Milan

The hotel we are staying in is not that flash. It appears at long last we have the best room, our air conditioning works, our fridge gets the beers cold, we have a shower rose that almost works! The room is spacious enough, but the decor is drab. The bathroom is clean but tile grout does not look good and makes the room feel grotty. If this is the best room imagine what the others are like. The one saving grace is it’s location, 200 metres from The Duomo. In addition we only have to spend one more night here.
The day is warm, crowded and noisy. We head off at 10 and wander around the plaza until it is time for our Duomo tour at 11. Our guide gives us the history of the Cathedral explaining it took nearly 600 years to complete only being completed in 1965! It is an impressive sight. The tour starts off in the Cathedral which is vast but not spacious. There are 52 pillars holding up the structure, one for each week. It is made of marble including the floors and over 3000 statues. We also go to the area below the Cathedral where the original church and baptistery were. Originally there were two churches and a baptristy in the plaza, but in 1386 archbishop Antonio da Saluzzo decided to build the Cathedral. In the 60s Milan was building subways and they came across remnants of the old church and baptistery. However at that time they were not interested in protecting such history and only a small part was preserved.
We then proceeded to the terraces. We took a lift to the roof and walked around the terrace. We were greeted with spectacular views.  By the time we had finished it was 1.30 and it was getting hot. We headed back to the hotel to have lunch and a cold beer. After lunch and a rest we headed off to The Duomo museum. A significant number of the statues on the Cathedral are replicas, with the originals being held in the museum, including those that were damaged during the war. There were hundreds of them, large and small, including scale wooden models of the Cathedral. After the museum we walk around the shops, but it is hot and crowded. We will meet up for beer at 5pm.
We finish off our beers and then head out for our last meal in Milan. I will not say any more about that meal!
Tomorrow we start our journey home.