Saturday May 10th ( Leon Again)

We awoke this morning to a beautiful day, the sun glistened on the surface of Como di Lago and we were looking forward to an interesting drive back to our hillside villa. We went down for breakfast and were quickly reminded that we were still on terra firma, as the milk tasted a little funky and the coffee was very dodgy and dispensed from a machine akin to one you would find in a Laundromat, it was in complete contrast to the evening before where everything was perfect (Tutto Perfetto). We brushed breakfast aside and got on with the business of departure.

As we were checking out it became evident that they had not charged our dinner to our final account, and so, (allora) ensued possibly the most effort I have ever taken to pay a bill they did not know we owed, it was one of those classic dilemmas of conscience and honesty, we could have easily walked away and skipped the 70 or so Euro’s, but we couldn’t do it and after much gesticulating and the usual impromptu game of charades they understood we owed more. That settled we set off for Milano. We approached Milan from the north and I was very pleased to see an outlet store for Diesel clothing. Most of the outlet stores are very slimly disguised as normal shopping centers here in Italy and very rarely offer any real savings, however, much to my delight this one was a genuine factory outlet and offered very cool gear at a fraction of the usual outrageous retail price, one or two items later we resumed the journey to Milan.

All the stuff you hear regarding Milan suggests that you are visiting a very stylish and exclusive city, inhabited by the cool and the chic! Truth is Milan, apart from a very old and beautiful shopping centre and a gothic cathedral in the main Piazza, it is like any other big city, smelly, dirty and busy. It gave me distinct memories of Melbourne with its trams and old buildings but otherwise it was fairly nondescript. It is fair to say ,that we didn’t give the place much of chance at charming us, Milan is of course the home of the famous fresco; the last supper, but to view the masterpiece one must book days in advance, and of course cough up for a substantial entry ticket, while we are always ready for the latter the booking thing foiled our plan and so we headed again for home.

We decided to take the road less travelled and asked Karen to avoid the autostrada on the way back, we found ourselves visiting numerous interesting places and at one stage were high in the Alpi Aquane above Carrara where we stopped for a break and a coffee in a charming hotel / Ristaurante , upon resuming our trip we traversed down and across the ranges, on some spectacular roads both for the views and the frightening nature of the roads, in places the car seems to teeter on the edge of the precipice and a glance down while driving reminds you that you should just drive and not look down, living in Kuranda did nothing to prepare me for this. We arrived home at about 9 pm and crashed for a nice long sleep in.