The last part of our trip, we stayed at the Hotel Lancaster in Milan.

the bearded eye-roller decided that driving in Milan would require lots of wine to recover from the psychological damage. Drivers (and pedestrians, for that matter) in Italy are VERY aggressive and intimidating. Milan was probably the worst.

BER and Michael actually came up with a little song to the tune of "Walk like an Egyptian" called "Drive like an Italian". Catchy, yes?

Anyhoo- we landed safely at the hotel, dropped off our bags in our room and headed for a trattoria for lunch. It was a fairly quick lunch because BER and I were beat. We were feeling our age (he being 45 and me being oh- 36 or so.... ha ha) at this point and wanted a nap, STAT!!!

I set my alarm for 2 hours and wanted to kill my N800 (even though I love it very much, and have yet to write a review about it) when the alarm went off. I could have honestly slept through the night- skipped Milan and been just fine, I thought.

Instead, I changed into a skirt and blouse- put on another round of makeup to try to cover the suitcases bags under my eyes.

Note: do not do this in a dimly lit bathroom, because when you go outside and see yourself in a mirror, it's very scary. Especially when there's nothing you can do about it at that point.

We met up with MIL, while Michael did his own thing. "His own thing" usually consisted of being on the hunt for "young, hot Italian babes." What a lech.

Love ya, mean it, bro....

Off we went to the plaza in Milan, where we visited the Duomo. In my opinion, this one wasn't nearly as magnificent as the Duomo in Siena, but it was still wonderful. I had a different feeling in this building than the one in Siena and I can't really put my finger on it. The closest I can come to it is that it felt more reverent. Maybe it's because it was less ornate on the inside.

All reverence was lost, however, when I saw a big sign that read, "Jesus on the web". Wow- I had no idea He had His own site. Very forward thinking, if you ask me. Here's the link, in case you're interested, where you'll find:



...among other things. And that's all I'm going to say about that, in fear that I'll be struck by lightening.

As we strolled around the shopping district, I found the fanciest McDonalds I've ever seen. I'm sure you'll agree.



I was obviously very tired, because there aren't very many pictures of Milan. What I do have can be found here. Remember to click the 'i' in the center of the picture for details.

Stay tuned for the wrap up.....