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 Scala before mass. Being the cultured types that we are, we postponed La Scala.

We wanted to get in to the Duomo early so we could soak up the atmosphere. This was helped by an altar full of clerics singing what I think was the office. It was easy to imagine this having gone on here for hundreds of years in the same way, incense and male voices (young and old) floating together up into the vast vault of the ceiling, the men clothed then much as they were today. Mass began with a tolling of the bell right on 11 and it had everything- tracts spoken and sung (beautifully) in Latin, ordinary parts of the mass in Italian, five priests, a deacon, several senior acolytes and a gaggle of juniors. Readings by clerics. Oh - and a woman got to bring up the offertory. The reading from Matthew was a personal favourite of mine, where the Pharisees ask what the greatest law is. You all know the answer - would that we lived it!

I find myself less cranky with the blatant medievalism in a setting like the Milano Duomo where at least it has a tradition- however much it may miss the point in other ways. It's when I see us trying to breathe life into this kind of liturgy in suburban Australia that it fires me up!

By the time we finished Mass we had missed the last morning entry to La Scala. Let's hope we don't have any problems with our pass when we get back from the lakes.

We decided that we'd grab lunch somewhere near San Siro, the home ground for both Milan and Inter. This was our first encounter with Milan's ATM- public transport. The various different sources of advice seemed to indicate that a number 16 tram would take us right to the stadium. Getting to stadiums is easy- you just follow the people in the team colours. So we got off the tram with the other fans and then got on to .... A number 16 bus to take us the rest of the way. We took careful note of where we were, because getting back, not everyone is headed for your address!

Right at the bus stop we saw Pizzeria Al Meazza - at the Meazza - the formal name for San Siro. This may be the world's only Italo- Chinese restaurant - which manages to combine Classical Chinese restaurant decor, modern day Chinese restaurant staff, and a menu made up of pizza, pasta, patate fritte and not a dim sim in sight! The place ran like clockwork, the object being to get as many people in and out as possible on match day- and they were good at it. A beer and a very acceptable pizza set us up for the big game.

We only had to show our passports once this time- and in no time at all we had climbed the 132 steps to the second level of the steeply banked stadium. We were in line with the touch line but had a fantastic view because of this banking. The main ingredient for this steepness was very narrow seats- and if there was someone large in front of you, as was the case for Anne, it got a teensy bit squeezy.

There was a pretty small crowd for and 85000 capacity stadium- maybe 40000? As is often the case, the crowd provided nearly as much entertainment as the players, and some of the children near us had their vocabularies extended by their parents' choice language as Inter had a man sent off and fell further and further behind to lose an unbelievable 4-1 to the bottom of the table. The Cagliari star was a guy who got a hat trick, having scored only 3 times in his previous 77 games! Aside from this, Anne found the squat toilets a less than present surprise- particularly as men felt free to use the ladies! (And, for the record, Wanderers fans are better singers!)

We left with 10 minutes to go. It was a game going nowhere and as it turned out there were no further goals. We managed the trip back with a brief moment of uncertainty as to where to get off the bus, and walked through the centre of town, through the bustling crowds of shoppers to get back to the flat and plan our overnight trip to Lago di Como tomorrow and Tuesday.

The mozzies were ridiculous last night, so we bought some spray - as the tennis racquet like zapper Giancarlo have us was about as useful as a spoon in a bowl of spaghetti. However, even the spray proved inadequate, so we gave in, closed the windows, turned on the air con and settled in for the evening.