Milan, Italy 2023 Days 7

Today started with a bit of an interesting incident…after a restful night in Como, we decided to take the Funicular cable car from the village of Como up the mountain to Brunate – another village of the same province. I assumed the only way up was the cable car, though much to my surprise as we arrived at the station and were viewing the intro board we noticed on the display, there was information that one could walk up as another means to reach the top and that it took 25 minutes. Of course the Franimal in me perked up and Obi knew right away that I would prefer this route to the top. We waited in line to confirm with the sales rep that one could in fact walk and where the trail started. He confirmed it was next to the ticket both (there was signage with a person walking) so it all seemed okay. Obi bought a one way ticket because he planned to ride up, but walk back down with me. My bag was very heavy so he took it with him in the cable car and off I went. I nearly ran off with nothing, but then in a snap decision did take my phone though it serves little to no purpose because I don’t have international data. I also had no money because my phone is not set up with G-pay or any credit card apps. Can you guess where this is going? A kiss goodbye and off I went. Powering up the path – no sooner do I take 15 strides does the marking on the ground with the “walking person” disappear. I took notice but carried on. Behind me were two women who were also headed up by foot. I passed them immediately and got to the end of the path which intersected with a main road. Already I could tell something was not right. There were no paths upward – only homes and stone walls which clearly were not meant to be jumped nor did any trails appear to be on the other side. By now the two women caught up with me and the three of us were puzzled. I noticed an older man on his balcony over head and using hand gestures indicated we wanted to walk to the top and – tried to get a sense of where we should go. He smiled and pointed in one direction which did not look promising (I don’t think he understood me). Never the less – we checked out the way he indicated and had no luck. We start walking up and down the street – and still no luck. One women goes ahead to ask a passerby who reports that the trail to the top is about 20 minutes away and that the total climbing time is about 2 hours – AND, the rail splits off into two paths (one easier than the other). Now, I should say that before I left Obi we made a backup plan which was that if Obi got to the top and I wasn’t there in 30 minutes he would start down the trail and we’d meet. Sounds good right? With this new information – our backup plan was a sure fire failure! So in the moment when I realized there is NO way I can reach him in time (the supposed 25 minutes) I started to panic. Worrying that he won’t find me – he’s now carrying two backpacks and if he were start down and me up – it could be over an hour before we met and we might not even have picked the same trail to walk. I had no way of contacting him – so one of the women allowed me to use her cell phone and I managed to call him. He did not answer – so I sent some texts hoping he would get them. Then, I sprinted back to the cable car station thinking I could catch him before he rode up on the 11am car (I left him knowing he would be taking the 11am car, little did I know he caught the 10:45 car!). A woman let me pass through without a ticket to look inside the fully loaded cable car- it was 10:59 am, sadly he was gone. Now I rush outside to see if I can find WIFI. A lovely many at a restaurant logged me in, on my phone and using WhatsApp I called him – by some stroke of luck the connection worked and he answered the phone. Thank goodness I thought! He had gotten the messages from the woman’s cell and was scouting out a way to get down. Because he only bought a one way ticket he couldn’t pass through the gate to get on the return car. I find out later when we are reunited that he went through his own state of panic to buy a ticket -which he could only pay for using cash and he had no cash. He goes all about at the top to find an ATM and withdraw cash. When he gets to the ticket station he sees a child scurry under the turnstile and thinks “I could have just done that!” Eventually he makes it down, and we recount the events from both of our experiences – laugh a lot, but in the moment all I could think about was Obi making his way down the long trail with way too much weight and wondering where in the world I was. AT least he had the water with him. In the end, because Obi was worried about getting down, he hardly enjoyed or saw the view. He did catch one quick glimpse and snapped a slightly awkward picture – and I never even made it up! It truly was a relief to be united again and not lost on the mountain side on two different trails. Obi texted the woman I met an updated saying that he was reunited with his wife. I also vowed to never travel internationally without a cellular data plan or to separate from Obi with so many unknowns. Like I said, an interesting morning indeed.

