We arise at 8am to a sunny Milan skyline....it's warming up and about 24 Deg C in new money. After checking into the hotel last night, we did the usual thing , sling the bags in the room and head downtown, we were staying in the central part of town so the main drag was just around the corner. Immigrants from Italy's former colonies were taking up two thirds of the pavements flogging Knock off Handbags and very good they looked, there was no aggressive assertiveness and they were no problem, just causing a hassle when you tried to pass slower pedestrians. It's not a hugely exciting road...so we opt for a street café to watch the world go by.

Big is better elsewhere, but in Milan it's tiny measure's that tell everyone you're a cool dude. Obviously we fall foul of this general rule, we order two beers....the guy asks what size.....we say big...he looks puzzled but heads off to the counter....he then returns with two huge containers that look like clear bed pans containing the local lager.......it causes much mirth to the locals and even the passing policemen stopped their cars to laugh at the British idiots. We sit there and try to consume it quickly so we can hide the offending articles...after that display we head back to the hotel.

It's the usual continental Breakfast which as usual makes no sense to us, so we consume what we recognise as vaguely familiar. Then the usual thing of sorting the bags out and making sure we don't leave anything behind. We have to check out as the hotel is fully booked but we want to stay another day.....a quick look on the net and we get a good rate on a place about 15 minutes away. It's a nine euro cab ride away. The new hotel has a bit of character, normally it caters for medical students as there's two specialist hospitals quite nearby. We're too early to check in but the receptionist lets us leave the gear and we take off in search of culture.

It's quite a stroll back to the central district but at least we get a chance to see some everyday Milan life...and it's not long before the national spectacle of bad driving makes an appearance. White van man cuts off another car on a corner...so the road get blocked by the offended driver...out of the car and off he goes...it's a splendid performance of animated abuse with marvellous gesticulations.....the audience of stopped cars respond with a cacophony of screeching honks.

La Scala it isn't but it was free and did it for me.

Next up we get to see the "Open Policy" of the EU a work as we come across a queue of newly arrived immigrants queuing around the block of some government building, we cant work out if it's a soup kitchen, dole queue or if the Romanian Beggars Union are having a seminar. jokes aside , it's grim and not a happy sight


More to follow.......