From the Roof of the Duomo

The Duomo is very, very tall, and provides a very nice view over the city.  And also shows how very, very high up you are.  

From the northeast corner of  the Duomo, looking out along the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II.
The street (as well as the Galleria or Mall) are named after the the king of Sardinia (the large
island just west of Italy) who united Italy and named himself "King of Italy" in 1861.

Looking west along the north face of the cathedral, into the Piazza del Duomo.

One of my favorite things about the Milan skyline is the green-space.  Many of the roofs had full-blown gardens, even including trees!  It made such a nice break from the miles and miles of marble and stucco. 

You can see a lot of historical and important city buildings from the top of the Duomo roof.

This building, just south of the cathedral, is the Biblioteca e Archivio del Capitolo Metropolitano, or the Official City Library and Archives of Milan.  It looks very Italian.

This is half of the clock that is on the top of a large shopping mall right next to the cathedral (another giant mall besides the Galleria--folks like to shop in Milan).  The other side of the clock is a lady who is also only slightly clad.  It was funny to be looking down on the top of such a tall building.  

This picture from Google Maps, from the south side of the cathedral and shows all of the different heights of the roof that you could walk around on.  The building on the right is the mall and the very pale green spot in the top middle is the clock.

The tower in the foreground is the Bell Tower of the Saint Gottardo in Corte church.  It is
named after Gotthard of Hildesheim who is best known as the patron saint of gout-sufferers
apparently.  However, he is also prayed to for fever, dropsy, childhood sicknesses, hail-
stones, the pain of childbirth, and by traveling merchants.   You can see more about him here.
The yellow building behind the tower is the Milan City Hall.