Today was a great day. I got to get up early and welcome Tim, Maya, and TJ to Milan. They joined us this morning and we almost immediately kicked it into gear.

First stop was the Milan Cathedral, also known as Il Duomo. After starting construction in the late 1300’s it wasnt declared finished until the 1980’s. That’s quite a lenient project team… Even then, there was a great deal of scaffolding and plywood, making it look like a work in progress. The list of people involved in its construction is quite impressive, and I guess that’s to be expected for a project spanning half a millennium.

The intricacies of the spires and statues was somewhat polarizing. Michelle loved it – which makes sense as it slightly resembles the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon which she finds so amazing. I thought it looked cluttered and overly ornate. The good news is that 600 years I likely would’ve been put to death for saying that, but now I’m fairly safe.

This afternoon we decided to call it quits based on the heat (still not even close to Rome status) and our new guest’s lack of sleep on their 8 hour commute from JFK last night. If you look closely TJ is asleep with a leg in the air, while Maya is successfully sleeping while appearing to use her phone (she wasn’). Rylie is encouraging them.

With everyone refreshed we headed back down to the Canal for dinner. Choosing to eat at the same place based on the diverse menu, and their ability to accomodate the 7 of us, we enjoyed a leisurely meal inside. There was lost of spaghetti with red sauce consumed and it seemed to be well liked.

We finalized our plans for tomorrow’s day trip to Como and the lakes region. Cant wait to share that trip with family.