Milano

Milano is much like I remember it--full of tourists, fashion fanatics and business people. Probably heard more English there than my entire time in Portugal. Bene had never been there before, so we went to the normal tourist things. Including the almost hopeless try for tickets to see Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper. When my dad and I were here back in 2001, I somehow managed to convince the woman at the desk to let us in even though you had to reserve tickets 1 week in advance. We were lucky. This time it was up to one month ahead. No amount of convincing would make that happen. We went to the duomo which was unfortunately covered in scaffolding in the front, but the rooftop was still really nice to walk around on. The day was perfect to walk around the city. Perfectly blue sky--caused it to be a bit warm, but great for sight-seeing. The rest of Milano is really just great to walk around. Not many major tourist sites here. Also saw The Da Vinci Code in the theater. In English of course. There is a point in the film when the assasain lunges at Tom Hanks character from the side of the screen and somebody in the theater jumped so much that she screamed out loud. It was quite amusing for the rest of us. I forgot that for the really long movies in Europe they actually have an intermission.

The next day we decided to go to a city nearby. Not enough to see in Milano for yet another day. So we eventually made our way to Lake Como. It was just so nice and relaxing to sit by the lake. That night we spent most of it in the train heading to Perugia. Great fun. It was so nice to finally arrive at his apt and leave my luggage in one place for a while. Perugia will be my home for the next couple weeks. Later this week I will be taking my first cooking course. Very exciting! I think Bene won't mind being the guinea pig for whatever new dishes I learn.