Holy Thursday 圣周四
April 2, 2026
Due to the time difference, we woke up early today and headed to the hotel restaurant at 6:30 to begin our breakfast.
After a satisfying meal, we visited Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper in Milan and joined an English-language tour. Initially, the guide inquired about the date. It was Holy Thursday, the day traditionally associated with the Last Supper itself, which added a profound sense of significance to our visit.
Our guide was passionate and highly informative about this masterpiece. The museum allows only a very limited amount of time inside the hall in order to protect the painting. I had always thought The Last Supper was painted on canvas, so it was striking to step into the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie and see that Leonardo painted it directly on the wall of the monastery’s refectory, the dining hall where the friars ate their meals. Over the centuries, the painting deteriorated significantly, and the restoration process was extremely delicate. In some areas, as many as ten layers of overpainting were removed.
Afterward, we walked to Castello Sforzesco and spent about two hours visiting several museums inside the castle. The collections are extensive and well worth seeing.
Later, we sat in the park and enjoyed a simple panini for lunch. The weather was perfect. We walked towards Arco della Pace.
Our next stop was Chinatown, one of the places we always try to visit when traveling around the world. Milan’s Chinatown felt a little different from others we have seen—more modern and cleaner. We enjoyed a couple of Chinese snacks there, including dumplings, fried bao, and pork sandwiches.
Then we visited the Monumental Cemetery nearby, which was quite an experience. Some of the “little houses” were actually as large as real homes.
We also noticed several old trams still running in Milan, so we decided to ride one back toward the hotel. Once we arrived in the neighborhood, we made a small detour for vegan ice cream, which turned out to be very satisfying.
For dinner, we went to Antica Trattoria Della, a highly rated Milanese restaurant. The food was decent and tasty, though in the end we felt we had eaten a bit too much carbohydrate-heavy food.
2026年4月2日
因为有些时差，今天二人起得早，6点半就来到酒店的餐厅开始享用早餐。饱餐一顿之后我们徒步45分钟前往参观米兰最著名的景点之一，列奥纳多·达·芬奇的《最后的晚餐》，我们买的是带英文讲解的票。讲解一开始，导游先问今天是什么日子。大家一时都还没反应过来，导游说大家选了最好的一天来看这幅画。原来今天正是圣周四，也就是传统上耶稣与门徒共进最后晚餐的日子，因此这次参观也显得格外有意义。
女导游对这幅杰作的描写充满激情，非常生动详尽。为了保护这幅壁画，博物馆对参观时间控制得非常严格，一票难求，且每一批游客都只能在厅内停留15分钟的时间。一直以来，我都以为《最后的晚餐》是一幅画在画布上的作品，直到真正走进圣玛利亚感恩教堂（Santa Maria delle Grazie）的多明我会修道院餐厅，才发现达·芬奇是直接把它画在墙上的。这里原本是修士们共同用餐的食堂，也正因如此，这幅作品与所在空间形成了极其紧密的联系。经过数百年的岁月侵蚀，这幅画曾严重受损，而修复过程也极为精细复杂。据介绍，在某些区域，修复人员甚至去除了多达十层的后期覆盖颜料。
随后，我们步行前往斯福尔扎城堡（Sforzesco Castle），与女儿及妹妹，妹夫会合，在城堡内的几座博物馆里参观了大约两个小时。馆藏非常丰富，十分值得一看。
之后，我们在公园里坐下来，天气非常好。边休息，边吃上一份简单的帕尼尼当午餐，还有现场音乐人的演唱，让人感觉格外惬意。
唐人街——这是我们到世界各地旅行时几乎都会去看看的地方。米兰的唐人街和别处有些不同，显得更加现代，也更加整洁。我们在那里吃了几样中式小吃，包括肉夹馍，饺子和生煎包。
之后，我们又去了附近的米兰纪念公墓。那也是一次很特别的体验。入口处的建筑非常精美，而公墓内那些所谓的“小房子”其实一点也不小，有些甚至大得像真正的住宅一样。
在米兰，我们常看到一些老式有轨电车仍然在街头运行。于是我们决定搭乘其中一辆去女儿推荐的一家纯素冰淇淋店。有轨电车虽老，但上面不收现金，而是可以用ApplyPay,付款，手机一扫就行。冰淇淋味道不错，吃得很满足。
晚餐我们选了一家评价很高的米兰本地餐厅。食物味道不错，只是吃完之后，总觉得二天来，每一顿的碳水化合物有点偏多。