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So despite there not really being a whole lot to do in Milan, I found myself there again. Not only that, but for some reason I ended up spending about 5 nights. I only came back here to do 2 things. One was see the Last Supper the other was to go up the roof of the cathedral. Why then did I end up staying for so many nights? I don't think I can actually remember now. I think I was just chilling, and updating my blog a bit too.
I had only originally booked 2 nights in a hostel, which turned out to be one of the worst I've stayed in. It wasn't dirty or anything, but it was huge and empty and felt more like a hotel than a hostel. No atmosphere at all. So after that I booked a few more nights in a different one not much further away which turned out to be a lot better.
I can't remember details about what days I did what etc, but I guess it doesn't really matter. When I saw the Last Supper they would only let you in in groups of about 20 at a time, which is why you had to book so far in advance. Then they ushered you through a few air locks (they're trying to preserve it) and then you had 15 minutes to look at it before being asked to leave.
Probably the first thing I noticed is simply the size. It's not a painting, it's a fresco which takes up an entire wall. The second thing was the horrible condition it is in. Very faded and cracked. They had a bunch of info about it on the wall back in the waiting area which I read. Apparently Leonardo used a different technique than normal for frescos which allowed him to take a lot more time. It did however result in the painting started to degrade only about 5 years after he finished it. That combined with the fact that the church was bombed in WW2 and that it's like 500 years old had meant that it's not in good shape at all. It's quite amazing that it's still even there. Definitely worth seeing.
The other thing I came to do was go up on the roof of the cathedral because I had forgotten that we could last time and by the time I had remembered it was too late. Turns out it wasn't really worth it anyway. However it was nice to back inside the cathedral especially now have seeing St Peter's in the Vatican. Still gotta say the one in Milan is my favourite, it's just so awesome looking especially on the inside.
There was a free to use computer in the new hostel I was staying at so I used that to update my blog a but (couldn't upload photos though due to no SD slot) and was while using this that I brought up my Google Map with all my pins and realised I had one in Lake Como. Turns out that's not far from Milan. So I started planning a day trip. I found a website with things to do, which transport to take and when etc. So the next day that was my plan.
Turns out I didn't really follow the plan at all. For one the plan required getting up way too early so I could a slightly later train, which meant then catching slightly later ferries etc when there. And then of course I missed a ferry so decided to hike to a nearby castle while waiting for the next only to then miss that one by 5 minutes. In the end I spent most of the day just in one small lakeside town. It was late at night by the time I even made the city of Como itself, which is just had dinner at and then caught the train back to Milan. It was a really nice day though.
Then I caught a train to Venice. Somewhere I had been really quite looking forward to seeing. I had managed to book a hostel right on the main islands called The Venice Fish which seemed to be something most people I had met who had come from there hadn't managed to do and had to stay on the mainland and catch the train over each day.
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