The rest of the way was much smoother – we bought some yummy treats from a bakery for breakfast/lunch which we ate on the train back to Milan. We dropped off our bags and headed out for our 3 pm tour of Duomo Di Milano. We had reserved tickets to visit the tower (via steps), the church and museum. We began with the view from the top and trekked up the old marble steps to reach one of the terraces open for the public. Oh it was a glorious sight to behold looking out at the roof tops of Milan with the intricate carvings of the church in our foreground. We felt close-er to the sun – and it was hot. The sun seemed to reflect off the marble and bake you. I liked the feeling – Obi scuttled around for the shade of which there was plenty. On the top we had space to roam around and look through various openings at the spires and hundreds of sculpted figures. The terrace path also led visitors to the actual roof of the main building which was designed to be walked around on. Here we had an even grander view of the sites. Like many of these elaborate churches part of the building was hidden behind scaffolding. Either for repairs or cleaning it was hard to tell. Despite the metal braces – it was possible to really take in the skills of the craftsmanship and vision of the architects to build this impressive place of worship. We made our way down into the church – but given that I had shorts on – I needed to buy a paper “gown” type poncho to cover my knees. The gown ended just above my knees but it’s what they required so myself, along with many other women adored such a garment as we strolled through the inside.

When Obi and I visited the Gallerie d’Italia yesterday we took photographs of two paintings (of the same view) from inside the church. With the explicit goal of re-creating the photo when we were inside the church. So, after appreciating the largest stained glass windows I have ever seen(!) and reading about Saint Agatha we started identify exactly where the artist stood hundreds of years ago for his painting. Before I go on, Saint Agatha has a very interesting story, she is is a woman best known for her refusal to marry a Roman prefect and unbounding faith in Jesus Christ. As a result, she was ultimately imprisoned (by the man she refused to marry) and tortured. Her breasts were cut off or pulled of by tongs – variations in the versions of her story exist. She is often depicted holding a plate with her breasts. Today she is well know as the patron saint for breast cancer patients. Back to the art work…looking so closely at the painting and then trying to identify the exact location and features in the church was a fulfilling way to examine the space with a close eye. We eventually noticed the fine details of the large columns and matched them with the columns down the center aisle. And, what appeared to us in the painting as a tapestry slung over a post or cross was in fact the main alter at the time of the paintings. We matched the light from the right, and the circular stained glass window deep in the far-ground of the painting. We had our spot! It was hard to get the same angle – and it’s clear the artists interpretation of the space is different than our picture – but the main features, directionality and positioning match. See below for the results.

After being art detectives we ventures across the square towards the museum and picked up the free audio guide. This was helpful as it finally gave us some context and information about the many aspects of the church – one was the discussion we had as to what material was used to build the church. Obi said marble but I was less sure given how soft marble can be. Sure enough – everything is in fact made from pink-hued white marble! We explored six-winged angles and learned about the many competitions artists took part in to compete for the honor of making and crafting some of the main features of the church like the wooden doors or the entrance angles with Mary to guard and protect the church. The museum actually houses many of the original pieces from the church and what you see on the church are actually replicas – this is done to protect and preserve their history.

Given we had gotten recommendations for meals the past few nights we felt like we needed to speak with a local to get a sense of a good pizzeria to enjoy our last supper. We were in the Lacoste store looking for something for Obi and decided to ask the sales person. He recommended a spot not on the main tourist strip but close by. We decided to give it a try – while the atmosphere was very pleasant we were not impressed with the slightly undercooked and way too greasy cheesy pizza. Hahaha – we laughed about it – and of course, ended the night with one more cone (for me) and cup (for Obi) of gelato. We also tried to guess how many tons of gelato are sold in one day in Italy during the summer. My rough estimate were five tons – what would you say?

This was, yet another lovely trip – with my now husband:) Our first trip as a married couple.

I will end my blogging with a final short story.

On May 23rd, my sister Alexandria had brain surgery – a Deep Brian Stimulator was implanted in her brain to help prevent her seizures. What we thought would be a few weeks recovery ended up being a two month harrowing experience of seeing her health is such a fragile place for a very long time. I was so full of worry and pain seeing her suffering. But, as we have always said about my sister – she is the most strongest and bravest in our family. With her family at her side every step of the way – she has made a most miraculous recovery. Today she is stronger, healthier and more vibrant, alert and engaged than I have seen her in the past three to four years. I can hardly believe my eyes. My heart is singing. I am still shaken from the experience but feel so grateful for her and her strength. When we were younger and my father would take us to the Greek Orthodox church he would pay a few dollars so that we could each light a candle. I never knew who I was lighting a candle for, but I remember enjoying the act and feeling a sense of calm knowing I left a piece of light in my absence. So today, before leaving the church – I paid a few Euro and lit a candle, for my sister.

Thank you for reading. With love. Till our next adventure…our honeymoon to Antarctica.