Milan, the home of shops, an old cathedral and beautiful woman. Nothing more.

After a short 2 hour flight we arrived in Milan. Expecting the weather to be quite warm we arrived in rain, which in a way was a break from all the hot weather we had previously been experiencing. From the airport we caught a bus into the city which took another hour. I think half the time travelling is spent on transport. So after checking in 2 hours prior, the 2 hour flight, the 1 hour bus, we arrived in the centre of the city by early evening. After spending the last few weeks it was good to have a room to ourselves with no snoring, no clothes all over the floor, or dirty undies scattered on various beds.


The place that we actually stayed in was quite nice and close to major sites… well from what we read there was only one major site in which was ‘a must see’. That was the Old Cathedral in the main square, which is proclaimed to be one of the largest cathedrals in the world.

The one night that we spent in Madrid was quite nice. It was our first time at trying authentic Italian food from Italy. We’ve heard like everybody else that Italian food is some of the best in the world, so I guess it was a good chance to test what the majority favour. We weren’t too disappointed. We were actually quite impressed for the price in which we paid for. We found a small business restaurant hidden away from the main touristic streets. Service wasn’t too bad either. After hearing negative things about the hospitality of Italians we had yet to run into any… for now.

The next morning we visited the Cathedral. We had a train ride scheduled for around lunch time so it gave us a bit of time to spend. The cathedral was very impressive and large. Well maintained and preserved over the centuries the outside walls are still watered and cleaned. The cleaning maintains the colour of the white brick lined walls and sculptures that decorate the church. After seeing many cathedrals through London and Spain, this was still very impressive. The church’s side is evidently an icon of the city surrounded by the main square accompanied by what looks and is one of the most expensive shopping malls I’ve ever seen. The mall is filled with extremely high end labels and as the Italians are renowned for it, heavily overpriced. Prada, Rolex, LV, Versace are just a few names that adorn this mall. When you’re on ‘Cheap Pasta’ travellers budget we definitely couldn’t afford even the cheapest of shoestrings here. Well there was the most expensive looking McDonald’s here too. It looked like more of a boutique restaurant with an M symbol on it. Even saw Vlade Divac, ex NBA player of the LA Lakers and Sacramento Kings walking through the mall. I think everyone here might have forgotten or don’t know who he is because no one played particular attention to him.

After our short stint through the streets Katrina and I desperately needed to wash some clothes as we were now at end line of a our fresh clean clothing. We walked into a small Laundromat opposite of our Hotel. We were quoted 15 Euros for a Wash and Dry. If you don’t know what that is in Australian dollars that’s close to just over $25AUS.That’s one expensive wash for clothing. We decided to wait for our next time Verona for that Wash. This is to the start of an expensive country. The girls were good looking though. I can see now why Megan Gale from Australia was so popular here.