Keith and Christine would love to hear from you with questions, comments, personal news and any news at all from Australia or wherever you are. We will reply to all emails! Please write to either windlechristine@gmail.com or windle.keith@gmail.com
The rain stopped just in time for us to go out exploring. Nevertheless, we had decided to buy an umbrella, so we tested one from a vendor outside the station, only to find that its frame was very weak and that it was damaged already. Streets vendors, often from Africa, were everywhere in Milan, trying to sell small items such as necklaces, umbrellas or wallets, with a small stock that suggested that they could take flight quickly in necessary.
We took the main street into Milan, noting items of interest marked on the map. Actually it is not enough to have a map that indicates the presence of a church or a museum by a symbol but gives nothing more. Milan is a beautiful city, with something of the feel of Rhodes in the centre since the streets have tall buildings lining them and leading in curves, so it is very easy to lose your sense of direction. Of course, it is also a city of immense open public spaces and of glorious buildings. Sculptures were everywhere – on buildings, on pillars, on lawns, holding up ceilings, in any vacant corner - so many that we stopped going over to look carefully at every one. We wandered into a public park and I was impressed to see that a journalist holding his typewriter had been honoured at the entrance.
We continued on, past a magnificent sculpture of Leonardo da Vinci and his protégés,
and into the most glorious arcade, the Galleria de Victor Emmanuel.
Every aspect of this arcade, designed as a cross with a great open section in the middle, was elaborately decorated. There were mosaics, visible from the centre, each representing another part of the world – Europe, Asia, North America and Africa. The floor was an elegant mosaic, hardly visible with crowds thronging over it, shopping in the boutiques, slipping in and out of the cafes or simply passing through from one square to the next. 
Many women were dressed more elegantly than we had been used to, with the little touches of matching bag and shoes, or the exact tone in a skirt being picked out in a top. Younger people tended to dress as casually as Australian young people, but with a studied casualness that suggested expensive items rather than slop-around weekend wear. Of course there were also people dressed as we were, in clothing that has seen better days. Our visit to the centre tourist office was thwarted by a sign saying that it was closed for lunch. We turned our attention to the Piazza Duomo (Cathedral Square), where the most amazing fairy tale cathedral graces one end. It is enormous but at the same time delicate, because it is covered in little towers, the curves of many decorated flying buttresses, and a myriad of statues. Restoration work and cleaning over recent years has left it in as-new condition, with the marble being a blend of cream and pink. It is a bit like the effect of knitting with wool that has lengths of different colours in it, and adds to the very light look. We thought that the architect must have asked everyone in Milan to send in a suggestion for whose statues should be on the outside, and, with over thousands of entries, and not wishing to offend anyone, they had included them all. Later I read that the cathedral, commissioned in 1386 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, has 135 spires and 3,200 statues. A gilded Madonna stands on the highest spire.
Entry to the Cathedral required a check under our hats to see what we were hiding there, but there were no worries about the two sharp picnic knives in Keith’s backpack. It was quite dark inside and a forest of thick columns created a feeling of stolidity, quite the opposite to the exterior. So large and capable of holding a congregation of 40,000, it felt that we were setting off on an excursion to see the inside. This cathedral is very much a religious building and of course the sculptures and paintings reflect that, but the standard of the works is such that it also feels like a gallery. All the way along one side there are small chapels, each as large as a church, with altars and pews. 
The walls are covered in depictions of saints, Bible stories and past clergy of the Cathedral. At the end there are enormous stained glass windows, vibrantly coloured and depicting stories from the life of Jesus and from the Bible in almost cartoon form. A tapestry, made in the 16th century by Antonio Maria Bozzolo, was finer than any I have ever seen, and depicted the Adoration of the Magi.
We visited the treasure chamber, where precious gold, silver and ivory religious artefacts were available to view for a price. 
Free to the public was the sepulchre of San Carlo Borromeo, where he still lies in his glass coffin. His face was covered by a golden mask and he was fully clothed. Also free to the public, but not to tourists, was the section for confession, where I was surprised to see Priests looking out of stalls like canteens onto the heads of confessing parishioners, who knelt in full view before them.
