Day 1 and 2: The journey over and Milan

Well, I am in Italy. Day 1: The flight. Not too bad. We flew United, which is the first time I've flown United since Continental merged with them, and it hadn't really changed. I miss the free wine that I got on Air France last year, but I survived - and was flying on a plane that let me charge my iphone and use normal ear buds which was nice. I hardly slept though, which didn't bode well for Day 2. Day 2: Milan. We arrived early this morning, and realized that we forgot to Googlemap where our hotel was. We figured out how to get to the city center from the airport via train and then hopped on a taxi to our hotel. Our hotel, Hotel Nesco, pleasantly surprised me. It's very clean, had a working elevator, and really was like a normal American hotel - but Italian. It's relatively modern, has working air conditioning, and is only a few miles from the center. I highly recommend it. After we checked in and showered, we set off on our adventure. First thing we quickly realized, however, was the weather. OMG is it hot. It's probably a couple of degrees cooler than Houston, but we were outside. I wore a dress, which was comfortable, and lamented the fact that I brought jeans. I'm going to wear the jeans tomorrow, and I'm pretty sure the sweating will continue. Lunch today was a simple pasta - a shape I've never had before with a lovely tomato-ricotta sauce. Perfecto. We then hopped aboard a Hop-on-Hop-off Bus at the Sforza Castle, which is amazingly huge. We got off a the Duomo; whatever words I use to describe it won't do it justice at all. It was amazingly beautiful and serene. Gelato #1 came then - across the street from the Duomo. I had a combination of chocolate and tirimisu and relished every bite. We then wandered to the Victor Emmanuel plaza, then the teatro, and finally hopped back on the bus to go to Santa Maria Della Grazia, a 15th century church famous for having Da Vinci's "The Last Supper" on a nearby wall. It was almost a fresco, so it couldn't be moved. It was amazing - large and just full of depth. It's hard to believe that Davinci himself painted that picture upon he wall so long ago - and it's still there. Did I mention gelato #2? It was fruitcake and dang yummy! After a bit of a walk, we grabbed a slice of pizza and headed back. I'm so tired right now that I can barely write a compete sentence. Future blog posts will be much better soon! Ciao!