Ciao a tutti

We are currently waiting for our overnight train from Milano to Barcelona, and after some walking and exploring we found this internet cafe by the Milan Centrale train station. On Monday when we arrived in Milan, my Milan friend and his other friends took us out to dinner at a local trattoria (trattoria toscana). It was a cute little place with great atmosphere. The place was dark but with lots of candle lights. I had risotto ai frutti di mare (sea food risotto), it was very good. After dinner we hung out around downtown Milan before heading back to Lore's friend's house to sleep. We left for Venice early in the morning and stopped by the famous Duomo on the way to have breakfast at a cafe. Typical italian breakfast of cappuccino and a croissant while standing at the bar. We returned from Venice this morning. Venice was even more beautiful this time around. Seven years ago when I was in Venice, I spent only about 3 to 4 hours visiting the most touristy places, but this time around we travelled like a local with a couple of local guides. Our hostel is located in a non-touristy area near a university and where most of the locals live. We did not have a map with us so we just followed the misleading signs on the bulidings. On search for Piazza S. Marco and the Rialto bridge we practically walked every streets. Then at night, Lulu's friend and his friend came to meet us and took us around the touristy spots again to see what they are like after dark and all the tourists. Piazza S. Marco was beautiful at night, all the pigeons were gone, all there left were the locals and few tourists enjoying drinks in the piazza while listening to live orchestra. We also stayed out like the local and had the popular local drink called sprits at a pub. The tv in the pub was showing a champions league game that was played earlier in the day. That is what i love most about Italy...the prevalence of football craze.