Hello! How’s your January going? As I’ve mentioned, January isn’t my favorite month at home. So to beat the blues, I like to plan a trip away. It gives me something to look forward to after the holidays. This year I’ve landed in Milan, Italy! It’s fabulous, of course. But for me, it’s the sun, blue sky and time with my husband that lifts my spirits. It’s been cold, but not too cold, and most days have been sunny, which has been so nice. What a difference it is between weekdays and weekends – there are hardly any crowds during the week!

For this post, I’m torn between focusing on Sforza Castle, the Duomo, and The Last Supper painting, all of which are amazing and worth exploring and seeing, and talking about ‘going for it’. I feel like this trip is about going out and enjoying life – the good food, the cannoli (my favorite), the coffee, the hot chocolate, the wine, the everything! I have so enjoyed seeing all of the sights, and learning about the history, and oh! the people watching! That is the best. I also discovered that I love seeing the furniture people used to use, long, long ago! And, I have enjoyed eating out as well as cooking in. I have eaten pasta every day since arriving, and that is 100% fine by me as it is my favorite food! I must break the pasta ‘streak’ with some local Milanese risotto, but I’ll probably still have pasta for lunch that day. 😉

I’m a ‘homebody’, as I love being at home. But once I do get out, it is so wonderful to explore, learn, and experience something new!

Just a few of my favorite shots, from the way too many pictures I’ve taken. I spent three hours at the Sforza Castle (Pictures from Sforza: top right, going down to bottom row and across to the left, as well as the center picture), and I still did not see everything in all of the different museums within! I was fascinated with the cabinets that have so many ornate drawers – those were my favorite to see. As for the art work, I will always lean towards a child’s sweet face and a still life of flowers and fruit.

Just a word of advice regarding The Last Supper: make sure you sign up well in advance to see it as they sell out quite quickly. Only small groups are allowed in at a time, and just for 15 minutes! Truly amazing that it was painted between 1495 – 1497. Fun facts: In Milan, since Leonardo da Vinci spent so much time here, they refer to him simply as ‘Leonardo’. He always took his time while painting, and therefore, for this mural, he did not use the conventional method which involves working quite quickly on wet plaster. For this reason, his method ended up deteriorating within just a few years of him completing it. Somehow, it has been restored and then corrected, and restored again a few times, and yet still looks amazing!

But truly, the best part is sharing the experience!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my sharing it with you!

In Peace,
Dana