ITALY - DAY 13

This morning we were going to pay part of the optional excursion money to be taken into Milan but after a discussion with the receptionist at the hotel we ditched the group and headed into Milan by train. One of the other group members came with us. She was extremely excited when the train ended up being a double decker train.

After arriving in Milan we walked towards the massive castle. It was awesome. The exterior walls with towers on each corner where still intact as well as the interior. We didn't go into any of the buildings as they had all been converted to heaps of museums so we wandered around the exterior.

We then walked down the famous street of Milan and window shopped before coming to the large square where the Dom is situated. This cathedral is huge and white. it had lots of spikes and towers. If we were willing to pay we could have gone in and up the tower but we had all decided that we had seen the interior of enough churches for quite some time.

We had lunch and then wandered through their mall. This was a cross shaped building with a glass arch roof on each arm coming to a dome in the middle. On the floor in the middle was a mosaic bull. You are suppose to place your heel on the bull's private parts and spin around three times and make a wish. This wish is then suppose to come true within the year. Obviously we all had a turn.

It was after this that I remembered that Leonardo's "Last Supper" was in Milan so we found the place and high tailed it over there only to discover that you have to pre-purchase tickets online. So we missed seeing the fresco by 'that much'. We were a little disappointed and drowned our misery in gelato.

We had a full day in Milan, headed home by train and caught a taxi back to the hotel. It was a brilliant day. That night we stayed up drinking with everyone in the lobby of the hotel. Shelley discovered mole holes and was determined to flush one out. No luck though.