10.4 -Tuesday Part II - Duomo Marathon

RUNNING THE DUOMO MARATHON… TWICE!

“Tell me you didn’t take that Café Cup?”

“Ok…’I didn’t take that café cup.’ “

“Then what’s that clanking in the camera case!”

“A Café Cup.”

“But you just said…”

“You told me to tell you I didn’t… so I told you…”

“You're impossible…”

“Hey… I told the guy at those prices I needed a souvenir of our last dinner in Milan, he shrugged and agreed.”

“You're still impossible!”

Yeah… Chucky is adding to his set of purloined Demitasse cups, a tradition that started during
NOWAT-ITALIA 2001..
But for now… back to the bus and our Tour of Milan.

First stop after looking left… then right as the bus crept past this church and that monument, was La Scala, the famous opera house of Milan which to this day hosts

some of the most renowned artist and productions.  We were treated to a walk through of the Grand Reception area outside the famous boxes that were once owned by the elite of Milan as well as the La Scala Theatre Museum which contains an extraordinary collection of paintings, drafts, statues, costumes, and other documents regarding La Scala's, and opera history in general. 

We’re were allowed, in groups of 4 to enter the boxes but not to take pics as there was a lighting test underway for the current Opera, Der Rosenkavalier, the elegant opera by Strauss.

Then it was a look at the exterior as we strolled to our next stop, the first indoor mall in the World, dedicated to Victor Emmanuelle II, the first king of unified Italy; a

Who’s – Who of high end retail shops, Prada, Gucci, Armani, Louis Vuitton, Dior and of course “McCafe. 

It was here we heard of the Milanese tradition of “Riding the Bull”, a shield of a Bull in the center of the mall, where hopeful Milanese place their left heel in a cup embedded in the shield, rotate clockwise 3 times to insure health, wealth and happiness, without having to work for it.  Our guide told of once, returning home after the theater and late dinner, finding a well dressed businessman, “Riding The Bull” at 3AM to avoid all the “bloody tourists”. [Guess who just had to Ride the Bull?] 

We emerge from the mall into the Piazza dei Duomo, we get our first real look at the Cathedral of Milan.  A magnificent structure started in 1389 and through fits and starts over the centuries, the last details of the cathedral were finished only in the 20th century: the last gate was inaugurated on January 6, 1965.

Entering the cathedral we are struck by its massiveness and grandeur as the delightful Lorella treats us to a running lecture on its construction, composition, and elaborate art as we walk through this truly incredible Duomo.  [see the link above for more details]

As we stroll along on the tour Chucky, who reverently has doffed his hat upon entering the cathedral, hangs it on his cell phone belt clip and starts to click away at the marvelous interior of this outstanding Gothic and neo-classical and multi-styled masterpiece.  We circle around behind the main alter and marvel at the elaborate “painted” and stained glass windows depicting most of the bibles great stories.

It Is somewhere between here and the side exhibit of the cathedral's progressive construction and renovation...

CHUCKY LOST HIS HAT!!!

Yep… it kept falling off the clip, he kept picking it up and as the group heads out the exit for the waiting bus… he realizes… NO HAT!!!  

Now what… the tour is almost at the exit and he starts what will be forever referred to as:

THE MILAN DUOMO 2k MARATHON!  

[Memorialized in the opening of Tuesday Part 1.]

“Uhhh Ohhh…  Dove Mio Cappello!”

In a sheer disbelief that he could be so stupid, Chucky starts to double back, running along the west side of the cathedral, searching the ground all the way back to the last turn:

Run… Run...Pant... Pant...

“Hai visto un cappello nero?” - “No signore”

Run… Run… Pant… Pant…

“Ho perso il mio cappello!” 
“No signore non l’ho viste lo.”

Run… Run… Pant… Pant…

“Nothing…lets go back…”
Pant…Pant… he is really too out of shape for this stuff...

Now he’s in a REAL panic… the tour is headed for the waiting bus, we can’t be late for the Last Supper visit as they only admit you in on a strict schedule, and he still cant find the hat.

He heads back again… it has to be here…

Nothing…. Now he runs further towards the exit…

Still nothing, but suddenly he runs into some fellow tour participants who realize what he’s looking for 

“Stai cercando il cappello? è lassù!" [Looking for your hat… its up thereà] pointing back thataway…

Back he goes…  this time all the way to the statue of  St Bartholomew the martyr that was Flayed [the most renowned work of art in the cathedral,
by Marco D'Agrate].


Still nothing….

Back towards the front, eyes on the floor...Nothing.

Now its back again, this time as far the stained glass array behind the alter… still nothing. 

Utterly dejected he realizes its time to head back to catch the bus… the hat is gone [Look on the bright side... another excuse to return to Florence for a replacement] and he starts the looonnnggg painful gallop back to the front exit.  

“Damn this is a long way…”  Pant… Pant…

By now the rest of the tour is on the bus… but not Dragon Chic who is loyaly standing outside stressing and waiting for him.

“COMMON CHUCKY... The bus is leaving

Run… Run… Pant… Pant…

“Watch that Step!!!”

Sprinting across the Piazza that’s 2 football fields long, dodging tourists, pigeons and small children…

“I’m coming…Pant… Pant…”

“Hurry… they're closing the door…”

“Wait… Wait… Ahhhhh they see us!”

Just as the bus is about to pull away, they spot the frantic sprinting duo, open the doors to the applause of the other tourists and they settle into their seats panting heavily as the tour is off to the next stop… Castello Sforzseco.

We'll have to finish today, and the most spectacular visit to the Last Supper in the last and final episode in Milan before we're Homeward bound.

Ciao 4 Now

Uncle Chuck & The totally out of breath from the sprint,  Dragon Lady

Now Guzzling Fine Wine, nibbling Sharp Cheese & Crusty Bread