Friday, 9 June 2017: Duomo di Milano

[My trip in June was so packed with things to do that I did not get to blog regularly. Since returning to Charleston, it has been also a very busy summer. I will endeavor to complete my blogging on my trip.]

Friday was the last day of Sacra Liturgia Milano. We began with just a couple of presentations and a closing address by His Excellency Dominique Rey, Bishop of Frejus-Toulon in France. We then had some free time for lunch and walking to the Duomo again for the final Liturgy, Vespers in the Modern Ambrosian Rite.

The High Altar from about midway in the nave.

Looking across the Altar from the north transept to the south.

 

The Altar, Pulpits, and Organs.

 

One of the side aisles.

At the end of Vespers, we processed to the altar of Bl. Ildefonso Schuster where we chanted the Te Deum.

Now the 2017 Sacra Liturgia Conference was officially over.  You can see photos and videos taken during the conference at Photographs from Sacra Liturgia Milan.

Our conference members had received a free tour of the interior of the Duomo on Thursday afternoon, but some of us (OK, mainly me!) wanted to take the extended tour - up to the rooftop of the Duomo, also known as "the terraces".

At this first level, above the south transept, 

there are wire screens.

You can look upwards the store tracery

and the flying buttresses.

You can even get between the column continuing upward from 

its interior column and a balcony-type railing.

 

From nearer the west front of the Duomo looking back

through a number of flying buttresses. 

 There are 52 columns inside the Duomo,

and they each extend to the sky above the terraces.

Each one has a finial with a statue,

as well as other statues (behind bars) below.

 There are statues literally everywhere!

More flying buttresses with the scaffolding around the

central tower where restoration is taking place.

Such incredible detail so high above the Piazza!

This is as high as tourists can get - the center of the roof above the nave.

Notice the tracery following the spiral staircase

up each corner of the central tower.

Looking towards the west front.

 Me chatting with Fr. Alionidas Budrius from Lithuania.

His assistant took this photo.

Fr. Budrius and me with the central tower in the background.

Fr. Budrius, Dr. Mahrt, and me near the edge of the roof.

You can see the new and old stonework.

Looking down on the north side of the nave.

Various pieces of stonework waiting to be laid in place.

Part of the US contingent attending Sacra Liturgia Milano:

Matt Mueller, Jon Laird, Dr. William Mahrt, me, and Jenny Donelson.

Another photo taken at the lower terrace.

I'm not sure if the Duomo terraces were on all our bucket lists or not, but we all certainly enjoyed the hour or so we spent up there. We then went across the Piazza to the Galleria Restaurant for dinner afterwards. A bunch of Catholics, in Italy, on a Friday: the seafood dinner was fabulous. We all highly recommend the Ristorante Galleria.

So, for me, bookend bucket-list items in Milano:  opera at La Scala on the first night and the Duomo rooftop on the last day.  Saturday morning is my flight from the smaller airport in Milan to the London City Airport right in London.

Monday, 12 June 2017: London Eye

Katarina Gerrard has been my FaceBook friend for a couple of years now. We met in person last summer, and I had planned today to be spent with her and her daughter, Amy, visiting the London Eye and other sights.

They live in Mottingham, south of the Thames. I took the train there, arriving around 9:00 am, then we took the bus and train back into the city. They (like many Londoners) had never been on the London Eye, and they were very excited!

We also took the London Dungeon tour, which doesn't allow any photos or video. It was an interesting take on many of the more colorful legends and history of London. Afterwards, Amy wanted to go climbing at the playground.

(I think Amy likes cameras!)

Amy spotted the carousel and wanted to ride, and Katarina went with her.

Then we walked across the Jubilee Bridge to the north side of the Thames to find a pub for lunch.

We tried to make it up to the Zoo in Regents Park, but got there just after it closed for the day. But we fit a lot into the day, and took the train back home. It was a really great day!

