Last night we explored the M1 Metro access and ticket buying, so we were ready for an early start to try and get a look at The Last Supper. We got up at 6am, packed, had breakfast, descended to the Metro and arrived at the Santa Maria de Grazie church by 7:20.
The church was open so we went in and admired the beautiful frescoes and statues in large alcoves down both sides. There were people coming in to light candles and pray, so the atmosphere was inspiring. A sign made it clear that this church did not in fact own the Last Supper and it was located in a museum next door. We checked the museum which had a notice telling us it would be open at 8am, BUT admission was only by reserved tickets available on the internet or by joining a tour group. Thirty people were allowed in each 15 minutes.
The fresco was in the hands of UNESCO, which is how it should be, don't you think?
There was a reproduction on the wall of a booth nearby which allowed us to ponder whether Mary Magdalene was included in the group as some claim.
We gave up and caught the Metro back to our apartment. This is the block we were in, but as we were on the rooftop you cannot see our terrace windows.
Malcolm had a snooze and we left at 10:40 to drag our suitcases to our next train. We could see a most impressive building at the end of the street.
Finally we realised that this was Milan Central Station and that on Monday we had walked away from it in a little bit of a panic because we could not find the right street for our apartment and with our backs turned we did not appreciate its magnificence. As impressive as any station we have been to. As usual they kept the boarding platform a secret until the last few minutes so we joined the meercats watching the departures board for half an hour.
Our train cut through the mountains to the coast at Genoa, then followed the sea closely down the Cinque Terre coastal towns. It gave us our first ever views of the Mediterranean Sea and we watched people swimming and sun baking.
There were large crowds on the stations we passed which may be because (as we found out at La Spezia) there was a train staff strike yesterday. We had a bad impression of the Italian trains as there were a lot of tunnels and we were over halfway on our trip before a guard appeared and flicked a switch in a cupboard to light up the carriage.
We had a two hour wait for a bus to our flat (10km out of town), so we queued for a taxi and arrived quickly for 20 euros. Our host Daniele gave us every help he could to settle in to his wonderful, newly fitted out apartment.
This is a sample of the bathroom.
We are in an out of the way, little village with a restaurant across the road. We had a very nice country dinner there. The blackboard art was amazing.
There seem to be a lot of Australian people in the area and our first news of NSW winning State of Origin 2 came from overhearing a conversation in the corridor of the train. SMH online let Malcolm watch the Blues tries tonight.
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