Milano!

Back to Italia, but just for two days. It was so nice to be in the country of Gelato and pesto and pizza once again. First of all, a note about the place we stayed in...wierdest hostel ever. This place was reallz cheap and in a decent location, so that´s why we chose it, but our guidebook failed to mention that it was run by a group of socialists and was more like a commune than a hostel. We were put randomly into a room where we shared a loft bed, and there was another young woman there, along with two middle-aged men. One of these guys was nice but talked our ears off, and the other one snored to the high heavens...You have never heard snorring like this...he sounded like he was choking on his nose, and Nicole and I suffered from less-than-adequate sleep for two nights because of this dude.

Aside from that, the visit was nice. We enjoyed the cuisine (as much as we safely could in a two-day period). We checked out the cathedral, a beautiful Gothic building, and walked around the center of town and window-shopped at GUCCI, PRADA, LOUIS VUITON and the like.

Because Nicole hadn´t seen a single cinema-show since she left the states, I escorted her to the movies TWICE, although it wasn´t really my idea. The first night we saw ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, a phenomenal film that we had already seen, but never had experienced in the theater, a huge difference. The second night we saw WIMBLEDON, a cheesy Kirsten Dunst romantic comedy (I know, pathetic, right?) I was surprised that I was enjoying the completely predictable movie from beginning to end, and accredited it to the fact that I haven´t seen bad romantic comedies in so long.

We did try to accomplish the utmost cultural feat in Milan--seeing Leonardo da Vinci´s LAST SUPPER. So we find Santa Maria Della Gratzie, the obscure church where it lives, and were DENIED. They were booked until mid-july, and even though they apparently guide "25 people every 15 minutes" by the painting, they just couldn´t squeeze us in. And to think that was the sole reason I returned to Milan...oh well.

The day before we left, we excitedly worked out the kinks of our intinerary with Franki and Denise, booking hostels and such. Now we are all together, but I will sign off and let somone else right about our reunion in Vienna.

If you are trying to post and you are not a blog member, we are trying to change the settings, but they are in Austrian right now, so we´ll see what we can do.

Much love,
f AMANDA nd