We also made a great effort to view the Cenocola, Leonardo da Vinci’s preserved painting of Jesus’ Last Supper, which is housed in a very unassuming museum right in the heart of Milano. As my book, 1000 Places to See Before You Die states, where else can you get into a taxi and state the name of a painting as your destination? The fresco was twelve feet tall and at least twenty feet wide with some of the brightest colors and vivid detailing you can imagine ... you get fifteen minutes to admire it with a small crowd after passing through several series of locked doors, and then you must move and make room for the next throng of viewers. Being more of a spiritual person than deeply religious, it was still a great thing to see—like one of the wonders of the world—but I think my Sunday School classes failed me back at age ten because ashamedly, I couldn’t place the names and faces of Jesus’ disciples very well at all. So a few nights after my return, we promptly rented “The Da Vinci Code” movie and watched with bated breath to understand the many significances of the story painted on that wall.
Finally, my last two favorite highlights of the week were firstly, a 4-hour jaunt out to Lake Como with Frannie’s three little white dogs (the Italians all made cooing noises over them and then in the same breath made some sort of comment questioning her sanity of having three little beasts in an apartment in the city—when most have only one medium or large dog, maybe two small at max). The lakeside village, crescendo-ing houses, and lolling boats were so picturesque, all of them lit by either lamps within or flickering white Christmas lights, that it’s no wonder my 1,000 Places … book also lists this quaint locale as a must-see. Awe-inspired, I found myself scanning the crowds for a glimpse of George Clooney (as I heard he had a house out there somewhere). It was just a shame that we arrived at that odd Italian hour of dusk when only apperitivo places are open and it’s too early for dinner and it was quite a bit of a hassle to bring in three dogs to a small establishment for refreshments. Although we never could make time to pop into the famous Milano duomo, we did take turns holding the reins of the feisty cannes biancos so that a tour of the duomo in Lake Como satisfied our religious curiosity. Evidently, I’ll put Como on the list for the return, as well.
