Sleepy in Milan

At around 2pm today (local time) my plane touched down in Milan, first stop in my whirlwind tour of north Italy. Nothing of note to report until this point, fairly standard routine by now: get up, shower and dress, finalise packing, get the train to the airport and make sure I'm on the plane in time.

Despite how much preparation, I still manage to cock up somewhere along the way. The next part was easy, a fairly quick bus ride into the city and I was at Central Station. According to my directions, I was close to where I was staying - or so I thought. To be truthful, the directions were a little vague and I was a bit confused to where I was going.

I figured it'd be worth asking the information centre in the station, but the only directions he could give me were I had to ride the underground rail. Still confused, I bought a map and tried to figure out where I was and where I had to go.

For some reason, the street I was looking for didn't appear to be in the street directory, so I found the closest match and set off on my way. As the information guy had said, it was three stops away on the underground. Only problem was, the closest station was a bit of a hike, but at least it gave me a chance to explore a bit of the city.

Three stops later I emerged into the light again to find my hotel - but I quickly got the impression I was in the wrong place. I hadn't gotten off at the wrong stop, it was the area - the amount I was paying didn't appear to match what I was seeing, a very rich, busy and ultra-trendy part of the city. Still, I wandered into where I was hoping to be staying... and found no hotel. Thoroughly confused by now, I ventured into a book shop to ask for help.

As it turns out, where I'd arrived at the station was only a five minute walk from where I was staying! My street was in the directory, I was just looking in the wrong place. Back I went on the underground, and within 30 minutes I was crashed out on my bed, quite exhausted.

After a bit of a rest, I decided I should take advantage of my day-long travel pass so I headed back into the centre of the city to Duomo. As I was a bit peckish by now, my first priority was to find something to eat. Both guides I've been reading have warned to stay away from eating anywhere around Duomo, so I began to wander up a busy looking road in search of food.

Passing quite a few tempting places, one small pastry shop caught my eye and within minutes I was munching into a pizza-style pastry. And it was really, really good. Now on a roll, I figured I may as well continue on the same path - which I did. Almost 45 minutes later I finally hit the end of the way, so not wanting to stray too far from where I started I retraced my steps and took a break just outside Duomo.

Now, the reason I'd decided to come to Italy in the first place was a chance to catch up with my ex-flatmate Elena, who had returned here almost six months ago and was now living in Milan. All was looking good until a few days ago when she got in touch to let me know she wasn't going to be in Milan this weekend after all!

As I contemplated this turn of events while I was resting, my eyes slowly started to droop and I started to drift off. Right in the middle of the city. I guess the four hours sleep is finally starting to catch up with me, so rather than collapse somewhere in a strange place I've decided to have a nice early night, get up bright and early and start to properly investigate this new city properly - and in the light.

Goodnight!