Saturday, June 6 – Genova to Milano transfer day (good-bye Gianni!)

We had to get going on a schedule as there was a school event on the grounds of the Marcellina the next morning and the bus had to get packed and off the grounds before the event started. We made our way to Milano and our hotel for one night, near a station that had shuttles to the airport. Ruth, Stephanie, and Kelli had purchased the last tickets to Benjamin Britton’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at La Scala opera house for that evening.

Me posing like an Italian (with my Italian purse and long-sleeved shirt drapped around my neck) in the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele II.

Jim and I scoped out the route to the shuttle, then set off by subway to Milano’s main square. We looked in the enormous, intimidating, intricate Duomo.

The lofty, imposing pilars inside Milano's Duomo.

Bronze relief of Jesus on one of the Duomo's doors, with his well-rubbed hand.

Milano's Duomo and the plaza in front in the evening light. The entry to the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele II is on the left.

Took the tour of La Scala’s museum, which contai ns everything from busts of famous composers, costumes from productions, artifacts from Toscanini and Puccini, and portraits of the divas of the stage, like Maria Callas.

Jim poses by a bust of Toscanini in La Scala.

Almost ate lunch at McDonalds, but ate fast-food pizza instead. We made a few inquiries at the tourist information point, and decided to visit a Monet exhibit and found a free band concert for early evening. The Monet exhibit was well done, not too huge, explaining his life and works, and also displaying the Japanese prints that were huge influences on his work. We decided to see a movie after the concert, and bought tickets to Angels and Demons (which Jim hadn’t seen, but had read the book, and I was willing to watch again while still in Italy). We arrived in time to not be too far back in the line waiting to get into the small, two-level courtyard the concert occurred in. It was a wonderful show of Viennese waltzes and other music.

The conductor enters for the concert in the plushly-grassed courtyard.

A young girl dances to the music with a Sister.

A policeman keeping tabs on the concert from the second level of the courtyard.

The movie was good the second time round too (very interesting to see in Italy where you could watch Hollywood’s representation of the culture all around us). Back at the hotel we asked about finding Chinese food for dinner, something I’d been wanting to try the whole trip. There were two nearby, one “the best” in Milano (with a price to match) the other further away, but walkable. It was a lovely atmosphere and a delicious meal!