Milan & Lake Como

Friday bright and early my Art History class left on a bus for a fieldtrip to Milan. We arrived at the Sforzesca Castle and saw a beautiful ceiling that Leonardo da Vinci had painted to look like a Mulberry tree. We then walked to the Duomo in the center of Milan. It is massive! It was built in a Gothic style and is white with huge spires and statues covering it. Our class then went to see the famous “Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci. We had to arrive promptly for our group appointment to view it. They divided us into groups then made us walk through this corridor that cleaned our feet then go into a set of doors that closed behind us so the air around us could be purified before walking into another room where they purified the air again. Finally we were allowed into the room where the “Last Supper” is painted on the wall. I had always thought it was just a painting on canvas, but nope. Its HUGE! The room is in a building attached to a church and used to be the dining hall of the monks, so they could “eat with Christ.” It is a miracle that the painting is still intact because American troops bombed the building in WWII. The only walls not affected were the one with this painting on it and the wall opposite it covered with a crucifixion scene. When Da Vinci painted this he was experimenting in using different methods of painting such as fresco, tempura and oils so the painting itself has not preserved as well as a normal fresco would have.
We then went to another museum where they had pages from Da Vinci’s journal on display. They were incredible! From mere pages of his writing (he wrote from right to left) to diagrams of inventions and architectural designs for towers, canals and cities. Milan was definitely a cool city, I would definitely want to go back at some point in my life to explore more and shop! All the girls there were dressed amazingly!
Friday night we took a train to Varenna on Lake Como from Milan. After several stops and delays we reached Menaggio by ferry. Our other girlfriends had met us at our hostel from Florence.
We woke up to a complimentary breakfast of coffee, bread and jam then took a stroll around the tiny town of Menaggio before taking a ferry to Bellagio across the lake. We walked around, looked in some local shops, had lunch then a few of us went into this beautiful garden at a villa that is now open to the public for viewing that once belonged to a Duke. The grounds were just amazing! SO green and well-kept, right on the lakefront. We took lots of gorgeous pictures.
We went back to Menaggio to get some gelato from a place we had read about before getting ready for dinner. We were in the middle of discussing what to do and where to go for dinner, not wanting to get stranded late across the lake but wanting to see more of the lake, when this nice young guy offered some help. He was a young free-lance photographer from the states, but has lived on the lake for nearly ten years. He suggested this restaurant in Bellagio called Silvio. The restaurant picked us up in a car at the ferry in Bellagio and drove us up the mountain a little to the restaurant. We were so glad we took his suggestion! The six of us had one of the best dinners we have yet to eat in Italy! The bread was even freshly made and delicious! It was a pretty fancy family owned restaurant and we thoroughly enjoyed sparkling white wine and various pasta dishes. Everything was incredible! At the end of the meal the owner came over and talked to us and we of course ended up talking about how George Clooney always eats there! He went on to say that George’s new girlfriend isn’t even very pretty in person! So funny! The owner ended up driving us himself back down to the ferry where it took us to Cannabia ( a city away from Menaggio where our hostel was.) It was pretty chilly out so we convinced our new friend “Fabio” who worked at the hostel to come pick us up! The six of us literally piled into his teeny tiny European car for the few kilometer drive. It was quite an experience. The whole lake is surrounded by HUGE Mountains and in the dark you can see this little church high on the mountain that is lit up so it looks like it is floating among the blackness of the mountains. It was awesome. We also found out that we were only a few miles away from Switzerland!
We woke up early today, had our bread and coffee breakfast and were on our way! After a quick stop in the town of Lenno we took a ferry to the larger city of Como. We were planning on taking a train from there to Milan. The boat ride there was so beautiful! Lake Como is “Y” shaped and Menaggio (where we stayed) is in the junction of the “Y” and Como is at the end of one of the branches. The boat was a great way to get to see more of the lake. We had planned to spend some time in Como, but after trekking all the way to the train station to figure out our train tickets we decided to take the next train out. We had to go Como to Milan, Milan to Florence. It was such an incredible weekend and will definitely be going back as soon as my life allows me to!!!
This is going to be a very crazy busy week so there’s lots I need to get done!
Ciao for now!!!
Xoxo Kara