milano

After saying goodbye to Nonni and Pop, Holden and I decided to make the best of a rainy day and explore Milano.  We started by taking the metro to the Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci.  It wasn't raining in the morning, but the storms from the evening before had left lots of puddles which provided a very fun walk to the museum, especially since we were in our rain boots.

We actually planned on staying in the museum only a short time and then going with the students to see some architecture projects, but the museum was just too fun and we stayed inside forever.  For Holden, the highlight of the museum was the space exhibit and also the musical instrument exhibit, although he really loved it all. There was so much to explore, we could have spent the entire day here.  The museum itself was beautiful and had a gorgeous cloistered interior courtyard that led out to the submarine.  Eventually, hunger caught up to us and we had to leave the museum and stop at a nearby market for a snack of some fruit.

So we hopped back on the metro to the Duomo station and exited at Piazza Duomo, to some pretty stellar views.  I've been on top of the duomo twice already, so I decided it would be best not to take Holden up there, especially in the wet conditions.  So we just enjoyed the views from the piazza down below.

Dave and the students took a break and we went to Luini, a local sandwich shop I had read about, for lunch.  After lunch Holden had fun chasing the pigeons in Piazza Duomo and then we walked through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and we had an afternoon snack of cioccolata calda from CioccolatItaliani, the perfect snack on a chilly, rainy day.

With full bellies, we entered the Museo Novecento and looked at some modern art (a first since being in Italy) just as the rain started falling.

After the museum, it was still raining pretty steadily so Holden and I took a taxi to this amazing place called Il Nano Gigante, which was an indoor playground.  He had so much fun that we didn't want to leave Milano, even with the rain.