End of the Road

September 19, 2012
Milan and Venice, Italy

Today we got up, ate breakfast and drove to downtown Milan. We wanted to check out the church where the Last Summer hangs, even though we knew we wouldn’t be able to see it. We decided to tour two other da Vinci related exhibits in the area. Our first stop at the Pinacoteca showcased many of his drawings. I had no idea how brilliant and diversified of a guy da Vinci really was. His drawings showcased his heavily diversified interests as a painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer. The second museum, the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, was housed in a very cool building that was heavy on what at this point in the trip is now familiar looking art. There was an incredible alter/staircase in one of the rooms but unfortunately photographs were not allowed to be taken. My favorite room in this museum was the library. It featured more of da Vinci’s drawings amongst mahogany walls filled with thousands of books. It’s the kind of room you could spend a year in without getting bored if you were actually allowed to touch things.

After finishing with our da Vinci explorations we went to see the outside of Milan's main duomo. It had an impressively ornate exterior. We didn't go inside as we were running slightly behind schedule and had already seen dozens of churches this week.



Our final stop in Milan was the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Ben had read somewhere about a tradition of spinning on the bulls balls. I had to look it up on-line. Here is what I found:

One of the strangest traditions in Milan is spinning on the bull’s balls in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Situated directly across from the Duomo, the galleria is the city’s second place of worship. A temple of fine shopping and outdoor cafes, where you can see and be seen in true Milanese fashion.

It is known locally as ‘il salotto buono’, the fine drawing room, given its role as the main evening passeggiata (strolling) route. Built in 1877 by Giuseppe Mengoni, its soaring iron-and-glass structure, cruciform plan and churchlike proportions were designed to celebrate the new industrial Italy, one with more secular concerns such as business, fashion and high finance.

Unfortunately, Mengoni plummeted to his death from the scaffolding just weeks before the 14-year project was completed. So, to avoid similar bad luck tourists and Milanese alike head for the mosaic of the dancing bull (said to mark the spot where he fell) to grind their heels firmly into its testicles.

I was hopeful we would have enough time to hit an outlet mall on our drive from Milan to Venice. Unfortunately the car had to be back by 6pm, so we had to scrap the outlet mall. Instead we spent an extra 20 minutes in downtown window shopping. Not surprisingly window shopping in Milan could be a sport. I very much enjoyed the short time we spent doing this.



The drive to Venice was uneventful. At least that is what Ben told me as I slept pretty much the whole way. I finally hit my trip wall but a two hour nap was all I needed to get back at them. Returning the car in Venice was actually fairly easy. We just crossed the main bridge and pulled up to the 10th floor of a parking garage. The Avis agent was about the most relaxed agent I’ve ever seen. When we approached he was standing outside, smoking and holding his dog. The dog was awesome. His name was Freddie.


The view from the rental car return lot.


The final resting place of our A6.


Freddie, the Avis rental car dog. 

We crossed the street with all our bags and boarded a private water taxi that took us up the Grand Canal to within a 100 yards of our hotel. The guy initially wanted 60 Euros. I asked if he’d take 50. He quickly said yes. Clearly I should have bid lower. We checked into the Hotel Campiello, grabbed a decent dinner and went for a nice evening stroll around the canals. We then called it a decently early evening to come back to the hotel and tend to house keeping items like writing this here blog!


Our private water taxi to our hotel.

Until tomorrow,
Katy