We finished up at Skocjan in the mid afternoon, found our way back to the border and had an early dinner, still exhilarated by the cave, but warmed by another visit to Porky's of Skovina. With plenty of light remaining, we resolved to proceed on, into Italy, and as far toward our next destination, Milan, as we could get. Navigational as well as traffic difficulties found us only as far as La Sicilia, a suburb of Treviso, where we spent the night in a secluded sosta next to a big family restaurant. (Pleasant memories of Treviso, our base for Venetian explorations in a previous year). Back on the road early in the morning, a world-class traffic jam persuaded us to stick to the tollways all the way to Milan. The tollways vary widely in cost, but: a) there is little merging, the principal cause of traffic jams in Italy, b) you can go fairly fast (for us however, only 100kph, tops), and c) there are fewer trucks, which slow everything down. The continent-wide speed limit for heavy trucks is 90kph—54mph--and from the almost universal compliance one observes, it is very strictly enforced, with catastrophic consequences for non-compliance.
Our previous visit to Milan was just a day, mostly because we could not find overnight parking or a campground within reasonable distance of the city center. Fortunately, you can do a lot of Milan in a day. This time, however, Vicki had located a highly regarded sosta fairly close in. We arrived in early afternoon, and, after being told the place was full, the sosta maestro let us in. A bit of a joker, I thought. Anyhow, we settled in, I went for a couple walks in the burbs, and we planned a two day visit to Italy's second city...its financial/communications/political/fashion capital. As they say, for every church in Rome, there is a bank in Milan. It was a great two days, starting with the big piazza at the center of the city, the site of Milan's famous over-the-top Flamboyant Gothic cathedral.
 |
Waiting in line to get in after one of the more convoluted
ticketing processes yet |
 |
The Disneyfication of everything: you can skip the line by pulling a fast pass, or
fast track, as they call it here; come to think of it, however, the Catholic church
may have invented the fast pass, way back in late Medieval times: indulgences,
so called, were your fast pass through Purgatory...look it up |
 |
| Inside, at the west big door, two huge one piece marble columns |
 |
View from stern forward; nave and four side aisles, truly a huge church, fifth
largest in Christendom |
 |
"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine..." up high over the altar, signifies
where they keep the relic (a True Nail from the True Cross) on special days |
 |
| Under new Vatican regulations, He only works with a net nowadays |
 |
Register showing the names of all the Milan Bishops, going back to way back
when; don't laugh, it was the Council of Milan that de-criminalized Christianity
in the early 4th century |
 |
| Some of the windows are indeed old |
 |
| The Ark, Cain bonking Abel, other recognizable scenes |
 |
| This is the one really old one, like 14th century |
 |
| Annunciation |
 |
Interesting Calvary; the two thieves appear merely roped up, writhing and
wriggling; Jesus definitely nailed down; important for the True Nail thing |
 |
| Altar, apse, etc. |
 |
| Vaulting in the nave |
 |
| St. Bartholomew still all wrapped up in himself |
 |
| Huge 19th century windows in the apse; huge like one sees in the UK of GB |
 |
Outside: Milan is of course the most sculptured of all Christian buildings: 3400
statues, 135 gargoyles, and 700 other figures; give or take |
 |
| Alas, most are so high up there you can barely seem them |
 |
| But He can see them |
 |
| The bronze doors are pretty wondrous |
 |
Milan also has the most prohibitions of any church in
Christendom |
 |
Not one of the classic (12th-13th century) Gothics, but certainly one of the great
cathedrals |
