Final Wrapup

From Milan we took an additional four day tour of the northern lakes -- Orta, Maggiore, Como, and Garda. 

Frescos at a B&B

Graffiti on a church fresco!  WTF

The town of Como

Passing by George Clooney's place on Lago Como.  George wasn't home.

Lunch at Riva del Garda

With the orange umbrella, our guide Andréa, multilingual dude

Verona was one of our stops on the way back to Milan, with all the tourist mania around the Juliet balcony of Shakespearean legend.

Crazy crowds

Verona bell tower

Looking up

Verona has its own Roman amphitheater

Then back to Milan for a few days....

And finally before flying home ... a visit to the iconic Last Supper of Leonardo da Vinci:

La Ultima Cena

In my childhood before air conditioning my mother took me along to attend the Union Congregational Church, a simple frame structure; in the muggy Illinois summers you just raised all the windows and fanned yourself.  Local funeral homes provided the hand held fans, like cardboard glued to wooden tongue depressors, and many of them -- most -- held pictures of Da Vinci's Last Supper.  The original masterpiece in Milan has suffered damage and degradation over the 500+ years since its creation.  Two other copies do exist in Europe and are in better condition.  The environment for Leonardo's original masterwork is now strictly climate controlled and closely guarded, preserved for future generations. No humidity.