Day 5 - Milan

We made it safe and sound to Milan, Italy! Took an early flight out of London and finally made it to our hotel around 12:30pm. I think all of us were ready to move on from London and the people. London is one of my favorite cities but I will say it is much more exciting the first time you go to a city. Don't get me wrong, I loved it this time, but its just not as exciting and new as your first time here!

Once we got to Milan, we took the Metro (subway) to our hotel and got all checked in. Took a little nap and refreshed ourselves. Outside our hotel is a covered shopping area (see photos below) and a huge square with a gorgeous Cathedral! We walked around the square for a while looking at all the shops and people. It was sunny and hot today - upper 80's. We found some lunch - pizza - and then made our way across the square to the Cathedral. We had to wait in line to get tickets and such and before you knew it we were on our way up. You can take an elevator to the top of the Cathedral and walk around the top of it - very cool! There are little tunnels you go through and you basically get great views of the square and the city. After that we headed downstairs and went into the actual Cathedral. Huge - just absolutely huge Cathedral. Beautiful on the inside as well. We were pretty hot so we headed back to our hotel (like a 5 minute walk) to rest up and cool down before heading out to see the Last Supper Painting.

Our tickets for the Last Supper Painting were are 8:15pm. We took the Metro a few stops and walked for maybe 5 minutes and we were at the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Leonardo da Vinci painted it right on the wall - I did not know that. It was huge and super cool. It has been restored a few times to touch up the paint because the technique he used with teh dry paint doesn't last long. We could not take any photos in there but I searched on line and found a few to give you an idea of what it looks like - posted below. You have to go through some rooms before you get in to regulate the humidity. You can only stay in for 15 minutes at a time. We had an audio guide to listen to as well but it was cool to just sit there in awe of this amazing famous painting! We all loved it :)

Had some dinner and back to the hotel for the night. Tomorrow (Friday) we head to Cinque Terra, Italy!! We have a 3.5 hour train ride both ways so that means an early morning again!

Love you all!
The Corcoran Clan

The shopping area around our hotel. Beautiful!

 Cathedral in the square.

 The square.

 Erv and Eileen outside the Cathedral.

 Erv and Eileen on the roof of the Cathedral.

 View of the square from the top.

They had statues of men along the perimeter of the Cathedral. They were all facing outwards and we noticed the lightening rods attached to each of them :)

Amber and Kevin on top of Cathedral.

 View from the top.

 Cool pic of the Cathedral decor - if I must say so myself.

Another view from the top - towards the city.

 Inside the Cathedral.

 Erv and Eileen inside the Cathedral. (I feel redundant naming all these photos but I feel they all must have a caption for some reason - lol)

 The Church where the Last Supper is.

 Waiting for our time slot to see the painting.

Cathedral at night!

This is a grainy photo but it is what it looks like. Its a huge room and the whole wall is the painting.