Ciao Milano

Saturday, April 5 - We've wrapped up Milan, Italy stop and are on the train to Venice. Thursday evening we did laundry in the bath tub and found creative places to hang our clothes before meeting my co-workers for some pizza & beer on the Navigli canal where Craig gracefully spilled one all over Tee and into her purse (photo below). The quest for a Karaoke bar for Chris didn't pan out, so we settled for more beer and dancing with representatives from South Africa, Romania & Canada. After we shut down the bar Tee & I crashed hard. Fri am was spent catching up on sleep & lightening up our load by shipping winter clothes, souviners and some work material back home via the local office. With some panini sandwiches from a street vendor in our bellies, we hit the Milan subway for some turbo sightseeing which included quick tour of National Museum of Science and Technology (lots of Leonardo da Vinci stuff) , Castello Sforzesco (castle) and the highlight - a trip to the top of the Duomo. The Duomo itself is beautiful and huge, one of the largest churches in the world. The volume of detail was amazing. The top was the best. Aside from a bird's eye view of the city (1.3 million residents) we could see the alps to the north in the distance. The trek back to the hotel included a wrong turn after the subway ride, so we resorted to a taxi (we were closer than we thought). The evening was topped off with a fabulous dinner at el Brellin (recommended, but not cheap), just 2 bridges down the canal from the hotel (Art Hotel Navigli - not recommended!).

Enroute to Venice now, view from the train window includes the alps again :)

Some Milan photos: