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Friday, May 20, 2016

Departing Santiago before dawn

Our taxi arrived promptly at 4:55 am and we were off through the dark streets to the airport. Iberian airlines flight was for 6:45. The picnic breakfast our hotel had provided was discarded as juice and water were not allowed past security of course.
The flight was smooth except for the descent. Jeff and I moved seats to allow ourselves and seat mates more room, Jeff sat beside a girl from Los  Angeles who now lives in Madrid......since I had finished reading the only English novel I had brought with me I had a sleep.
We had a one hour layover in Madrid ,before our fight to Milan.
On arrival we took the airport bus to the central train station as it was a five minute walk from our hotel.  Hello Milan!!!! It was raining lightly but we just carried on.  Joanie and Graeme arrived shortly after us and we left the hotel to walk to the cathedral and meet up with Ray and Lynda Stevenson. When we got to the cathedral the line up to get inside snaked down the block and Into the square in front. Disappointing, fortunately Joanie knew that we could walk up a staircase to the top. We went around the side of the cathedral to find another ticket office and NO lineup! For the princely sum of 8 euros per person we bought tickets to climb the stairs to the top of the cathedral. It was a bit of a stairmaster, but we have seen worse. What a magnificent view we had, the entire cathedral is built of carrera marble and in recent years it has been cleaned so it looked stunning. It was also amazing to see the sculptures and spires up close.
On descending we entered the galleria which is on one side of the cathedral square and we had arranged to meet Ray and Lynda. Soon we were in the beautiful Campari Bar with is mosaic walls.
After a walk about we found a bar where we ducked in for beer, while we waited for the restaurants to open at 7:30. Back out on the street again we went to a restaurant that Ray and Lynda had previously been to......it was delicious, we ended our night there, almost......walking back to our hotel the boys needed a cleansing ale.
A nice overview of Milan, makes me want to return......the shopping...oh my!
Bonne Sera.

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