Travels in Italy or Milan, Part 2

I started my travelogue of my trip to Italy with this post. I promised that I would blog again about that amazing trip and so now I have Part 2 of my time in Milan.

One important piece of information that we learned about Italy before we left was the dress code in regard to entering churches. The Italians are formal and require that shoulders and knees be covered.

I went shopping prior to this trip to make sure that I had quick drying shorts that were long enough in the leg to cover my knees and likewise a nice travel friendly top that covered my shoulders. I was planning on visiting St. Peter's Basilica during my time in Rome and did not want to be turned away due to "immodest" dress.

We arrived in Milan after a long flight from Boston and were feeling a bit exhausted/excited. After checking into our hotel, we took showers to help us feel refreshed and changed our clothes from the ones we had worn on the airplane. I expected that we might visit the Duomo that afternoon, so I wore my appropriate long shorts and capped sleeve shirt. My husband's shorts were almost knee length, but we shared the opinion that middle-aged men's knees were not seen as being scandalous as much as women's knees.

Once we finished our lunch, toured the Teatro Alla Scala, and walked through the Gallerie Vittorio Emanuele II we were ready to visit the Duomo.


Here is a picture of that amazing cathedral.




A golden statue of Saint Mary adorns the top of the Duomo.



My husband had a brand new camera and was busily snapping various pictures. I assumed that he would have taken all the same ones I would have. Wrong. He only took one photo of the Duomo to get a sense of its grandeur.

It is a shame that he did not take any photos of the piazza in front which was a major gathering spot of hundreds if not thousands of people. There was a vibrancy being among people who were there enjoying the sunshine and each others' company.

He took pictures when I asked him to and here are some horse statues nearby the Duomo and have a strange modern art sensibility to them.


I thought it looked like a pile of salt that the black horses were struggling to emerge from or risk drowning. And then well, there is one horse that seems to be having difficulty of a different nature.

I have a new editing tool and discovered how I can add captions. This opens up new vistas of blogging for me. Who knows what mischief I will wreak?

Scott took several photos of the carvings on the front of the Duomo. This one reminds me of Sonoma County in harvest time, however we don't have grape clusters anywhere near this size.


Here are a few others with Medievalist aspects to them such as a priest riding with a contingent of armed foot soldiers.



And here a king is being thrown to the ground as his horse is wounded.

Could one of my Medievalist friends who reads Latin interpret the wording surrounding this panel. I see the word "sex" near the king's elbow and would like to know what it means in context and translation.


We did not have difficulty getting into the cathedral, but we did have our bags searched before we were allowed inside. I believe we might have been denied entrance had my knees and shoulders not been covered.

Here you can get an idea of how large the cathedral really is. I have seen conflicting reports as to the ranking of the Duomo di Milano in relation to other cathedrals, so I will just say that it is quite large and impressive both inside and out.



Next comes a statue of Saint Bartholomew who according to one legend was flayed alive.

Yikes.

His statue is shown with defined musculature and draped with his own skin.


I will leave you with an image of an eagle in the stained glass. Eagles are the symbol for my hero Ruggiero, so I have gotten into the habit of snapping pictures of eagles whenever I see them. (Or asking my husband to be sure to take one for me.)



The Duomo also allows for tours of its rooftop so that people can get a view of additional spires and statues that adorn the top of the cathedral as well as an incredible bird's eye view of the city. Alas, we ran out of time and never had the chance to take that tour. Tickets are sold at a building a block away from the cathedral.

After all of that, we headed back to our hotel and went to bed early hoping that we would be able to sleep off our jet lag and be adjusted to Italian time.






http://lcmccabe.blogspot.com/2011/10/travels-in-italy-or-milan-part-2.html

Washington National Cathedral damaged by recent earthquake

Since my last post about the 800th anniversary of the Reims Cathedrale in France, a large 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck Virginia and among the structures damaged was the Washington National Cathedral.

