A Day and a Half in Milan

After two weeks of back and forth deciding whether to create a show based on Milan or the Amalfi Coast, I suddenly gave in to my initial desire to do Milan and thus show # 141 was born. Taking only a few days to put together, here is a 30 minute retrospective of the tour I planned for myself aboard a train to Milan during one of my between marriages solo trips to Italy. This occurred in 2002 and wound up spontaneously being the result of an imminent rail stroke which threatened to mess up my travel plans. In one of my very few impromptu decisions traveling around Italy, I scrapped a night in Venice and a side trip to Verona in favor of a lot of extra time in Milan. Since I had very little knowledge of Milan, I kept my itinerary simple and contained to one small area of Milan and had an amazing tour of some of the greatest sights in Milan including the Ambrosiana Pinacoteca, Leonardo's Last Supper, Castello Sforzesco for the amazing final sculpture created by Michelangelo just before his death in 1564, the Brera Museum, the unheralded but spectacular Palazzo Poldi Pezzoli, La Scala, arguably the most famous opera house in the world, the Cathedral of Milan, Galleria Emanuele, one of the oldest indoor shopping areas in the world, and Piazza del Duomo one of the most exciting places in Italy. I served the dual purpose of describing some outstanding sights to see in Milan and also reliving one of my favorite times in Italy during my 7th trip total and last solo trip to Italy in the summer of 2002. I interspersed photos Laura and I had taken during subsequent visits to Milan and internet material to enhance the presentation.

I found the production of this show to be very concisely organized and executed. It swiftly moves from topic to topic in a very efficient manner, in many ways more hurried than any show I have produced recently. When I watched it at the conclusion of the process, I was surprised at how efficient it turned out to be and also how short it was, just under 30 minutes, again one of the shortest of my recent creations since I have been doing the work at home using IMovie. However, I was very satisfied. I am not generally given to brevity, as you well know, but somehow felt compelled to be that way once to see how it went. You can be the judge of that, but in the final analysis I was quite content to view the finished product.

Now that I have completed that and am in the process of uploading to Youtube as I type, I will begin the show on the Amalfi Coast. Speaking of spectacular things to see, this region of Italy is chock full of amazing things to see and do, all within a small area of the region known as Campania. I have three weeks before I embark upon my 25th trip Italy. This is a well planned trip which I will not discuss (sticking to tradition of not discussing a trip before I take it), and will talk about more in June. For now I hope I can complete the Amalfi show # 142 before I leave.