Getting to Milan actually wasn't too painful. Though my duffle bag ended up being humungous, and it really sucked having to go up and down a few flights of stairs with that and my book bag. Anyway, we navigated the German subway system and got all the way out to Schoenfeld Airport and get on our flight to Milan. The plane ride was about two hours and while I tried to nap on the way, the seats didn't tilt back and that made it pretty impossible to find a comfortable position. Except for Laura who had the window seat and this really spiffy travel pillow. She set herself down, laid her head on the window and was out for the remainder of the flight. The one thing I have to say about Milan from the air is that it is really GREEN. Again, I amazed at how much farmland and forest there is this area and how cities and small villages just seem to pop up in the middle of them.
Find the hostel was a bit of an adventure though. We were able to find the train to Cardona (main Milan), but then we had a hard time finding the bus or anyone to explain the bus system to us. Eventually the stop for the Number 27 Bus just appeared when we left the train station, but by this point we had no idea how to get a ticket and how we were going to recognize our stop in time to press the stop button. AHHHGGG! But we got on the bus, and thanks to some spectacular luck, got to our hostel without being fined 30 Euro for not having a ticket.
After settling our stuff down - Hotel America is pretty nice by the way - we set out to explore Milan. About ten minutes walk from our hostel is the Duoma Cathedral and all that surrounds that. Unfortunately, we arrived at the Duoma just before mass was about to start and most of it was sectioned off from tourists, but whatever - we plan to hit that tomorrow. Unable to explore that, we set out to see the surrounding area, looking in on the Opera house and the square that holds a statues of Leonardo DiVinci. Finally though we went to see the Brera Art Gallery because in addition to it housing some great works of art, there was a bar right across the street from it that starting at 6pm would have a free buffet for everyone who bought a drink. It was fantastic! Wonderful food, some warm, some cold, pasta and other salads, fruit and this pudding stuffed bread things. Each of us had a drink and did some serious snacking, because this was going to be dinner for the night. Bad news though? As we were finishing up our food, it started to really rain. Not just the sprinkle it had been doing earlier, but really rain. THAT sucked. We waited awhile hoping it would slow, but it didn't really and finally we just made for it. Slowly, and sometimes not so slowly, we made our way back to Hotel America, though I finally bought another mini umbrella from this guy by the opera house for 5 Euro. While it was a waste because I already have a mini umbrella, it was a decision I am ok with because maybe I saved myself from enough rain to keep from getting sick.
And my wrist still hurts. Though it's only the left one now. Boo.
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