La Scala

While the highlight of Sunday was definitely our visit to La Scala to see Don Giovanni, the performance wasn't until early afternoon so we had some time see some more sights beforehand. The followiong is Castello Sforzesco, a castle that dates back to the 15th century and was the former residence of the Duchy of Milan.

Next we visited Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a "double arcade" shopping area that was built in the 1860s. We didn't go there to shop, though, and instead just walked around a bit and admired the architecture.

Our final stop was the Palazzo Reale to see a couple of art exhibitions -- the first with works by Paul Cezanne and the second with works by Artemisia Gentileschi. While I was familiar with the former's work, I wasn't with those of the latter, who is considered one of the great painters of the Baroque period.

The following is her most famous painting -- Judith Slaying Hodofernes -- which was supposedly influenced by a similar themed painting by Caravaggio.

After finishing up with the exhibitions, we grabbed a quick lunch and the headed to La Scala. Here's a picture that Emilie took of me standing out front -- if you look closely, you can see that I'm wearing a suit (albeit not one of my new ones). I'd been told that the dress code is very formal (coat and ties required for men), so I didn't take any chances.

Here's the view of the stage from our seats before the performance. Technically, we were in one of the private balcony rooms with two others. I'd never seen an opera from a (semi) private balcony before, so this was definitely an experience.

And here's the view of rear of the opera house taken from our seats. It really was impressive to see in person. And while a lot of people had told me beforehand how spectacular a venue it is, I think that it still exceeded my expectations.

The performance was very good, though it was a bit long -- 3.5 hours including a 30 minute intermission. During the intermission I took the following photo from the main floor and was subsequently scolded by an usher. I knew that pictures weren't allowed, but a lot of others were taking them so I figured that I'd go for it as well.

If you look very closely at the third balcony to the left of the stage on the first level, you can see Emilie. She's the one who appears to be reading the program or looking at her phone.

My favorite part of the performance was that there were multimple times when the singers were off state and in other parts of the theater (including inside the main rear balcony). It really added to the experience.

After the performance we had to rush back to the hotel for our bags and the head straight to the train station for our return trip to Lausanne. Here's a building with interesting external decor that we passed along the way.