Day 12: last full day in Italy

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Today is our last full day in Italy, and our plan was to beat the crowd to visit the Duomo di Milano, the Milan Cathedral.  Since our flight is tomorrow morning at 7:45, we planned to check in online for the flight before visiting the Duomo, since check in starts 24 hours before the flight.  That's where things got a little screwy.  Using my iPad, I went to the British Airways website to check in, and got an error that said I could not check in online, and that the tickets would need to be revalidated or reissued!  Calling the airline didn't help, so I decided that I should take our passports to the airport right away to check in, and be sure that we would be on the flight tomorrow morning.  I didn't think we'd both need to go, so Jenae went to a nearby museum, and I hopped on the bus for the 35 minute ride to Linate Airport.  Fortunately, they were able to straighten things out pretty quickly, so I got on the next bus to go back to the hotel, and met Jenae in time for lunch at Princi, and nearby bakery/cafe.  Then we walked a couple blocks to the Duomo.

The Duomo di Milano is the second largest church in Italy, and the fifth largest church in the world.  It took almost 6 centuries to build.

This is is the statue in the piazza in front of the Duomo, covered with pigeons and tourists:

A couple of detail photos of  the exterior of the Duomo:

A couple of Italian soldiers check bags as you enter.  Such jaunty hats!

The first photo from the interior is intended to show just how big it is.  Jenae stands in front of a single column that spans the entire width of this photo:

Now you see how many of these huge columns are inside the place:

Everything is various colors of marble, including the floor:

Here I've zoomed in on the top of a couple of the columns:

A particularly frightening statue:

And many beautiful stained glass windows:

Then we took an elevator to the roof, where you can walk among the 96 gargoyles and 135 spires that adorn the top of the Duomo:

And finally, a view of the piazza in front of the Duomo:

This evening we found a place where we could have dinner before 8:00, because we're going to go to bed early, get up at 4:30, and be ready for the cab that is scheduled for 6:00.  Then, a 2 hour flight to London, 3 hours between connections, and a 10 hour flight home to Austin.

Next blog entry:  food photos!