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I spent the whole day today at Church.
Okay, so not like you're thinking of. I visited the Duomo today, along with a large throng of Italian relitives, clamoring to feed you and present you with age innapropriate gifts because they forgot how old you were.
I mean, I still love the barbie purse.
But as we climb up the ancient Cathedral that took from 1386 to 1813 to complete, I am very content. The newest addition to the family, Laura, holds tightly onto my hand, babbling happily away about the gattini (cat) that she saw on the step. As we go inside, it's dark and a bit dreary, but fascinating. There's a statue of St. Bartholomew by Marco D'Agrate, and altars designed by Pellegrino Pellegrini. And then we take the elevator up (not the stairs, because Laura is tired and dragging her Disney princess adorned shoes) to the top and look out. I feel infinite, as if I can see forever. And I can barely communicate with anyone here, besides simple sentences in Italian, and I don't understand any of the customs and I'm below the drinking age and I am completely and totally an outsider. And yet, I feel exactly like one of them. There are so many statues here, 3159, my uncle, Pierro tells me in broken English. His wife, Pierra, leans over and explains to me that there are 52 pillars here, one for each week of the year. Back at the home of another one of my aunts, Allesia, she tells me about what Italy was like during the 1300's. This, she explains to me, was the beginning of the Italian renaissance. This was a huge part of history where in art, literature, and music became very important. The rich were mostly the ones able to make music, literature, and art because of their access to better schooling and being able to take time off from working to do their craft. A lot of the work was religious, or paintings of important figures (sometimes governmental) and these works were often bought or sold for very high prices, which changed the economy of Italy greatly.
French Postcard:
Aujord-hui, je vais à une eglise. Je visite le Duomo dans Milan avec ma famille Italian. Nous mangeons dans un café. Je parle avec mes tauntes et mes oncles, et mes cousins. J'apprends un peu d'italien!
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