Friday, February 1, 2019
As promised by the local weathermen, I awoke to find about . . .
. . . a foot of new powder snow
on the ground
It was a Winter Wonderland!
It was beautiful to view but a bit hard to get around in on foot.
We had more snow in the area immediately around the Villa Skorpion II area as we reside in Varese's highest elevations.
There was decidedly less snow down in Varese's historic, old downtown area.
I boarded the train to Milano as I had a yearning to go sightseeing.
The Duomo was as majestic as ever
In Milano there was no sight of snow but we did have a light drizzle.
As a result, I used the Metro as much as possible to get around as opposed to my usual forced field marching technique to again visit this incredible city.
"What costs more Oscar Wilde
or 1 kilo of mushrooms?"
Heck if I know?
The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele's
wondrous dome
Dressed for the weather conditions
A thick hot chocolate here
REALLY hit the spot!
This bar, Il Camparino, at the Duomo side entrance to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele was recommended highly by my book Italy for the Gourmet Traveler.
I ordered my hot chocolate
at Il Camparino's full bar
You can see me if you look hard enough, it's my tribute to Alfred Hitchcock films.
Of course, Campari is a huge
part of this bar's history
Another view of the Galleria
after my hot chocolate stop
Our son Andrew has a tie
shop in the Galleria?
These ties looked good but . . .
. . . the bow tie selection was
OUTSTANDING!
I love Milano's old school trams
That is the La Scala Opera House behind the tram, it is my next stop.
Leonardo da Vinci statue in the
piazza accross from La Scala
I had decided to visit La Scala's Museum
A 33% Senior Citizen discount made sense to me.
Great theater posters as
we climbed the stairs
This one of Giacomo Puccini's capolavoro.
Giuseppe Verdi's Masterpiece
The museum visit starts in this
well appointed hallway
Dashing!
Ah, it's the great composer
Arturo Toscanini
A special treat!
We were allowed to listen to the full orchestra and the performers practicing for Saturday night's performance of the Verdi's opera La Traviata.
They were good!
Famed Conductor
Victor de Sabata
Nicely shaped cranium.
Not sure who Giordano was
He looks like a run stuffing defensive tackle for the Milano Seamen to me.
The great Giacomo Puccini
Unknown, pensive subject
Some classic musical instruments
Operatic costumes
Love that beard
Opera singer Maria Malibran
Incredible detail on this bust to say the least.
Maestro Giuseppe Verdi
"It's not over until the fat lady sings!"
What did you expect, her name is Giuditta Pasta after all.
Enrico!
Thought to be the greatest Italian tenor of the early 20th-century.
I did not buy anything in the gift shop
but there were lots of options
The Versace shop in the Galleria
is always tempting, but no
Not wanting to spend more time in the inclement weather, I decided to head home for the relative comfort of the Villa Skorpion II to curl up and read a good book.
Speaking of which . . .
Reading Is FUNdamental!
Nothing like a good crime yarn set
in Florence that includes the Mafia,
drug running and the Masons
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