I bought a ticket to the archaeological section below while Keith went outside for a rest. Down below, excavations had uncovered the remains of three previous churches on this site. I wandered among the ruins, seeing part of the mosaic floor of one previous era, the many walls of another, and a tiny portion of wall from the oldest. I chatted with the archaeologist working there and she told me that they were just cleaning a painting, almost invisible to me, but a cause of great excitement to them. It was a strange feeling; as if I had left the present upstairs, to be standing where so many others surely had stood so long ago and thought about life and death.
Finding Keith was not so easy, but eventually I saw him sitting in the thin shadow of a statue; the only available shade in that large square. We were thirsty for information but the tourist bureau here also had nothing but maps. Lunch was a picnic in a small square behind the church where some tourists from the Netherlands congratulated us on making our lunch and on the healthy ingredients. We shared our food with the man sitting on the bench beside us, and he ate heartily of our rolls, cheese, salad and fruit. His appearance was fairly uncared for and he did not seem to be able to make conversation when Keith tried to talk to him. Usually people in such a situation at least use gestures, so perhaps this man was a little limited and possibly homeless.
Milan is a wonderful city to wander in. We saw so many sites and knew that we were not doing them or ourselves justice because we did not know about them. Clearly the Roman era had left its mark, and wars were commemorated with memorials. We saw where Toscanini had lived, various palaces, churches which were made of terracotta, ancient columns with statues on the top, thousands and thousands of motor bikes, people relaxing and people rushing, and finally we came upon a demonstration.
It was a protest by primary teachers against the proposed new rules which require teachers to work in the school holidays. Low pay and low levels of respect are major issues, with little support for teachers from families and the bureaucracy adding to the problems. The man we spoke to said that the work for teachers would be in running holiday programs for students whose parents work, but that it would be obligatory and not an option. He pointed out that he had his own family to care for and that he needed to have some time out after the stresses of teaching. This was not the first protest there had been on the issue of working during the holidays, and only a small group was in attendance, compared to the large crowds on the previous occasions.
We now headed for the castle – it was hot and humid and quite unpleasant to be out and about, but we only had one day in Milan. In front of the round towers and walls of the castle, there was a large fountain. People were sitting around its edge, cooling their feet in the water. The castle has been restored beautifully and is used for a variety of purposes, such as housing museums and galleries. Tables for a dinner were being set out in one of the courtyards. The atmosphere was dignified and it was easy to imagine Dukes living there, and then Spanish soldiers between 1535 and 1706, and later Austrian soldiers between 1706 and 1796, exercising in the courtyards when their countries had occupied this area. Milan had citizen rule in the 12th century and later the ducal castle was built over the city walls, as a kind of fortress linking the rural and inhabited sectors. The ancient city walls and the moat around them were incorporated into the interior of the castle when additions were made outside the city walls in 1385. The moat was no longer filled with water and became a dead moat, which is still visible today. The old city walls were finally pulled down in 1412.
Many more sculptures, churches, spectacular streetscapes and a visit to a supermarket later, we discovered that we had been walking in the wrong direction for a while and we had to turn around and retrace some steps. Since every step was accompanied with a drop of perspiration and we had exhausted our water supply for the first time ever, it was lucky that the distance was not too great and that the new directions were easy to follow. We approached the railway station from the front and saw how impressive it looked when viewed from afar. I went straight to our hotel to have a rest and a drink and Keith went into the station to see if he could change some of the Bulgarian, Croatian and Bosnian currencies which no-one seems to want to touch. The Croatian money was the only one they would change.
It was a pity that we only had a day because all the museums had been closed because it was Monday. There was so much more to see. We now know that the painting, ‘The Last Supper’, by Leonardo da Vinci, is in Milan, and that it is necessary to make a booking four days in advance if you want to see it. To see that would have been something very special but it was not to be. Nevertheless, we had had a taste and maybe there will be another opportunity to come here in the future.
We were looking forward to France and we had some good news – a French man we had met in Turkey had invited us to stay with him for a visit and for longer if we couldn’t find anywhere else. The pressure was off and now we could look forward to our two weeks with the Primat family without worries. The rain started again, ensuring a good night’s sleep for us since it was quite a bit cooler.
