Katie and Tommy: Around the World

After one month in Africa, we arrived two days ago in Europe. Getting here was no picnic, actually. As Tommy mentioned in his last post, since all the train tickets from Luxor to Cairo were bought up by hotels and tourist agencies who would only sell them for some extra baksheesh, we took an uncomfortable and loud overnight bus, leaving both of us a little sleep deprived. Our flight from Cairo to Berlin the next night was from 2 am-6 am, followed by a six-hour layover in Berlin Tegel (which, I must say, has the least comfortable airport seats for sleeping I’ve ever encountered) before our flight to Milan, leaving us even more sleep-deprived. To make matters worse, I came down with the same 24-hour illness that had affected Tommy two days prior and spend much of the journey in a nauseous haze.

However, I’m happy to say that after collapsing upon our arrival in Milan and sleeping until the next morning, we both woke up feeling wonderful. We had only one day in the city, but it was fantastic. It was such a lovely place–and, perhaps it goes without saying, but so different from anywhere we visited in Africa! The streets were charming and filled with the most interesting stores. There were bookshops everywhere, some that only sold books on theater or art. The city is also a fashion center, and everywhere we went we passed expensive and beautiful clothing stores. All of the people were so stylish and well-dressed. While we don’t speak Italian, we have been able to communicate with most people we have encountered in either Spanish or English. Spanish has been particularly useful, and we’ve enjoyed speaking it and being able to interact better with locals. Coming from Luxor, it was like night and day, and it was a nice change of pace.

The first thing we did was visit the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie to see The Last Supper. Visits are very controlled to help preserve the painting. We purchased tickets and returned at an indicated time, when we were ushered into an antechamber with a group of about 25 people. From there, some automatic doors opened to let us into another glass room. When everyone had stepped through, the entry doors closed and another set opened. This process was repeated twice more before glass doors actually opened the way into the church. It’s a very small, plain room. Most of the walls are white, but as you enter the first thing you see is the painting to your right. It’s very large, much larger than I imagined, and restoration efforts have left it in extremely good shape. We had about a half an hour to study it, and it remained fascinating the entire time. We even took out my binoculars to examine its texture from where we were standing, which worked really well. There are also some Andy Warhol works based on The Last Supper that are currently on display with it, which made for an interesting contrast.

Next we walked east to the Duomo, an immense Gothic cathedral. Tommy said that of all the churches he has seen in Europe, this one struck him in particular, and I can see why. I’ve never seen a church with such an elaborate exterior. It’s like every possible inch of roof space was covered with Gothic speirs and crosses. Its interior was similarly breathtaking. Immense columns support a roof so high I could barely believe it. There are many lovely altars and statues lining the nave, and an organ on the altar with hundred of pipes, covered by elaborately painted panels. Tall and elaborate stained-glass windows illuminated the interior.

From the Duomo, we passed through the immense Victor Emmanuel II shopping plaza, where we finally found an item we had been hunting for all day: the international version of USA Today. In case you don’t know why, click here. And here. We took a quick stroll through the fashion district and gazed in the windows of Prada, Chanel, and Armani stores. Then we picked up our bags and headed to the train station for a half hour ride to Como in northern Italy, just a stone’s throw from Switzerland, on the shores of Lake Como.

It seems as though whenever a movie includes a beautiful mountain lake scene, it is invariably filmed at Lake Como (Casino Royale, Ocean’s 12, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, etc). The area is a ritzy vacation ground for all of Europe, and we could only afford to spend a couple of nights on the lake’s shores. But it has been well worth the trip. The bus ride from Como to our hostel outside of Menaggio alone was unbelievably lovely. We arrived near sunset, and had dinner at a pizzeria nearby.

The next day, we took a ferry across the lake to Bellagio. It was an absolutely charming town, with many tiny cobblestone streets lined with restaurants and shops. Because it is the off-season, many businesses are not open, and most hotels are closed and undergoing renovations. We still had a wonderful time wandering around all day and taking in the scenery.

Italy has been absolutely lovely, and we look forward to returning in a few weeks. Tomorrow: Switzerland!

This entry was posted on Friday, February 15th, 2008 at 8:45 pm and is filed under Italy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.