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| inside the Duomo |
Today Mo is feeling worse.
She tried to make an appointment with her family friend's friend, but they only speak Italian. I am not confident enough in my Italian to try
to explain everything, so I told her to go down to the front desk and to have
them call on her behalf. That worked
like a charm! She has an appointment set
for today at noon. I will accompany her.
But first, we have a Duomo to visit! Of course, it’s raining, haha!! The day that we have outside excursions it
rains. Okay, well, it didn’t rain
yesterday, so there’s that :o) We all,
except Mo, arrived at the Duomo and I gave a very quick history because it’s
raining. In we go!
They have a new policy which I like very much. At least I think it’s new. Maybe not….but if you’d like to take photos
inside the Duomo, you pay 2€ for the privilege.
I love this idea! They make some
money, but don’t charge admission. I am
very happy to pay such a small amount to get some of the photos that I did!
They are doing some restoration inside, so there were places
we weren’t able to go, like all the way behind the altar. There are some stunning stained glass windows
there and it was disappointing to not be able to go back. I’ve seen them before, but I wanted the
students to see them too.
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| St. Bartolomeo |
I updated the worksheets before we came over and I’m really
pleased I did. I had them do a lot more
detail than in years past and I added a little bit more to some/most of
them. There are some things in the Duomo
of great historical interest.
The first is one of my favorites: the statue of St. Bartholomew. He was flayed alive for not persecuting Christians
(he being one himself). He, apparently,
is also recognized in the Muslim faith, which I found interesting. It is a bold statue, very realistic, and very
moving. If you don’t know the story, you
see a man holding a drape around his shoulders and arms. But, when you realize that it’s his skin he’s
holding, the statue takes on a whole other depth. It beautifully eerie.
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| San Carlo's sarcophogus |
Today we were able to see the crypt of San Carlo
Borromeo. Sometimes it’s closed. It is just like San Ambrogio’s crypt. You can see his body laying in state. You cannot pray in front of it like you can
with San Ambrogio. There is a line, you
file through, you take some pictures and/or say a very quick prayer and then
move on. It’s very peaceful.
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| altar with red light above it |
Up on the main floor again, you look toward the back of the
altar on the domed ceiling. There you
see a red light. Allegedly, it holds one of the nails from the cross of
Christ. Call me cynical, but I have my
doubts. I don’t know how many churches
claim to have one. I’ll need to check. There were only three nails…..
After that, I went and bought the tickets to go up on the
roof. Even though it was raining a
little (it was slowing down), they still wanted to go up. I bought them tickets to walk up (everyone
should do it once) and Meg and her dad got tickets for the elevator. I had asked Mo’s roommate Megan if she would
stay with Mo while we were at the Duomo and she was happy to do so. She and Mo met up with us at the Duomo. Megan went up to the roof and off Mo & I
went to the oral surgeon.
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| pieta at a church in the afternoon |
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| Alessandro |
We arrived and everyone was so very nice!! I kept his information in case I never need
another oral surgeon. Here’s hoping I don’t!! He speaks perfect English and Mo was so relieved to be able to explain
what was wrong. Me too….my stolen phone
had a dictionary on it. My new phone
doesn’t have the memory power to handle one <sad face>.
Sure enough, there was food in her incision, along with a
lot of pus (ewwwwww). I heard him ask
her if she needed any anesthesia and she said no. But, when she came out of the exam room, she
was crying. She said it hurt SO
much! She got a prescription for
amoxicillin, a pain reliever and a follow up appointment for tomorrow. She was relieved! She went back home for the afternoon to call
her mom, sleep, and sleep some more. She
is such a good student, she was going to go home to work on her papers! Uh…no….you get an extension!
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| The "Devil's House" |
Ate a quick lunch at Luini’s (yum!) and then met up with
everyone to go on the Black Death tour.
Just love this tour! Alessandro
has done this for 4 years now. He is an
excellent guide and easy on the eyes, which makes all the girls (and gay guys)
just love him, haha! He tells a terrific
story and everyone listens to him.
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| Khafre trying to cure Peter |
One of them is about a wealth man in Milan who survived the plague in the 1600s. It's probably because he allowed cats on and around his property. They called it the Devil's House because no one who lived there or stayed there ever got sick.
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| skull in the Ossuary of St. Bernardino's |
He always includes members of the group. This year, two of the girls were called out
as witches, one of the guys was infected, another was the anointer (someone
they thought spread the disease), and the third boy was the doctor. It was great and Khafre (the doctor), really
got into the role, haha! Maybe he should
be in front of the camera instead of behind it!
Came home and pondered tomorrow and how it’s the last day of
the program. I am sad because it's been such a great group. I am pleased though because I
get to sleep in!!
