Milan (10/26)

The breakfast at our Hotel Zurigo (http://www.hotelzurigo.com/) made up for the spartan room accomodations and brusque treatment by the hotel staff. Just off the hotel lobby was a separate entrance to the coffee shop and guests could enjoy a free breakfast of pastries scrambled eggs meats and toasts. My family has developed a real love for yoghurt on this trip which I think has been a huge benefit. A serving of yoghurt with some muesli mixed in makes for a nice beginning to the day.

After breakfast we bundled up, snagged our umbrella (subsequently buying another one from one of the ten thousand Indian umbrella salesmen waiting in the cold and wet) and found the Duomo. It was even more staggering in the daylight then at night lit up from above and outside. There was some construction going around along the top of it so it did have a bit of scaffolding to disturb the view but it was still beautiful. We bought tickets for the tour and went inside for a nice reprieve from the cold and damp.

It was beautiful. Being the seat for the Italian Catholic archbishop and the third largest cathedral in the world tends to elevate a building's status. The church still held Mass at noon so we were fortunate enough to not miss some of that- but also fortunate enough to get there soon enough beforehand to visit the church unafraid of disturbing the participants. The kids were raring to explore so we let the three of them go off on their own to visit the interior while we rented an audio guide and made the rounds. A staggering monument to Gothic architecture it has well withstood the nearly 700 years in existence. (Construction began in 1386).

There are 52 pillars in the church each one corresponds to one week of the year. 

Sundial of the meridian that transverses the entire width of the Cathedral along the floor. The placement of this sundial and it's accuracy were used for centuries to regulate clocks in the city. There are signs of the zodiac present in intervals along the meridian. There is much consternation about this sundial and it's connection to the Illuminati. Seeing that the connection between Italian businesses and the Church made constructions such as the Duomo a possibility- it is an intriguing place to discover more about this pop culture phenomenon of the Illuminati.  (That and a Lil Wayne video which apparently portends the Aurora shootings if you listen to my teenager...but that is for another time.  ;)  )  Read Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" with a tall cold drink and a massive dose of supposition to learn more...

The Baptistry

The first of three Apse windows

Papal monuments and two of the three Apse windows which share stories from the Bible 

After touring Spanish and Italian cathedrals I remain stunned at the centuries of workmanship and labor that go into these monuments. And I am saddened by the realization the Church was an extremely wealthy industry that used most of the country's funds to build such huge monuments to itself. The Duomo in itself is a testament to a nation's indifference to an organized state religion, seeing as it remained unfinished for centuries due to lack of funding.  I found myself no closer in my relationship to God and no closer to a better understanding of who He is. This was for me where 'religion and relationship' abutted. I see these cathedrals and beautiful architectural monuments to design and workmanship, but not as testaments to the glory of a risen Lord or a loving relationship of a loving God. The majority of the monuments and sculptures were dedicated to saints and cardinals and wealthy businessmen. The majority of any Biblical reference were devoted to the stunning stained glass windows which you had to use 12x zoom on your camera to identify. 

....Saying that at one point the Duomo of Milan was at one time capable of holding all of its 40,000 city inhabitants within its walls. 

Renaissance-era paintings hung between the pillars to represent the life of a Saint. 

Marble floors

St Bartholomew. My favorite statue EVER. St Bartholomew was martyred for his faith and was apparently skinned alive. So yeah that's supposed to be his skin draped over his shoulders. A nice lesson in A&P for the med school student ;). 

The crypt in the basement. Gosh I wished I'd paid more attention to which Saint or which Cardinal this was. 

Silver death mask inside a multi-faceted window frame. 

Tomb of Marco Carelli. His dress tends me to believe he was some big Cardinal . But nope. He was just a  wealthy merchant. Thus the equation that the more you donated to the church for its monuments the prettier the death mask you get. 

Ashes to ashes dust to dust is not a Scriptural reference but rather antiquated church eulogy. You commit your loved one to the earth and to the deterioration of the body into dust (ash). Not sure the methods used to preserve Carelli's body. But we sure lost our appetite for chorizo sausage after this tour. So thankful this towards the close of our visit rather than at the beginning. Yet another reminder of the body as a shell, and that the soul is where our true selves reside. 

Monuments to the Virgin Mary

We left soon after the Mass service was begun. 

We chose not the pay the extra 12 and 7 euros each respectively to climb to the roof of the cathedral seeing as the rain had turned into a steady downpour so we left the Duomo soon after. We then went on to the Galleria but first had a little visit with the pigeons.