Flowers and "Footing" in Milan

Are you out and about, today, the 13th of March? Did you see S. Barnabas marching into Milan to combat all the pagan idols? Did you see him plunge a cross into a Celtic pagan stone carved with a sun with 13 rays? If you did, sit down, and take it easy because......More......

...you've been wandering around town for 1961 years!

The stone once was in S. Dionysius, one of the churches founded by S. Ambrose (our patron saint, who lived in the 4th century A.D.), but that church was torn down in the late 18th century to make way for a public park, and some of its bits were installed in other churches. The donut-shaped stone with the sun's rays is now set in the pavement of the church called Santa Maria al Paradiso, erected or rebuilt in 1590 (the façade was redone in 1896) because it is to this church on Corso di Porta Vigentina that the monks were moved from S. Dionysius.

A picture of the stone is available on the city's tourism website, but the page is among those not translated. (Thank you to my English student, L., for this link!)

Crazy enough (in my opinion, of course!) to like going jogging and running? Then the 25th of March in Milan is for you. About 9 A.M. the "StraMilano" (i.e., "SuperMilano") will start at the Duomo, and wind its way through the city for about 5 hours. You can go "footing" (as jogging sometimes is called, here) at your own pace, and at least this page on the city's tourism site is in English.

Do you, by the way, know what this tree is? I snapped this in the spring a year, or so, ago...and still wonder what it is. No particular smell, good or bad, just lovely pink flowers all over this medium-sized puffy-topped tree. (How's that for an accurate botanical description?!)

Enjoy!