Milan, Italy Epiphany

We got to see Leonardo’s Last Supper today. Our appointment was for 9:45am and we were allowed to be in there for 15 minutes. Knowing that the painting was not in good shape, I wasn’t expecting much, but when we got in the room I was blown away. It is a huge painting on the wall above what used to be a door. The composition and perspective pull you right into the painting. Even when the peeling paint, it was very detailed. You could see the folds of the table cloth and the gesturing of the apostles makes the scene real. I do have to admit that I was checking out John to see if he could be Mary Magdalene. In my opinion the figure does look a lot more like a woman than a man. What an experience to see this painting!
After our 15 minutes were up we took a walking tour that my travel book recommended. Our first stop was Castello Sforzesco, a castle that was built in 1368. Sant’ Ambrogio was our next stop, a church built in 386. Mass was going on, so we only stayed a little while in the back. We also stopped at San Lorenzoalle Colonne, 4th century church behind 2nd century Roman columns. The columns were moved there when the church was built. The church is the oldest round church in Western Christendom and may have been the ancient Imperial palatine chapel. While we were walking we came upon the parade of the Epiphany. I guess Epiphany celebrates the three wise men. There were a lot of kings on horses and walking. Then it ended in front of a church and they seemed to be having some kind of a Catholic service. Sant’ Eustorgio was the last church we visited, which was built in the 4th century. It had beautiful frescos. Our tour ended next to what used to be the canal system in Milan. There are a lot of restaurant and I am sure would be nice at night. Nothing was open because of the holiday, so we plan to go back in the evening sometime.
We took the Metro back to the central station walked around the market picking up some food for lunch. We took it back to our hotel so we could warm up a bit before heading back out. For dinner we got pizza and then ran into a group of Sam’s classmates and their wives. They were going out, so we went along too and got appetizers. Now we are really full. Dinner here takes forever. It is nothing to sit in a restaurant for two hours. Good thing the food is so good.