Today, Milan

Three years ago when we were here, we planned to see Leonardo Da Vinci's "Last Supper", but not having reservations or tickets, it was not to be.  Wiser this time, reservations and tickets in hand, today is the day.  Rick and Joy had not been to Milan, so we were excited to show it to them.
Tom did a masterful job of maneuvering the downtown streets and we were lucky to find a close,
reasonable parking garage.
We walked through the giant archways into the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II with its glass domed arcade and very upscale shops.

This in itself is an eye-opener, but when you come out into the main square and see the Duomo, it will knock your socks off!

It's the 4th largest church in Europe.  It was built to hold 40,000 worshippers.
But we have to meet our tour guide for the "Last Supper" tour.
The guide explains that we will see several things before we get to the "Last Supper".

We head over to the financial district.  First the Bank of Italy.

Next, this building was built in the 1940's under Mussolini and is now the Italian Stock Exchange.  Italy has had its financial problems of late.  Mauricio Cattelan, sculpted the controversial hand that's flipping the bird!  Supposedly, this is how 99 percent of society feels about the corporate power in Italy.  It was supposed to be temporary, but the locals liked it, now it's permanent.

Well, moving on....  Next, we pass the most famous bakery in Milan, Marchesi.

The pastries look fabulous!  The locals are a little sad, because the bakery has been bought by Prada, and it's just not the same.
Moving on, we come to the Church of San Murizio.  It's part of a 9th-century convent built into a surviving bit of Milan's ancient Roman wall dating back to the 1500's.

Inside, every inch of wall space was painted  with Bernardino Luini frescos.

It is particularly significant because it survived the bombing of WW II virtually undamaged.
The church was a convent for cloistered nuns, but no longer serves as a church or convent.
Finally, we are more than ready for the promised crown jewel of this tour!  The Church of Saint Maria delle Grazie houses the ultimate masterpiece of the Renaissance.

Because of Leonardo's experimental fresco technique, deterioration began within 6 years of completion.  The church was bombed in WWII, but--miraculously, the wall holding the Last Supper remained standing.  A 21 year restoration project (completed  in 1999) peeled away 500 years of touch-ups, leaving Leonardo's masterspiece faint but vibrant (From Rick Steves' book).  It is a masterful and emotional piece, moving some to tears.

We were only allowed in the room for 15 minutes.
We were so glad we finally got to see this magnificent work of art.
At this point we separated form Rick and Joy as they wanted to go back and see the Doumo and we had seen it the last time we were here.
We wanted lunch!
We reconnected a few hours later.  They were wowed by the splendor of the Doumo and we were happy to have had some lunch.
Tom wound us back out of Milan and back to our apartment, where we were able to put our feet up and recount our wonderful day in marvelous Milan!