Once-in-a-lifetime experience

This is the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci is inside of this beautiful church. The church of Santa Maria delle Grazie is listed in UNESCO World Heritage Site. The architecture of Santa Maria delle Grazie is one of the must-sees of Milan. The large mural painting is on the wall of the dining hall, but you can't get in and out you need a ticket for the Last Supper. For me, seeing the Last Supper was once-in-a-lifetime experience and it was the highlight of my time in Milan.

A quarter century is such a long time

The photo shows my breakfast which I had at my hotel in Milan, Italy. I might mentioned somewhere in this blog, but I say again, I'm a big fan of Italian cuisine for over a quarter century. I really love pasta and risotto, but not only pasta or risotto, I love many more Italian cuisine. When I was in Italy, I was always thinking about food, and I was like "what will I be eating for lunch today and where?", "what will I be eating for dinner tonight and where?", and it was so much fun to think about it, and actually had them.

You can't have your cake and eat it, too.

The photo shows the Piccolo Teatro della Città di Milano in Milan, Italy. The Piccolo Teatro della Città di Milano a.k.a. Piccolo Teatro is the first theatre in Italy. I couldn't afford to go inside, but at least could take this photo from outside. The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci took priority over everything else on that day in Milan, Italy. Time and money are always limited. In the case of the Last Supper by Leonardo da vinci, time and money plus tickets are limited. I just followed first things first method. You can't have your cake and eat it, too.

It was built in the heart of Milan, Italy

The photo shows inside of one of the world's oldest shopping malls in Milan, Italy. Its name is the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, and is located right next to Milan Cathedral. The architecture of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is extremely ornate and looked marvelous from every perspective. The photo shows a view of a barrel-vaulted ceiling and picturesque walls. I was standing in awe seeing the gorgeous architecture. I've read that the mall was completed in the late 19-th century. That is why the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is known as one of the world's oldest shopping malls.

Viewing Brunelleschi's dome from Piazzale Michelangelo

The photo shows beautiful landscape of Florence Italy. While I was overlooking the historical city from Piazzale Michelangelo, I took this photo. Piazzale Michelangelo is a square on a hill, so you can view the city from above and you can see a replica of Michelangelo's David as well. From there, you can take some photos of Florence Cathedral (a.k.a. Brunelleschi's dome) like this. My Italian acquaintance has told me a story that when Michelangelo went to Rome to design St. Peter's Basilica, Michelangelo said that he would build a bigger dome than Brunelleschi's dome, but it would not be more beautiful than that. My acquaintance is from Florence, and he loves to tell stories relative to his home town.

The road to Santa Maria delle Grazie

I took this photo in Milan, Italy when I was walking toward Santa Maria delle Grazie. Santa Maria delle Grazie is the world-famous church in Milan and is listed in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list. One of the inside walls of Santa Maria delle Grazie has the huge mural art of the Last Supper which was drawn in late 15th-century by Leonardo da Vinci. That is why the church is included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list. The mural art of the Last Supper is huge, I might be able to say it was nearly 10 meters wide, and of course it can't move to somewhere else. If you wanna see it, you have to go to Santa Maria delle Grazie.

Penne Pesto Alla Genovese

The photo shows Penne Pesto Alla Genovese which I had at a restaurant on Via Dante in the heart of Milan, Italy. The street is named after a famous Italian poet Dante Alighieri from Florence, and the street itself is a pedestrian street. There were so many places to eat along each side of Via Dante and some places were putting dining tables and chairs right on Via Dante. I had this Penne Pesto Alla Genovese at a table on Via Dante after visited Santa Maria della Grazie where the church contains the world-famous mural the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci.

Audacious explorer

I took this photo in Venice, Italy. There are two common different ways to explore around Venice as a tourist. Ride on Gondola or walk around the city on foot. I took this photo while I was walking around the city. I really enjoyed myself being in the picturesque movie-ish location in Venice. There was a place to eat that named Ristorante Marco Polo on the right hand side. That sounds really Venice, Italy doesn't it? Ristorante is Italian term of restaurant, and Marco Polo is an ancient audacious travel writer who was believed to be Venetian.

Venetian Glass Workshop

I took this photo at a Venetian Glass Workshop in Venice, Italy. When I went to visit the amazing workshop, a skillful Venetian Glass artist showed me how to create beautiful glass art. It was really an eye-opening experience to see that kind of work. What an artist. I loved to walk around the city of Venice itself, and I of course loved to having yummy Italian cuisine, but visiting a local craft's workshop was also an unforgettable experience. For a souvenir from Italy, I bought a beautiful Venetian Glass necklace. It took me a long time, but I finally chose blue-ish one.

It's more than 100 meters high

I took this photo in Milan, Italy by my iPad mini. The photo shows Duomo di Milano  (English: Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of St Mary of the Nativity or being simply called Milan Cathedral). It's a stunning Gothic Cathedral and is more than 100 meters high and 100 meters wide. It was a little too hard to take a photo of the whole building from the ground level, so this is just an example. When you look up the Gothic Cathedral from the square, the cathedral looks like this. Huge, isn't it? It was really a magnificent view.

