The last day in Milan

This morning at breakfast everyone was discussing last night’s opera. We all agreed that we are so privileged to have the Royal Opera House in London which is a world class theatre putting on top performances. Most people did not like the production last night, they found La Scala lacking in facilities, very uncomfortable having to sit on stools and the production no where near the standard of the ROH operas. The sets and lighting were quite frankly amateurish. But, it is one of the most famous opera houses in the world and I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to visit it. You can see an extra of the interior of the La Scala.

What made it worse for Gavin and I is that last night was the House Music competition at Thomas’ school. It is always on the Friday night before half term so we had planned to fly back early on Friday to watch it - parents are not allowed to attend due to lack of space in the venue as the whole school attends, it’s one of the big events of the year - however, if your son is head of house music then those parents are allowed to attend. Unfortunately they changed the date from Friday to last night which meant we missed it. The head of house music selects the pieces, arranges them, finds the musicians in the house and organised all the rehearsals etc so it is very demanding of their time. We were very sad to miss it and what made it worse is that Thomas’ piece won one of the categories, the first time his house have won an award in 10 years - and we were not there! We felt gutted about that last night. 

After breakfast we met our guide who took us to the Duomo where we went to the rooftop to see the views. It is such a beautiful building with pink, white and grey marble and quite something to see it close up from the roof top. 

Then on to the galleria where as tradition dictates, Gavin stood on the testicles of the Taurus bull which is in the mosaic of the floor for good luck! Yes, it’s the thing to do when you go to Milan! We then visited La Scala and the next door museum. That concluded our tour and we went our separate ways. 

Gavin and I returned to a wonderful cafe  that our guide had taken us to for morning coffees, where they also served light lunches and the food was great! And then finally some retail therapy. It’s lovely to just see the beautiful things that are in the shops, even if you don’t buy anything. So different and so stylish. This shot was taken from the rooftop bar of a department store where we had a drink before going to the airport for our flight home - which has been delayed so we will be getting home after midnight!