Monza

This Saturday we drove up to Muggio (a Suburb on the north end of Milano) to scout out for a new apartment.  The Elders apartment in Muggio is not very nice.  It has a tiny kitchen and there are 4 Elders in the apartment with one bathroom and it is quite cramped and run down.  We have given our 6 months notice that we are leaving in February 2015.  The goal is for Peg and I to find the new apartment and get the Elders moved in if possible before we leave the 1st of January.  So on this Saturday we spent some time just driving around town and scouting where the church was, where the stores are, and where the real estate office are.

After that we drove to the next town east which is Monza. You may know this as the site of the formula 1 race track in Italy. We parked in a lot that was underneath the main piazza.  It was quite a nice little town.  One of the main attractions is the cathedral so we wandered around a little until we found it.  It was closed so we decided to wander and find a place to eat.

We wandered everywhere with no restaurants anywhere.  After an hour we were getting tired and talking about giving up and going home when we saw a little sign down a side street.  It was a very small place operated by a mother and her daughter that offered primo and secondo piata for 11 euros.  It was great!

While wandering I saw this roll up garage door that was painted to look like a fancy carved wooden door.

We got back tot he Cathedral after lunch. We wanted to go through the church and the museum that was below the church.  If was a very nice museum with many artifacts that were very well displayed with both  Italian and English descriptions. The cathedral was 1st built in 595 and changed and added to many times through the next 1400 years.  The Cathedral contains the Iron Crown of Lombardy that was used to crown all of the kings from the 600 AD through Napoleon.  We saw the crown that is a wide gold band with many large jewels all around the outside.  Supposedly the iron band on the inside of the crown used to strengthen is was made from a nail from Christ's cross.

Also in the Museum we were looking for John the Baptists tooth, a relic they have held though the  ages.  We never saw the tooth, but here is the a purse that they used to carry the tooth around in.  The Italians love their relics!