Bresaola della Valtellina

The photo shows Bresaola della Valtellina which I had at a trattoria in Milan, Italy. Bresaola is cured raw beef from a valley named Valtellina in Northern Italy. A very good one. It was actually a lot more expensive than a glass of Birra Moretti and my main lunch Spaghetti Aglio e olio Peperoncino, but not to mention it was really really yummy. The Bresaola della Valtellina that I had in Milan, Italy already had very nice natural taste without, and I didn't need to use a lemon wedge. I don't know it was a traditional Italian style or not, but I had Bresaola without the lemon wedge and I was satisfied with its natural taste.

Excuse me, do you know where we are?

I took this photo at Milano Centrale (a.k.a. the main railway station of Milan) in Milan, Italy. I flew in to Milan-Malpensa Airport late at night and took a Malpensa Shuttle to Milano Centrale, but I didn't make time to walk around the station. I just caught a Metro Green Line from Central to Loreto and rushed toward my hotel next to Aspromonte Park. A few days later, I re-visited Milano Centrale. I was there as a total first-time traveler, but a group of tourists stopped me at the station and asked me if I knew how to get to their hotel. Milano Centrale is a huge station, so it seemed a little too hard to know their exact location on a map.

Movies shot in Venice reminds me of Venice

I took this photo in Venice, Italy while I was enjoying a gondola ride. I enjoyed to look up historical buildings from my gondola and took a lot of photos just like a lot of tourists do in Venice, Italy. I've watched some movies which were shot in Venice, Italy and Casino Royale 2006 is my favorite. I watched the movie many years later, but the movie reminded me of Venice quite a lot. A lot of Gondolas, a lot of tourists, a lot of locals, complicated narrow streets and the canals of Venice. Good times were killing me in Venice.

It's time for it, Milan Expo 2015.

I took this photo in Milan, Italy in January 2014. The flags were for Milan Expo 2015. There were so many national flags of so many countries in the heart of the city. to raise awareness for Milan Expo 2015. It was fun to watch. Before my trip to Italy, I was teetering between going to Rome or Milan. I've been to Rome once, but I really wanted to revisit the hectic Italian capital. Ended up, I chose Milan for the first time. One of my best parts of trip to Milan was Cenacolo Vinciano; the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. Definitely. Other than that, there were so many relative to delicious Italian cuisine.

Make a pit stop

I took this photo while I was traveling around Europe with contiki. That morning, our coach departed from Rome and headed for Venice via Maranello. I have only vague memories of pit stops, but according to the road sign, the coach was taking a pit stop at the Southern tip of Florence at that moment.  My fellow tour mates were mostly from Australia, and the others were from Canada, Ireland, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United States of America. My tour director was from South Africa and the driver was Italian.

So I'm frugal

I took this photo in Milan Cathedral (Italian: Duomo di Milano), Milan, Italy. I took stairs and went up to the roof of the cathedral. According to a price board at the bottom of the cathedral, the stairs had 250 steps and cost 7 EUR to take the stairs to the top. The list cost twice the price. Both sounded tempting, but normally I'm a bit of a frugal type of tourist, so I took stairs to the roof. It wasn't that hard to take 250 steps' stairs to the roof of MIlan Cathedral, it was rather enjoyable. After taking the stairs, I walked around the roof for a while and took many photos.

FF manhole cover in Milan, Italy

I took this photo when I was walking in a street in Milan, Italy. There were so many beautiful buildings and displays in the city, so normally I looked up those buildings and so on. When I looked down the street, I found out that a manhole cover was like the photo shows. It had FF FF FF FF FF FF FF ..... Well, I'm not sure the manhole cover was made by FENDI or not, but I was exactly in Milan, Italy and Milan is famous for fashion, so maybe. I took a photo of the manhole cover to jog my memory about one of those maybes.

Guzzle a glass of Birra Moretti at a trattoria, Milan

The photo shows my very first Birra Moretti in Milan, Italy. I've had this Italian beer outside of Italy quite a lot of times, but this one was my first glass of Moretti in Milan, Italy, so I took a photo of it for my memory. I decided to have a late lunch at a trattoria and ordered a plate of cured raw beef for an appetizer and Spaghetti Aglio e Olio e Peperoncino (English: Spaghetti with garlic, oil, and chillies) for a main dish. Before eating, I started to drink Birra Moretti and felt really happy that I could be in Milan, Italy.

Italian pay phones at the bottom of Milan Cathedral

I took this photo in Milan, Italy. There were International pay phones right under Milan Cathedral (Italian: Duomo di Milano). Things you can do in Milan, Italy are quite a lot, but I guess everybody put Milan Cathedral on their list. I felt the same way as everybody does, so I visited there more than once. Other than visitting Milan Cathedral and seeing the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci on the wall of Santa Maria delle Grazie, things I really wanted to do in Milan, Italy was eating. I wanted to eat a lot of yummy Italian Cuisine as much as possible and I did, but i still wanna do it again.

The sky finally cleared up

I took this photo in front of a Ferrari Store in Milan, Italy. I don't know much about cars, and I don't have a driver's license, but I knew how famous Ferrari was so I spent some time around the Ferrari Store and took some photos of the building and so on. It was the day before my departure, and was actually the first and the last sunny day during my stay. In the morning, I was teetering between taking a train from Milan Central Station and visit Turin as a day return trip or staying in Milan and revisit my favorite places under the sun. The weather was pretty perfect, so I decided to stay in Milan and revisit a lot of places. Ferarri Store was one of them.