Messages in a Bottle: Milan

I know I haven't posted in the past few days, but that's because there hadn't been much to write about. We pretty much just hung out in my grandparents' house and didn't do anything. We were supposed to go to Hyde Park, the Roosevelts' house, but that trip was canceled three times, once because my grandparents' 1989 Suburban broke down. Anyway, finally something happened the day before yesterday: we flew to Milan.

My grandfather drove us to JFK where we waited in a lot of lines and hung out and did nothing while we waited for our flight, which was delayed three hours. We finally got on and it was REALLY nice. We then had a nine hour flight to Istanbul on which I watched The Godfather I and II (SO GOOD!) and then a 2-hour layover in Istanbul the next morning. After that we took a 3-hour flight from Istanbul to Milan. Remember my Italian cousins Giulia and Ella? Well, that's where they live.

When we arrived in Milan we were exhausted and jet lagged. Somehow we managed to stumble onto two trains and walk to my cousins' apartment, weighed down by our heavy bags. That afternoon we took our cousins to their music lesson and then passed out.

This morning we woke up and my cousin Giulia had already left for school. We spent the morning doing our homeschool curriculum and then in the afternoon picked Giulia up from school early and headed for the Duomo.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with the topic, the Duomo is a cathedral in Milan that is amonst the largest in the world. (Different sources disagree on where it ranks but most sources seem to say 5th largest.) The entire thing took over 600 years to build, from 1396 to 1965. It started in the Gothic style, although the facade was begun in Baroque and then was finished in Neo Gothic. Gothic style uses intricate designs to make tons of rock look like light lace. The Duomo is a pretty spectacular example of European cathedrals. I've included some photos.