a trip to Italy all planned for Sep. 1, 2008, but with the bad economy, they kept canceling the tours and tourists were left stuck with plane tickets, which, for the cost of the plane tickets tourists could get travel insurance... So, I put off purchasing the tour tickets until the last minute. Then, we found the new house, and Sep. 1, 2008 became our move in date! :-)
Re: When
Date: 2009-07-29 02:33 pm (UTC)Thank you. That will be very helpful.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-26 09:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-26 02:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-28 12:07 am (UTC)Truely magnificent - thanks for these wonderful images!!!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-29 10:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-29 02:36 pm (UTC)Well... think of it as employment for the craftsmen. Many thousands of people earned their livings by building these places. WPA?