Wednesday, 7 June 2017: Churches of Sacra Liturgia

All of the Liturgies this year were of the Ambrosian or Milanese Rite. They took place in a number of churches in the center of the city.

Chiesa di Santa Maria della Consolazione, Piazza Cairoli:

Sant'Alessandro in Zebedia:

 

Sunday, 11 June 2017: Tea at the Ritz, London

Any fans of "Downton Abbey" will certainly be fans of the Ritz Hotel in London, where some of the scenes were filmed. It is a legendary venue, especially for its Afternoon Tea. Here is an archive photo, before the renovations in the 1990's.

(Obviously pre-1990's with the horse-drawn carriages!)

Here is the facade today.

Notice the added wrought iron and lighted signage:

Now, please meet my good friend, Eve Farren. I met Eve one Sunday in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2010. We were both looking for St. Mary's Catholic Cathedral to attend Mass, and I had asked a local for directions. We went to Mass and chatted, and have been friends since. (Isn't FaceBook wonderful!) 

During my London visit last year, we had a nice picnic lunch one day in a park behind the Brompton Oratory. We chatted about all sorts of things, including family. She told me that her father had designed the signage at the Ritz, but that she had never been there! Eve recently received her MA from Birkbeck College and RADA. When I told her I was going to be in London again, she suggested we do tea. So I replied that we needed to do Afternoon Tea at the Ritz!

We had a really wonderful time. We met at Green Park tube station, went to 5:30 pm Mass at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street, a historic Jesuit parish. Then, while waiting for our seating time at the Ritz, we sat in park/deck chairs in Green Park for a while.

Reservations are taken for Afternoon Tea at two-hour intervals beginning at 11:30 am with the last seating at 7:30 pm, which was the time we were waiting for. 

If you go to London, you really MUST plan to do "Tea at the Ritz"! You will never regret it! The service is wonderful, and the food is better than you can imagine. We just had to have one more photo with the doorman!

Tuesday, 6 June 2017: Sacra Liturgia Milano

This was the fourth Sacra Liturgia Conference, and my third. It was held at the University of the Sacred Heart which is next to the Basilica of St. Ambrose. Speakers gave their papers in either English or Italian and we had headphones to hear translations.

 The main entrance to the University.

(The Basilica of St. Ambrose is

just to the right out of the photo.)

It is a beautiful campus,

all contained within a double cloister.

The entrance to our conference hall.

Our conference hall.

There were only a couple of companies exhibiting the products.

This custom vestment maker had some really beautiful pieces!

The above Requiem chasuble includes

the text of the Introit in its medallions!

We had coffee and pastries at morning and afternoon breaks, and more than an hour to find lunch each day. Dinners were quite interesting, with various groups of old and new friends, from all over the world.

The Liturgies included both Mass and Vespers, each in both the contemporary and historic forms of the Ambrosian Rite. These are really quite different from our Latin Rite, based on earlier Rites of Jerusalem and other Byzantine Rites. Ambrosian Chant predates Gregorian, and is quite a bit simpler, but some use of Gregorian Chant has been adopted. This was one of my top reasons for attending this year as this Rite (also known as the Milanese Rite) is only observed in the Archdiocese of Milan. The choirs, cantors, and organists performed very well, and our worship aids provided a good guide to the orders of worship.

Monday, 5 June 2017: Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

This is my next post on my trip to Milan, Italy. There was so much to do that I wasn't able to blog every night. So I will catch you up starting now.

Monday was my only other free day in Milan. I spent it mostly at the Galleria. Friends from Houston may or may not realize that the Galleria there was based on this historic shopping center. It is a beautiful piece of architecture with many interesting stores and restaurants. I found two shops with men's shirts and ties, and bought a bow-tie from each of them.

I also had a very nice pasta lunch at the Galleria Restaurant & Pizza.

Here is a view of the Duomo Piazza including the Galleria and La Scala Opera House near the upper-left corner.

There is so much to see and do just in this very center of the city!