We arrived in Milan at 6am, and spent our first 40 min in a customs queue, when we finally got our turn it was a simple stamp in our passports and that was that. While organising our bags Stumpy fell off the seat and broke his toe - better the mascot than one of us, but now his name seems a bit more appropriate! We are having trouble posting photos at the moment hopefully we will get this sorted soon so you can see him.

We jumped on a train to the city (noting the ticket agents suprise at the number of tickets we needed). That was the easiest transport of the day. Milan central station was my idea of a nightmare - I'd expected it to be a bit more tourist friendly. Trying to find the baggage drop off and the information Centre was challenging enough, let alone working out the subway and train system (a few mistakes made, like throwing away tickets too early - obviously a classic tourist mistake as the security didn't even question our explanation!). With only a single day in Milan we'd picked just two sites to see - Duomo and Castello Sforza. They were amazing. Nothing prepared me for the reality of a Cathedral that took 430 years to build. The sheer size and the intracacy and detail was staggering. The number of tourists was also amazing to see - and this was outside of peak season. Darryl noticed that all the people were extremely well dressed - even the Hawkers.

The Castello was set up as a museum with lots of very old monuments , and historical items including amour and swords. Such incredible detail on the sword handles. The museum also contained Michaelangelo's last unfinished statue - not quite as interesting as I'd hoped, but a bronze of his head made by his nephew from his death mask was interesting to see.

A trip to the supermarket followed by a few more navigation challenges had us back at Milan station trying to retrieve our bags (what bag ticket - I don't recall getting one, thought it was just the passport ID they needed - but it was found in Darryl's bag a day later!) before leaving Milan (with a sigh of relief) and heading to a quiet spot on Lake Como called Fiumelatte. A stunning site much more our pace where we can relax and unwind for the next few days.

Sarah: The subway was cool.

Scott: I saw a pigeon with one leg.

April: Mum got us lost x3. Dad took over navigation. Gelato at the Castle was cool. I had Pistachio flavoured.