Twas the Day After Christmas...

And all through the flat, not a creature was stirring, not even the cat.

We had a nice Christmas day at home yesterday. Brandon spent much of the day playing with his Lego train, and the evening trying to build an electromagnet from plans in his Dangerous Book for Boys.

This afternoon we drove over to Sesto and caught the Metro into Milano, getting off at the Duomo stop.


The stairway out of the Metro had these musical steps. Brandon was excited because we had seen something like this on Youtube. He played on the stairs for quite awhile.

Katrina wanted to visit an art exhibit in Pallazo Reale. I agreed to go toy store hunting with Brandon. We found the toy store but it was closed for the day, so we made our way back towards the Duomo.


Apparently Superman had business in Milano.


Once in a lifetime opportunity to ride a pink snail.

Only in Milano can you spot Superman and ride a pink snail!

We ended up wandering around the Christmas market until Brandon spotted cotton candy. He 'had' to have cotton candy and I relented.


Duomo

We met up again with Katrina and walked down Via Dante through the very crowded Christmas market. It was soooo crowded. Italians were out in force, shopping and strolling. Near the Castello end of Via Dante they had a Christmas tree with several bicycles setup around the tree. The bicycles created power for the lights. Brandon jumped on one of the kid bikes and rode like he was in the Tour. He even got some 'Bravos' from people watching.


Riding a bike to light a Christmas tree

We spotted a City Sightseeing bus drive by. We've been wanting to take the tour for quite awhile now, so we chased it down and finally caught it in front of the Castello. We took the one hour tour, seeing a few sections of the city we had not seen before. Many streets were lit up for the season. After an hour on the bus, we ended up back at the Castello after dark.



Castello lit up for the holidays






There were two of these streetcars sitting in front of the Castello - obviously sponsored by Coca Cola. At selected times you could sit with Santa and have pictures taken.

Making our way back towards the Duomo on Via Dante, we stopped to enjoy some Arancino di Riso's. They are rice battered cheese and procuito, or rago (meat sauce), that are deep fried and make a tasty (and cheap) dinner treat.


Looking down Via Dante towards the Duomo. The red tree on the right is the one that is lit by bicycle power.


The Christmas tree in Piazza del Duomo with the Galleria in the background.


The Duomo


Katrina and Brandon at the Duomo Christmas tree.

We also checked out the inside of the Galleria. The shops were closed, but the glass canopy roof was lit up with Christmas lights. We followed the light displays to the streets behind the Duomo then entered the Metro for the ride home.


Lights inside the dome of the Galleria


Streets behind the Duomo