Another early morning flight and we were in Milan before lunch. After each having a pizza, we checked out the Castello Sforzesco which was located right by our hotel. The castle was built in the 15th century and the Duke of Milan used to live there. Unfortunately, there were tons of men trying to sell us bracelets and Molly was like a deer in headlights....just watching as one of the guys tied one around her wrist (and the bracelet is STILL on her wrist - in October!). Once through the castle, it opens up into the Parco Sempione where Napoleon built the Arco della Pace (Peace Arch) in 1807 and is a scaled down version of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
We headed towards La Scala (the opera house) which was built in 1778 and made our way over to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II which is the most popular shopping arcade in Milan. It is right next to the Duomo but held our attention for a few hours as designer shops (Gucci, Prada, LV) line the entire arcade. After a lot of window shopping only, we made our way over to the Duomo (Milan's Cathedral) which was contstructed in the 14th century and where Napoleon was at one point crowned King of Italy. The Duomo is such an impressive building inside and out and is very much a Gothic-style cathedral. It is so detailed and grand and is the 4th largest cathedral in the world. We went up to the roof that has great views of Milan and overlooks the Piazzo del Duomo.
After the Duomo, we headed towards the Basilica di San Ambrogio which was built in 379-386 (we couldn't get over that!). The skelatal remains of saints Ambrose, Gervasius and Protasius are all housed in the crypts below. We also stopped by Santa Maria della Grazie but unfortunately, we did not buy tickets far enough in advance to get in to see Da Vinci's "The Last Supper". We were definitely disappointed so we decided to head to another one of Italy's great restaurants and eat and drink our way through lunch (Matt claims it was the best lasagna he's ever had - sorry Mrs. G.!) before heading back to London!
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