My friend Jeff Sypeck lives in Washington, D.C. and he regularly posts pictures on his blog taken from the cathedral. Jeff specializes in showing pictures of gargoyles and pairing them with poems. Last week one of his blog posts discussed the damage to the cathedral and included a link to a fundraising plea to help repair the damages caused by the quake.

Last summer my family visited Washington, D.C. and we were fortunate to spend an hour in that magnificent church. In trying to help raise awareness of the the cathedral's need to raise funds, I decided I should share a few of the pictures I took with my blog readers. I enjoy gargoyles and statues, but after being in many cathedrals during my travels, I have found that my eye is drawn more to stained glass and the colors created within the churches.

Here is one where my flash was employed.


It is nice, but I discovered that stained glass windows look more dramatic when you turn the flash off.




I also like seeing the light as it is observed at an angle.



This next photo was taken in the early afternoon and I love that one stained glass window projects a ray of intense scarlet light in the middle of the nave.



This link shows the damage suffered by the earthquake, and also includes how you can help. The cost is expected to be in the millions, and every donation of any amount will help.

After visiting the cathedral, my family was fortunate to be able to meet and have a delightful dinner with Jeff Sypeck. I had corresponded by email with Jeff for several years about Charlemagne and medievalism, writing, etc., and it was nice to be able to finally meet him.


If you can, please try to help out one of my favorite medievalists whose favorite local medievalist site needs help.

Thanks,

Linda

Reims Cathedrale Light Spectacle, until October 23rd

I thought it might be nice to start off with an eye-catching photo to help grab your attention.

I apologize for the hiatus in blogging, but try as I might to emulate my friends who can blog while they are traveling, I am not able to do so. Not even when I have wifi access and a portable keyboard.

That comes from being generally exhausted at the end of the day.

I have a lot of material for my blog about my travels to Milan and Rome in June as well as my trip in July and early August in France, Belgium and Aachen, Germany.

My first post about my trip to France is about the spectacle in Reims to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the cathedral. I wanted to share this with my readers while there is still the opportunity for people to see it. I do not know if they will ever show this spectacle again once it is over. It would be a shame if they did not, but I did not hear plans of their doing it again next year.

Reims has an amazing light show using high power projecters on the northern façade of the cathedral. These are not mere beautiful lights on the outside of a building, these are images specifically designed for this particular building and all of its numerous sculptures.

The show premiered on May 6th, on the same day that the cathedral's building began 800 years ago. My husband and I saw it on Saturday, July 30th at eleven o'clock at night. We were there along with thousands of people patiently waiting on the street for the event to begin.

Here is the unadorned cathedral at night.


It is beautiful, but nothing like we were soon to witness. As soon as all the lights of the street and surrounding areas were extinguished, the crowd's sense of anticipation grew. We were not disappointed.


After dazzling us with the side of the cathedral all alight with color, the show shifted to re-enacting its construction. This began with bright white architectural lines appearing on the darkened surface.

Then came the scaffolding and the workers. We could even see the workers as they walked along the wood scaffolds and wielded hammers.

Then this scene transformed into modern dance on the side of the cathedral where generations of French kings were coronated.

Here are links to the official website for the cathedrale and the office of tourism. The last showing will be Sunday, October 23rd and please note that it is not shown every night of the week. If you are interested in seeing it in person, I recommend contacting the tourist office ahead of time with the your travel dates in mind to make sure that they will be airing this spectacle that night. There is some contradictory information on the different webpages on the remaining show dates and I would hate for someone to travel thousands of miles and be disappointed.

Here is the face of the smiling angel which has become an iconic symbol of the city of Reims.

I also wanted to share with you a portion of the show that I recorded with my hand held camera, sans tripod, in the midst of a crowd of thousands. I thought my blog readers might like to see the sequence from drawing board to construction.

Enjoy and please let me know if anyone else has seen this show or if I have inspired anyone to make travel plans.

Linda