Our last day in Italy- but, as Macarthur said, or was it Schwarzenegger? - we'll be back. We started with a wander around the Brera, a more traditional, less corporate arty area not far from the Sforza Castle. It is all very subdued - antique shops, leather shops etc - lacking either the edge of the big fashion houses or the energy we were hoping for - the Newtown meets Brunswick Street thing we see in Australia. Maybe we were just in the wrong streets. Then it...

Last night we made it to the local pizzeria recommended by Giancarlo- OK Pizza did better than live up to its name. Light crispy crust with delicious toppings washed down with prosecco. Just the job, and nary a word of English, German, French to be heard. Viva l'italia! Another day dawned in Milan, and while mozzie extermination had not been complete, we had made a difference! We had a big day of walking planned- with the Duomo, La Scala and the Sforza Cast...

Day three in Milan! Today was a day of strict religious observance- solemn high mass at the Duomo and a sacrifice of another kind at the San Siro where Inter - one of the top teams in the Series A played Cagliari- bottom at the start of the day with only one point from 4 games. We were delayed in getting out by a full memory card in the camera and the only way of making space seemed to be one photo at a time. This meant we didn't have time for a coffee and La Sc...

Ok. A 36 hour entry to cover arrival and settling in to Milano. Our train was slightly delayed despite having reached the magic 300 kph for some stretches of the run from Bologna. We found our way through the crowd at Milano Centrale to Bar Alemagna across the road to be met by Giancarlo Sacripanti (Giancarlo 2) our landlord, who drove us to our new place at Viale Piave 5, (buzzer 12). The drive across made it clear that we are now in a big city with all the tra...