Below: more street scenes and sculptures around Milan
The Milan Opera House, La Scala
The rain stopped just in time for us to go out exploring. Nevertheless, we had decided to buy an umbrella, so we tested one from a vendor outside the station, only to find that its frame was very weak and that it was damaged already. Streets vendors, often from Africa, were everywhere in Milan, trying to sell small items such as necklaces, umbrellas or wallets, with a small stock that suggested that they could take flight quickly in necessary.We took the main street into Milan, noting items of interest marked on the map. Actually it is not enough to have a map that indicates the presence of a church or a museum by a symbol but gives nothing more. Milan is a beautiful city, with something of the feel of Rhodes in the centre since the streets have tall buildings lining them and leading in curves, so it is very easy to lose your sense of direction. Of course, it is also a city of immense open public spaces and of glorious buildings. Sculptures were everywhere – on buildings, on pillars, on lawns, holding up ceilings, in any vacant corner - so many that we stopped going over to look carefully at every one. We wandered into a public park and I was impressed to see that a journalist holding his typewriter had been honoured at the entrance.We continued on, past a magnificent sculpture of Leonardo da Vinci and his protégés,and into the most glorious arcade, the Galleria de Victor Emmanuel.
Every aspect of this arcade, designed as a cross with a great open section in the middle, was elaborately decorated. There were mosaics, visible from the centre, each representing another part of the world – Europe, Asia, North America and Africa. The floor was an elegant mosaic, hardly visible with crowds thronging over it, shopping in the boutiques, slipping in and out of the cafes or simply passing through from one square to the next. Many women were dressed more elegantly than we had been used to, with the little touches of matching bag and shoes, or the exact tone in a skirt being picked out in a top. Younger people tended to dress as casually as Australian young people, but with a studied casualness that suggested expensive items rather than slop-around weekend wear. Of course there were also people dressed as we were, in clothing that has seen better days. Our visit to the centre tourist office was thwarted by a sign saying that it was closed for lunch. We turned our attention to the Piazza Duomo (Cathedral Square), where the most amazing fairy tale cathedral graces one end. It is enormous but at the same time delicate, because it is covered in little towers, the curves of many decorated flying buttresses, and a myriad of statues. Restoration work and cleaning over recent years has left it in as-new condition, with the marble being a blend of cream and pink. It is a bit like the effect of knitting with wool that has lengths of different colours in it, and adds to the very light look. We thought that the architect must have asked everyone in Milan to send in a suggestion for whose statues should be on the outside, and, with over thousands of entries, and not wishing to offend anyone, they had included them all. Later I read that the cathedral, commissioned in 1386 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, has 135 spires and 3,200 statues. A gilded Madonna stands on the highest spire.Entry to the Cathedral required a check under our hats to see what we were hiding there, but there were no worries about the two sharp picnic knives in Keith’s backpack. It was quite dark inside and a forest of thick columns created a feeling of stolidity, quite the opposite to the exterior. So large and capable of holding a congregation of 40,000, it felt that we were setting off on an excursion to see the inside. This cathedral is very much a religious building and of course the sculptures and paintings reflect that, but the standard of the works is such that it also feels like a gallery. All the way along one side there are small chapels, each as large as a church, with altars and pews. The walls are covered in depictions of saints, Bible stories and past clergy of the Cathedral. At the end there are enormous stained glass windows, vibrantly coloured and depicting stories from the life of Jesus and from the Bible in almost cartoon form. A tapestry, made in the 16th century by Antonio Maria Bozzolo, was finer than any I have ever seen, and depicted the Adoration of the Magi.We visited the treasure chamber, where precious gold, silver and ivory religious artefacts were available to view for a price. Free to the public was the sepulchre of San Carlo Borromeo, where he still lies in his glass coffin. His face was covered by a golden mask and he was fully clothed. Also free to the public, but not to tourists, was the section for confession, where I was surprised to see Priests looking out of stalls like canteens onto the heads of confessing parishioners, who knelt in full view before them.I bought a ticket to the archaeological section below while Keith went outside for a rest. Down below, excavations had uncovered the remains of three previous churches on this site. I wandered among the ruins, seeing part of the mosaic floor of one previous era, the many walls of another, and a tiny portion of wall from the oldest. I chatted with the archaeologist working there and she told me that they were just cleaning a painting, almost invisible to me, but a cause of great excitement to them. It was a strange feeling; as if I had left the present upstairs, to be standing where so many others surely had stood so long ago and thought about life and death.
