1. I met most of the guys for breakfast at 9 and then from there, we went to the Duomo to actually go inside the church. RS gives the Duomo 2 pyramids. Depending on who you talk to, the cathedral is either the 4 largest church in Europe or the 3rd largest in the world. RS says the former, guide at Last Supper said the latter. Wikipedia says 4th largest cathedral in the world. Not sure who's right, but it's impressive no matter where it ranks. RS has a walking tour that I didn't do, but it's helpful now when writing the review of the sight. Wish I would have read it while we viewed it. Anyways, the outside of the Duomo is covered in statues, a lot of which are gargoyles. I find that interesting on Christian churches - how the gargoyles have survived all these years even through Puritan like movements. You would think that at some point along the way in the last 500+ years, some priest would recognize the lack of Biblical support for gargoyles and tear them off. The attention to detail in the marble work is impressive.
2. The glass windows inside the building are impressive as well. The windows date from the 1500s - 1980s. 80s! Many of the windows were bombed out on the left side of the church and were replaced in the 50s. One was added in the 80s to honor the three cardinals from Milan. Not as great as say Notre Dame in Paris or St. Chappelle in Paris, but still impressive.
3. Overall, the church was dark (due to Gothic architecture). We happened to be there when mass was going on. The sound was atrious - not sure how the congregation understood the muffled sound of the priest. However, the organ was impressive. I love/hate seeing a tourist church in action. Love because the organ is my favorite part of church and to hear it rumble in those huge historic churches gives you goose bumps. Hate because of a previously mentioned weird feeling I get of being a tourist in a church, compounded infinitely when church is going on. We didn't linger too long because of that, but I would definitely see it again to get more time to study the different chapels along the side.
4. After the inside, we made the climb to the top. This is what made Duomo 2 pyramids, and possibly could have been 3. Great view. The climb wasn't too bad....we had the elevator option but decided to work out the muscles that morning. Much easier climb that Brugge. The sides with a view of the market square were the best by far - neat to see that from above.
5. After that, we wandered the Piazza del Duomo (market square) and people watched. RS gave this 1 pyramid - I agree. Great people watching. Along the Duomo is the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele and on the far side are two fascist buildings that Mussolini gave speaches from.
6. We then wandered into the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, which RS gave 2 pyramids. I disagree - for my purposes, it was a 1 pyramid. Unless you are really into out of this world shopping (i.e. Dolce, Gucci, etc) then this is not for you. There was a gelato shop and other type restaurants, but it was too early for food. We did however, find the mosaic mentioned in the RS book of the little Torino (bull), which according to legend, if you step on it's junk and spin three times, you will have good luck. Well, when in Milan......do as the Milanese do.
Here's some pictures of the things I saw:
Me spinning on the junk for good luck
View of the Alps at sunset on the plane ride back to Den Haag.
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