A Day in Milan

Disclaimer:  I am no longer in Milan but I wrote the posts day by day when I was there.  Feel free to comment and ask questions as if I were still in Italy.
Buon giorno!
It's so nice to be able to have an excuse for my usual bumbling around. It's the jet lag, I murmur. Take last night. It took me ten minutes to figure out how to flush the toilet. Then I turned the tap on and waited in vain for the water to get hot. "Pil, you dope! You're in Italy. C doesn't mean cold. It means Caldo. Turn that one." And I couldn't get the TV to work. It's not incompetence--it's jet lag!
So I am rattling around with lots of space containing a high tech HD flat screen with satellite TV hence my inability to make it work without much experiment.
This morning, after admiring how beautiful the Duomo looked in the morning light, I popped in my contact lenses and went out to get breakfast and something for dinner.
I was out before the grocery store opened, but I found a bakery and devoured a butter laden cornetto.  It was good and fresh from the oven.  A cornetto is an Italian croissant.
I strolled around until the Billa on Via Torino opened. The problem with Milan as with all European cities is that people smoke on the street, especially if they are on their way to work.  I'm guessing they are no longer allowed to puff in the work place, so they are getting their last fix.
At the grocery store, I got some pretty good bread, some Gorgonzola which is not only one of the local cheeses, but its own metro stop, a pumpkin filled ravioli, which is another specialty of the region, a bottle of red wine, and oh yeah some Campari.  Because I happen to like it with sparkling water, that's why.
Carrying the groceries home took longer than it should because I turned the wrong way on via Torino coming out of the store and took the opposite direction to the one I should have taken. Say it with me, "Jet Lag!" What a great excuse!
Then it was time to explore. I strolled around. The old covered market square is right behind my passage. I was enchanted to find atms for banks that are foreign partners with my bank. The savings on atm fees can be put toward more cheese and Campari.
I mostly spent the day exploring, figuring I couldn't get too lost. I went to The Pinoteca Ambrosiana for the art, but the building is fun, too,  The museum holds some nice Titians and Bottecellis.  But the real gem of the collection was the huge cartoon Raphael made for his wonderful fresco called The School of Athens. The preparatory drawing omits two of the most famous figures in the finished work: Raphael's own self portrait amongst the Aristotelians and his portrayal of a brooding Michelangelo on the Platonic side. Some pages from one of Leonardo's notebooks called the Codex Atlanticus were on display in the historic library. Picture a beautiful vaulted room with walls of books and that inticing old paper smell and then getting to look at Leonardo da Vinci drawings.
I then made my way to the Palazzo Reale just off the Piazza del Duomo where a special exhibition on Impressionists was on offer. I have never heard of the Clark Institute or Collection but Mr. and Mrs. Clark certainly had an eye for nice works. They loved Renoir best, so he is most in evidence, but all the major Impressionists were represented including Berthe Morisot.  I especially enjoyed the lovely Pizzaros.
By that time I had worked up an appetite--for GELATO. What else? I had hazelnut and coconut and both were divine. Then I visited the Duomo. The general impression is of massive grandeur, but it does not seem like a typical Gothic interior as the vertical thrust is balanced, and the nave and aisles are so beautifully proportioned that one is not overwhelmed or bewildered. It is, by the way, a living church. Tourists are adjured to dress properly and keep silent as there are always worshipers there.  Security is ever present as well.  A Carbinieri officer wanded my purse as I went in. The picture is of the high altar.
Let's talk about dinner.  I happen to like blue cheese, so I enjoyed the Gorgonzola, creamy and just a bit sharp.   The pumpkin stuffed ravioli was good.  The filling was slightly on the sweet side.  I had some Nevola, a red wine, to wash it down with.
Ciao!