Hat Hating God (Day 03 Adriatic Sea Expedition, Milan) 1 May 2015 PART ONE

Trying to kick the jet lag, we woke four hours after we went to sleep: 7am. We packed most of our gear the night before so after a quick shower and some last minute packing, we left our bags at the front desk, checked out of the hotel and jumped on the Metro for the Duomo. We were second in the queue to get our tickets to the terrace or roof of the Cathedral. Vân and I decided to walk the 200+ steps to the roof… or I should say I decided and Vân agreed to come along. My inspiration wasn’t the €7 fee compared to the €12 admission, no… It’s the beer belly I’m trying to walk off. Plus, when do you get to climb a narrow, stone staircase that was built six hundred years ago?

The Duomo was pretty incredible. HUGE in all caps is still is not large enough to explain how big the interior of this place is. With a capacity of 40,000, it can fit a fully attended Fenway Park baseball crowd. It's 135 spires are pretty incredible to see and the flying buttresses are impressive. 

They have a marble carved statue of Saint Bartholomew. I wouldn’t want to be old Bartholomew, at least not when they skinned him alive. Well, that is one of the stories of his demise. I wouldn’t want any of them actually. One story speaks of him being kidnapped, beaten unconscious, and cast into the sea to drown. Another account states that he was crucified upside down. The most popular story seems to be this skinned alive thing which often ends with his beheading. Makes Game of Thrones seem pretty tame. 

Things I have learned about Milan and it’s people:

1. Milan has an extremely large amount of book stores.
2. Everywhere that advertises “free internet” then tells us it is coming tomorrow or is broken.
3. Everyone smokes cigarettes, and then some.
4. Pizza doesn’t always come with cheese
5. Pizza doesn’t always come pre-sliced but it will come with a very dull knife.
6. God does NOT like men wearing hats in his big cathedrals. Women… not a problem. Men yelling at the man wearing his cap in the large cathedral, that is okay with God. Peculiar one, that supreme being.