ITALY

Since Bob chose our last vacation trip, to Africa in search of lions...again, it was my turn to choose our vacation destination and I decided that we should head to Italy. Bob always arranges our flights, and he bought tickets going in and out of Milan, so I bought my Rick Steves Italy Guide and started choosing where we should go and what we should see.

I decided that we should definitely see the Last Supper. Unfortunately, you need tickets, and those tickets are not easy to get. Ticket dates are released approximately four months in advance and can be purchased online. I set the date on my calendar, with multiple reminders, and we got them!

Santa Maria delle Grazie, a church and convent, contains the mural of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, which is in the convent. Thirty five people are allowed in the room at a time and you stay in the room for 15 minutes. It was worth the wait.

The painting is so beautiful. Our guide explained DaVinci's interpretations of each of the Apostles. The Last Supper measures 15 feet × 29 feet and covers an end wall of the dining hall at the monastery.

They also have a guide to the painting so you can understand which Apostle is which while looking at the painting.

I did the research for our trip and I knew what to expect when we saw the Last Supper. I forgot to give Bob all the details and he was so surprised when we walked into the room and he saw the huge painting on the wall. He was expecting to see a painting hanging on the wall or on an easel!

On one wall of the Refectory Giovanni Donato Da Montorfano, a Milanese painter, painted the Crucifixion while on the wall opposite, Leonardo was painting the Last Supper.

In 1943, before the bombing of Milan, steps were taken to protect these masterpieces using sandbags for protection. In the last photo you can see that the building was destroyed but the Last Supper and Crucifixion were saved.

The Last Supper is walking distance to The Duomo, so that's where we headed next. The Duomo of Florence, is the episcopal seat of the archdiocese of the city of Florence and is called one of the greatest masterpieces of Gothic art.

The Duomo is huge, and its red dome is spectacular, or so they say. We don't know because it's being refurbished and was completely covered!

The interior of the Cathedral is beautiful too, but my favorite part was...the roof! Yes, the roof!

The roof of the cathedral is 'paved' in slabs of marble, covering a total of 8,748 yards. You can walk the entire rooftop and see all over Milan from it. There's a staircase of 919 steps to get up there, but there's also an elevator. We took the elevator.

The view is outstanding from here. You can see all over Milan, and it made us wonder about the people who carved all these beautiful statues and the brave people who set them on their perches!

We really did enjoy our time on the roof of The Duomo, but now it's time to board the train to Venice. I bought all our train tickets using my ipad in our living room at home, and now it's time to see how I did. Next stop: Venice!