Milano

Here I am, catching up on all of our travels from last summer (still).  Working our way back up to Holland, we spent a quick day in Milan before heading to Lake Como.  By this point in our 3 week summer bonanza, we were all pretty spent and kind of relieved that there weren't too many sites to see in Milan.  We split our time between the cathedral, the ornate cemetery, and of course shopping and people watching in this most fashionable city.

The Duomo - another huge one...

 The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II - named for the first King of the kingdom of Italy, this mall housed some pretty luxurious shops.  Window shopping was a must.

On the floor near the center of the galleria is a bull.  Legend has it that if you put your right heel on the bull's (ahem) man-parts and spin, you will have good luck.  People do this SO much that there is actually a hole worn into the ground (poor guy).  Here's K giving it a try and I must say she is having an exceptionally lucky year...

Just outside the galleria, we sang at the opera...

And spotted the one and only Magnum store I have ever seen.  We stepped inside this magical world, where workers hand dipped ice cream bars in your choice of chocolates and caramels, then topped them with a variety of toppings of your choosing.

People were cranky, and I didn't really want to pay for each of them to indulge in the overpriced goodness, and it didn't seem right to only get one for myself and eat it front of everyone while they all watched.  So we passed.  But I have vowed multiple times that if I ever stumble upon one of these mysterious Magnum stores again, I will pay whatever they ask to create my own hand dipped goodness.

I mentioned the crankiness.  Well, to be fair, by the time we got to the cemetery it wasn't just the kids who were cranky.  My attitude might have had something to do with passing on my one and only chance to have a hand dipped magnum bar, OR it might have just been the sheer exhaustion getting to me by that point, but we pulled into the cemetery and every single one of us wanted to wait in the car but Ryan.  Ryan couldn't pass up the chance to do some more site seeing (surprise, surprise).  Instead, the little people sat back and watched DVDs, while my mom and I sat back and people watched in the parking lot.  And the future tour guide took these photos...

 Apparently the cemetery was pretty amazing, but I enjoyed my break and was fine with looking at the pictures.  We were all powered up and in good spirits to soak up every minute of the next day at Lake Como.