Milan Day 1

Arrived on our last train from Monterosso around 2pm. Staying at 4-star hotel within sight of train station. This is a business hotel district and one can get a terrific room for good rates on the weekend, we have stayed here before. Tomorrow we will have short walk there to ride bus to Malpensa airport. We will get the 7:10 bus giving us enought time to check-in and clear security, as the bus ride is almost 1 hour.

We took the Metro to the Duomo, had been there before, but it's sort of the place to go. Today is Sunday, many places closed.

We returned to our hotel after watching a big May Day celebration by the Filipino community - little girls, and big ones in a May procession. Later we returned to the Galleria for our last big splurge dinner - we had Osso Bucco and Milanese rice - traditional dishes invented here. Our waiter took a photo, it is a bit blurry, but festive none the less.

Tomorrow we will learn what it is like on American Airlines. The owner of our hotel in Monterosso said they make you pay for everything. He once pay 6 euro for a beer, and he said it wasn't a very good beer. We are dressing warm, we are used to planes being cold, but we are used to our free booze and blankets on British Airways!!! We cannot check in on line, so hopefully we will get decent seats for the long haul to JFK. Wish us luck - we are spoiled British Airways customers!