Day 3 - Milan to Turin (Torino)

Today we woke up early, had breakfast in the lobby and then layered up to walk to the National Science & Technology Museum Milan which opened at 9:30am. It was absolutely massive, and every floor consisted of a different subject; such as Robotics, Communication, Machinery, Energy, Transport etc., and then all of Leonardo da Vinci's original drawings, as this was his hometown. We saw the first TV, Bruce played Nought's & Crosses with a Robot, and we played around with the original communication methods.

We walked back and checked out as we had to go on the Metro Underground train, to the Central Station where we bought a ticket for Torino (Turin). The train trip to Torino from Milano is roughly 2 hours, and is very affordable.

We arrived in Torino and our Hotel (Hotel Dock Torino) was opposite the Metro Station so it was very easy to find. We are really winning with the last minute hotel deals, if you book the day before - you can get up to 70% off and it includes breakfast!

We walked down to Piazza Castello (3km's) through Roma Shopping District. Torino is absolutely beautiful, and has a different feel to Milano. It's the home of FIAT, and unfortunately we didn't get to see all the museums because it was a Sunday. However, we have to pop by again to catch a train to our next stop after Skiing in Sestriere.

Day 2 - Milan, Italy

The night before we met a sleeping guy on the top of Bruce's bunk. Hence, we never really got his name or nationality, he was sleeping by 8pm. However, getting ready for bed, unzipping bags and climbing bunk beds definitely disturbed his sleep. So, at 6am he got us back by exaggerating every one of his moves like he linked every sound up to a wireless microphone. Thats the beauty of a hostel dorm, I guess. By the time we got to sleep again, we only woke up at 10am and woke up in a massive rush! We had to pack up, fuel up at breakfast and still find our way to our new hotel down the road.

Breakfast consisted of cereal, scrambled egg and toast, Nutella and coffee. We said our goodbyes and we hit the streets in search of IDEA HOTEL down the road.

We got lost again, walked a few extra km's, but we found our way to our hotel where we dumped all our stuff in the room and left to see some of Milan's Attractions! Today the weather was 10 degree's and sunny, so we saw a few locals in Tshirts - but us South Africans still need ski jackets to handle 10 degrees!

We saw the Duomo Cathedral, and climbed 500 stairs at a price to walk on the roof. We saw Andy Warhols Pop Art exhibition (Free because we under 24yrs), we walked to the Castle and through the huge Central Park, and we ate a traditional Milan Panzerotto (A deep fried, slightly sweet and spongy flat bread with a Mozzarella and Ham center).

To end off the day, we walked through Zara, Foot Locker and H&M and then caught a tram to a Heineken Pub for 'dinner.' In Milan, every night between 6-8pm if you buy 1 drink at a pub, you can have their snack buffet. We sucked up the beer price of 7Euro's for 1 beer each, and ate their snack buffet... for dinner. I think the Pub couldn't believe how many plates we had, as in Milan the locals make use of the snacks on their way home from work before dinner. We ate so much we could barely finish our huge draft beers!

We rolled home to our hotel, the size of a broom closet in South Africa.

Day 1 - JHB / Dubai / Milan

After saying our goodbyes, our start was a bit slow as the Emirates system was down, and with such a long wait that we had in Dubai, we thought we would be fine. Hah, we missed our connection flight, got handed a ticket for a flight in six hours time, a meal voucher, and a big non-english speaking smile. Did I mention that this was at 3am?

After escaping a bunch of angry travelers shouting in 24 different languages at the Emirates Information desk, we decided to go make use of our meal voucher.
Note: You can only get a hotel room if you have a 8 hour delay, and we were 6 hours.

Nevertheless, we now had options for our meal voucher: Fish Monger, a Big Mac, or an Eastern Buffet. I don't know about you, but we've never had the craving for Airport sushi at 3am? And no matter what time it is in the day, 'buffet' screams OPTIONS, FREE, MORE -  So, we went for the Eastern Buffet. Except, the only thing we were knowledgable about was a can of Pepsi, and what looked like potatoes.

We arrived at Milan Airport at 11am, 8 degree's. We hopped straight onto a train to Milan Central Station with all our bags! First problem we faced - the directions for our hostel were on Ash's e-mail and we had no wifi, or a good old map. McDonald's and Milan City had wifi but you had to have an Italian sim card. It was raining and we were lost in Milano Duomo with 3 big bags, only being able to speak English and a bit of Afrikaans.

6 long (unnecessary) km's later, we arrived at Ostello Bello Hostel - greeted with a BIG welcome beer and by lovely receptionists who couldn't believe we were from South Africa. They supposedly have tried Bobotie*, and we grinned  like we eat it for lunch and dinner everyday. We were in a dorm with 4 other UK people which was awesome to be surrounded by english speakers, however, we had to explain what a Visa and a Shengen Visa is. It was time to get out and see the city!

We had dinner, got lost on a bunch of trams, walked through a HUGE underground bookstore, stumbled through the famous shopping area (Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II) and then ended off our day at our hostel which seemed to be the place-to-be on a Friday night; 4 Euro beers and it was packed with locals and foreigners.

We can highly recommend Ostello Bello to anyone if you in Milan, it even won a 'Hoscar!'

* Bobotie - Traditional South African dish.