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 traffic that comes with that. The station isn't so central, nor is it so close to the apartment. Our temporary home is on the second floor of yet another old palazzo. Giancarlo has actually carved it out of his own apartment with some ingenuity. It has an advantage over the Bologna flat in that it doesn't have a steep stair up to the bedroom. In most other respects, and although it is quite comfortable, it isn't as good as Bologna. I think it is a case that he NEARLY made the flat fit the space, but not quite. The shower is tiny, and corner opening, with a fashionable large above head shower head that means there is no hiding place when you try to get the temperature right. No real kitchen workspace, and limited cupboard space. Also, unlike our 5 minute walk in Bologna - even at a slow saunter- this is a steady 20 minutes from the Duomo. All that said, it is perfectly fine and will serve us better than a hotel.

Once unpacked we did some shopping and went in search of a pizza but it was too early, so we stumbled into a neighbourhood fornaio and had the most enormous pieces of crostata at 2 euros each, and almost fresh from the oven. We then walked into the centro for our first breathtaking glimpse of the Duomo - ( so THAT's what the fuss is about!) and La Scala (slightly underwhelming from the exterior) and tried unsuccessfully to scout out the place to buy tickets for Sunday's Inter v Cagliari game. As signalled in the last entry, the touts are everywhere. This year's products are scarves, helicopter like things you fire up into the sky which descend with flashing lights, little toy horses that walk around by themselves, roses and - the fashion of a few years ago - what Anne and I call Mr Blobbies - a soft ball that splats and flattens when thrown onto a smooth surface, then resumes its original shape. In the case of the scarves, the vendors hunt in packs of about 4. How any of them make any sales - let alone any money for themselves or their organisers - is a mystery. They look like they are from somewhere on the subcontinent, and occasionally from Africa. Along with huge packs of tourists all plugged into their blue tooth headsets they form quite a distraction from the splendour of the city.

By the time we walked back we were famished. Fortunately the first place we tried was full so we stumbled into one called Wine Road. A lucky accident. We were able to have a lovely light meal - Sicilian sardines (alice) buffalo mozzarella and salad for Anne and tortellini with porcini mushrooms for me along with a nice white and a couple of beers.

Thus fortified we headed home to discover the one other minor drawback of the flat - mossies! Only one, but very persistent.

Somewhere in the course of the day we discovered that our attempt to snare what looked like the last two places to see the Last Supper had been successful- and Giancarlo 2 came to the rescue and printed our confirmations for our last day here on Thursday. Many of these booking companies expect you to have access to a printer, or failing that, where they will accept your mobile or tablet you need broadband . There are workarounds but they are messy, so it was good that we were able to print.

We also decided to spend a couple of days in the Lake Como area so we booked an albergo for
Monday night- this time with an app that doesn't require a printed version. We also booked in for a tour of La Scala Theatre and museum - all from our kitchen table.

And so to Saturday.....

The plans were to buy football tickets, visit tourist info, have a coffee, have a wander, have lunch then do the La Scala tour at 2.30. We accomplished all of these things, but several with a few complications! For a start there were conflicting sources of advice re source of tickets. The first place we went was closed for renovation. The second, identified on an official Milan Visitor site, seemed astounded that we would ask. More luck at Mondadori, where we got a couple of reasonable seats at 42 Euro each- with the usual need for photo ID.

Then we went to an office identified online as a tourist office , near the Duomo. It was - but only for the Duomo! When I inquired as to a more general office we were told the nearest was at the Sforza Castle - dieci minuti a piedi- 10 minute's walk. More like 20
minutes later we found it and gathered a few brochures. We headed back for the Duomo area and stopped for a long lunch- not having the energy to get ourselves out of the tourist strip. Interesting to compare prices. A cappuccino here cost 4 Euro 50 which is over three times the rate in a place outside the strip! Imagine trying that on in Sydney? But the rest was welcome.

Between lunch and our La Scala visit we managed to spend some time listening to two very talented lots of buskers, a lovely way to pass some time, as well as walking slowly through the Galleria to see all the things we couldn't afford even if we wanted them!

The La Scala tour organisers seem to have found themselves surprised by the fact that there was a performance on, so we couldn't actually see the theatre, only the Museum. While the guide was excellent and the Museum was good, it did seem a bit odd to have accepted a booking a little over 12 hours before when a key part of the tour wasn't on:(

We have a ticket to see the Theatre tomorrow, but even then, it's basically look from the gallery. I had expected a good deal more. At least, unlike some in our group, we will be able to go. They are leaving Italy tomorrow.

Back to our neighbourhood, a cake as reward for walking another 10km and a quiet night in, with a bottle of Valpolicella ripasso and some fresh pasta and salad.

In between times I have made my way through about half of a book I bought in Bologna- L'Omicidio Carosino by Maurizio De Giovanni. Three short detective stories whose protagonist has a particular gift, set in Mussolini's Italy.

I won't claim to understand every word, but I am making sense of it.

We figure we are at about the half way point of our trip now, and are well pleased with the experience!