Finding Keith was not so easy, but eventually I saw him sitting in the thin shadow of a statue; the only available shade in that large square. We were thirsty for information but the tourist bureau here also had nothing but maps. Lunch was a picnic in a small square behind the church where some tourists from the Netherlands congratulated us on making our lunch and on the healthy ingredients. We shared our food with the man sitting on the bench beside us, and he ate heartily of our rolls, cheese, salad and fruit. His appearance was fairly uncared for and he did not seem to be able to make conversation when Keith tried to talk to him. Usually people in such a situation at least use gestures, so perhaps this man was a little limited and possibly homeless.Milan is a wonderful city to wander in. We saw so many sites and knew that we were not doing them or ourselves justice because we did not know about them. Clearly the Roman era had left its mark, and wars were commemorated with memorials. We saw where Toscanini had lived, various palaces, churches which were made of terracotta, ancient columns with statues on the top, thousands and thousands of motor bikes, people relaxing and people rushing, and finally we came upon a demonstration.
It was a protest by primary teachers against the proposed new rules which require teachers to work in the school holidays. Low pay and low levels of respect are major issues, with little support for teachers from families and the bureaucracy adding to the problems. The man we spoke to said that the work for teachers would be in running holiday programs for students whose parents work, but that it would be obligatory and not an option. He pointed out that he had his own family to care for and that he needed to have some time out after the stresses of teaching. This was not the first protest there had been on the issue of working during the holidays, and only a small group was in attendance, compared to the large crowds on the previous occasions.
We now headed for the castle – it was hot and humid and quite unpleasant to be out and about, but we only had one day in Milan. In front of the round towers and walls of the castle, there was a large fountain. People were sitting around its edge, cooling their feet in the water. The castle has been restored beautifully and is used for a variety of purposes, such as housing museums and galleries. Tables for a dinner were being set out in one of the courtyards. The atmosphere was dignified and it was easy to imagine Dukes living there, and then Spanish soldiers between 1535 and 1706, and later Austrian soldiers between 1706 and 1796, exercising in the courtyards when their countries had occupied this area. Milan had citizen rule in the 12th century and later the ducal castle was built over the city walls, as a kind of fortress linking the rural and inhabited sectors. The ancient city walls and the moat around them were incorporated into the interior of the castle when additions were made outside the city walls in 1385. The moat was no longer filled with water and became a dead moat, which is still visible today. The old city walls were finally pulled down in 1412.Many more sculptures, churches, spectacular streetscapes and a visit to a supermarket later, we discovered that we had been walking in the wrong direction for a while and we had to turn around and retrace some steps. Since every step was accompanied with a drop of perspiration and we had exhausted our water supply for the first time ever, it was lucky that the distance was not too great and that the new directions were easy to follow. We approached the railway station from the front and saw how impressive it looked when viewed from afar. I went straight to our hotel to have a rest and a drink and Keith went into the station to see if he could change some of the Bulgarian, Croatian and Bosnian currencies which no-one seems to want to touch. The Croatian money was the only one they would change.It was a pity that we only had a day because all the museums had been closed because it was Monday. There was so much more to see. We now know that the painting, ‘The Last Supper’, by Leonardo da Vinci, is in Milan, and that it is necessary to make a booking four days in advance if you want to see it. To see that would have been something very special but it was not to be. Nevertheless, we had had a taste and maybe there will be another opportunity to come here in the future.
We were looking forward to France and we had some good news – a French man we had met in Turkey had invited us to stay with him for a visit and for longer if we couldn’t find anywhere else. The pressure was off and now we could look forward to our two weeks with the Primat family without worries. The rain started again, ensuring a good night’s sleep for us since it was quite a bit cooler.
Below: more street scenes and sculptures around Milan
The Milan Opera House, La Scala
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