Family vacation in Italy - Day 3

On Day 3, a friend of ours drove us around downtown Milan.  We got this close (see photo below) to seeing The Last Supper.

Straight ahead is the Basilica di Santa Maria delle Grazie.  I later found out that you have to actually book your visit, which is now only available later in Sept!  Oh well, next time I guess.  Onwards along the narrow streets of Milan:

And this is as close as I got to shopping in Milan:

Oh well!

The Expo is going on in Milan right now and we found the Malaysian flag among other flags lined up along this one street leading up to the Duomo.  In case you are wondering, the boys have funny-mouth lollipops in their mouths.

And there it is, the Duomo di Milano.  This is the back-side of it.  Spectacular!... despite the advertisement that's hanging on the one side.  Such a shame, if you asked me:

And here's the front - just amazing!  The photo does not do justice to what it really looks like in person.  And it's really too bad how so many were trying to sell you selfie-sticks or take your photo and print it on the spot too!

Check out this HUGE door!

The sculptures and carvings are so impressive.  There were even some on the underside/above the door:

Looks like someone forgot to finish this little part of the building!

Family photo op!

And now, just a quick peek at the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, which I just found two seconds ago by reading online, is one of the world's oldest shopping malls.  It is named after the first King of Italy and was designed in 1861 and built between 1865 and 1877.  Wow, somehow it did not seem that old!

Pretty cool architecture on the inside.  Unfortunately, no shopping for Mommy!

As you could tell, no one was really interested:

We did get a VERY nice cup of cappuccino at a nearby coffee house.  Delizioso!!!

On the way home, we took an alternate route and ended up on a ferry boat.  The boys really enjoyed that:

It's a good thing it was roped off because I think Charlie would have liked to get even closer to the water!

One last photo with the backdrop of Stresa before we take the train to Florence the next day.  Going to miss this place!