Milan

After an amazing breakfast where I had the most amazing berlina bun with chocolate filling Noel and I headed to the ll Duomo di Milano cathedral. This massive cathedral took 400 years to complete with the roof and facade crammed with 135 spires and 3500 statues. The inside is just as amazing and it was nice to be there on Good Friday.

We decided to gave an espresso and macchiato in the golden quad amongst Prada, Lois Vitton, Gucci etc. The coffee was not expensive as I feared it would be in the location, only 7.9e for both coffees.

We then headed off and found the Sforza Castle from the 14th and 15th centuries which was once was the most sumptuous court of Europe. The castle now acts as a museum of ancient arts and we where luckily there for the Michelangelo exhibition. I can now say I have seen lots of original Michelangelo drawings and archetectul schetches. We even saw a original Da Vinchi painting in one of the main halls.

Pizza for lunch at a lovely out door cafe as it is 25 degrees and sunny. We then headed back to the hotel to await the arrival of Kathy and Richard.

They finally arrived and it was amazing to finally be together in Europe after such a long time planning the trip. We caught up on what we had all been up to on our separate adventures and then headed out for dinner. Lasagna, salad and calzone for dinner we stopped for a coffee on the way back to the hotel. Richard had the most amazing hot chocolate, it had more wipped cream than chocolate.

I made my first purchases today even though it's Good Friday 99% of the shops are open. I bought some Italian leather shoes and down the road from the hotel there is a great shop that sells fantastic shirts. Might have to go back in the morning for another one. And eraser success today made me a very happy shopper.

Big day tomorrow as we pick up the car and head towards Nice. The French adventure begins.

We may not have such good free wi-fi now as we will be staying in B&Bs most of the time so the blog may slow down a bit however we will update it as often as we can. Kathy will do an entry soon telling the stories of their adventures in Italy.

Buonanotte