Milan

Well the night train from Paris to Milan wasn't too bad. At first I had a little trouble locating the train station at night and began to wonder what my plan would be if I missed the train. Luckily, I figured out where it was, remebered to validate my EruoRail Pass before boarding, and got on the train with out any further trouble. The compartment I was in had six seats which converted into six beds, three bunks on each side. We only had 5 people show up in our compartment so it wasn't as crowded as it could be. I slept fairly well but generally woke up whenever we stopped. The train was 45 minutes late to Milan, which was fine with me because we were supposed to arrive at 5.45. So instead it was 6.30 which gave me some time to check my bags, find out when the train to La Spezia left and wander through Milan.

In Milan, most of the places in my guidebook were still closed. In fact, I went into a supermarket and had someone tell me that the store was closed after I was in there for a few minutes already. I ended up grabbing a croussant (sp?) in a bakery and it was great. I visited the Duomo which is very big and could be described as busy in my opinion. It has a great view from the roof though and they let you walk around most of the building.

After the Duomo, I found some gelato and meandered through the large park there. I planned on sitting down to eat lunch but lost track of time and actually grabbed McDonalds before catching the train. I know, not what I made it all the way to Italy for but it was quick and I knew what was on the menu. By the way, McDonalds is everywhere I've been so far, globalization at its best.

Milan