1st August 2008

Milan

We had another warm welcome at breakfast from the Hilton staff and a lovely buffet again.  I am in full ‘bloater’ mode now and have taken to having a 3 course breakfast like Tris.  There is just too much amazing food  around.  Later we said goodbye to Tris’s brother and Imi by waving them off in their red and white transit van near the Hilton.  Tris’s brother drove off like an Italian – he told us he’d soon realised the only way to survive is to do as they do in Rome.  We took to crossing the roads like the Italians – don’t look, just walk out into the traffic.  It seems to work.  I’m not sure I could drive the bike with the same road ownership ethos although on arrival we did drive down the pavement to avoid re entering busy traffic for 100 metres which was fun.

We had our photos taken and were introduced to the new General Manager, Ilio Rodonio, who told me our cause was close to his own heart as his mother had had breast cancer too.  Then we took Tris’s lap top and our maps and belongings to the executive lounge where we skype called a bed and breakfast near Geneva to book accommodation and did some planning for the next leg of our journey.  We had been enjoying the free refreshments in the executive lounge for a couple of days as Tris’s room card gave us access.  However, when I discovered my card did not give access, we then realised we weren’t supposed to be there at all so we humbly gathered our belongings and went back to our rooms to upload some photos and blog.

It was late afternoon by the time we left the hotel to visit Milan but it was still stifingly hot.  We took the metro and made our way to the cathedral, Il duomo.  We decided to do some very quick sightseeing and then some more people watching.  Italians definitely invented ‘cool’.  Where else in Europe could a man wear pink trousers, white loafers and a blue shirt and still look suave?  The strong facial features and colouring of the Italians make for some very attractive people.  I loved watching the business men, brown from the sun, zipping past us on their mopeds in Armani suits.  We noticed there weren’t any obese people except for Americans too which must be to do with their way of life. 

We ate in a typically Italian restaurant later after walking around for a long time in the heat and then made our way back to the hotel and the cool of our air conditioned executive suites.  As we were uploading more photos, we heard noise outside and stepping out onto the balcony, we were treated to a spectacular storm with strong winds and driving rain.  The lightning flashed so constantly, it almost looked like daylight outside and there was a strange orange hue to the city.  It did little to cool the air.  I hoped it would be over by the time we left Milan for Geneva.  I have rain phobia since my accident.  We set our alarms for 6.45am as early starts mean we miss some of the heat of the day.  I felt sad that this was the last of our Hilton nights.