Hello Traitors and Stylists,
Today we headed to The Last Supper to see what all the press is about. We had our reservations because when all said and done, it's a painting of a bunch of blokes, all in need of a good haircut, wearing Jesus sandals and looking a bit "carnie". How good could it be? Well dear readers, I have to say it was an awe inspiring and humbling experience.
Before Leonardo, this particular bible story was always depicted the same way. JC says "one of you will betray me". One of the apostles asks who and JC replies by saying whomever I pass this sop of bread to, is the one who will betray me and that is, as we know Judas Iscariot. So these last supper paintings always, pre Leo, showed JC passing the sop to Judas.
At the time Leonardo painted this picture, he was studying physical movement, the movement of sound and the effect of light and sound on movement. He was also rather keen on anatomy, taking his obsession a tad too far and used to cut up corpses so he could better understand tendons, sinew and the interplay with muscles. Proving that the line between a sociopath and a genius is a very fine interpretative line indeed!
His Last Supper starts and finishes only with the premise, that one of the dinner guests shall betray him. No pointing to Judas with a sop of bread. Why the Last Supper is unique and is alleged to have changed modern day painting from that point on, is because he shows the impact of that statement on each of the 12 apostles in both their expressions, their body language, their movement and the light being used to highlight and emphasis the acoustics of what is occurring. I can only say that knowing nothing about technique or any of that art stuff, when seeing this painting, you just get it. Brilliant.
So enough of being culture vultures, we head north away from the city hub and run across a huge castle which houses all these different museums. The castle is this amazing walled fortress that used to have a moat until Napoleon, the spoilt sport, drained it. So nonsense about plagues and the like. Anyway, you can just imagine a small population living inside the walls trying to withstand a siege from neighboring warlords.
We headed north east to Brera - a neighborhood of the City that is very Paris like with fabulous three and four story glorious old terrace housing. Here artisans and stylists ply there trade in furniture design, and beautiful people swan around looking very glamourous. We wandered around and Siobhan, now seven weeks since last haircut was starting to spend more than a desirable time in front of the mirror containing her bouffant-like hair with more and more product, was keen to see if there was a hairdresser here that she could take the risk with.
After much angst, she determined that Milan was probably the best place likely to achieve an edgy haircut, and...... If it was terrible, enough time would have lapsed by the time we get home that Courtney, would be able to fix it. So we come across a cool looking place called 6 Inches ( I didn't bother to tell Siobhan that I thought the name was a bad omen for someone after a trim......) but she booked and we headed for lunch until her appointment.
We stopped at a nearby ristorante and we totally lucked it. We were waited on by a lovely Indian guy who had lived in Italy since he was 5 years of age and was now 23. He then started to rattle off every Australian cricketer in the last 20 years and wanted to know if we had been to the Melbourne Cricket Ground! He was just delightful. He knew way more than we did about our national team.
Our lunch was an absolute dream. Home made spaghetti with roasted cherry tomatoes and parsley with half a lobster that had been grilled under a salamander with a butter sauce. I cannot tell you how exquisite this meal was. Served with a beautiful Pinot Grigio from Friuli. Molto molto bene!
I waited at the restaurant finishing the last of the wine whilst Siobhan had her hair cut. She returned very pleased (and relieved) with a very smart "do". We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Milan shopping district and enjoying the feel of the place. We finished our stay in Milan with a celebratory vino and headed to our Hotel Bruniscelli to pack and leave for Lake Como. Both of us, finding Milan a wonderful unanticipated place to visit and somewhere we would be happy to come back to.
Shop Wisely Bargain Hunters
Kelly & Siobhan xxxx
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