Barcelona to Milan….

So Kevin and i caught the 7:15am train to Barcelona airport and it dropped us off at terminal 2, however after checking the boards in the departure area we saw no flights at all to Milan.After asking at the Information desk we found out there was a second terminal about 1/4 mile away just for easyjet flights.

After checking in our bags, walking up to security and going through the departure lounge we had a little breakfast and then proceed to board our 90 minute flight to Milan.

We arrived in Milan airport around 10:15am, Mark, Beth, Kami and Kim were flying in from The USA via Frankfurt and were due in in 20 minutes time. Joe and his friend Zak had flow in again from the USA but via NYC and had landed  couple of hours before and waited for us in the airport. we met up with them straight away and waited for the girls and marks flight to land. Zach's luggage had gone “missing” somewhere along the way and after 22 hours of traveling that's the last thing you want to hear! Joe was pretty bummed as all his cigarettes were in Zach's case! Zach had his carry on luggage with him though and for some reason had put all his pants in that case so he wasn't gonna be short of anything to wear on his bottom half for the next few days!

Mountains in the background arriving in Milan:

   

After about 20 minutes Mark, Beth, Kami and Kim arrived through the arrivals door and after lots of hugs between everyone we all made our way to the train that would take us to the central station in Milan, about 1/2 mile from our hotel for the next 3 nights.

Due to the amount of luggage we all had (except Zach!) we decided to take two taxis to the hotel. Kami, mark and i got in the first taxi, Kim, Beth, Joe and Zach in the second.Kevin's hotel was a bit nearer to the station than ours so he decided to walk. our taxi arrived at the hotel within 5 minutes and cost us 4.50 Euros. We waited and waited for the second one to arrive and after twenty minutes kami and i went up to the room (i was sharing a room with Kami and Kim) Joe and Zach had their own room and Mark and Beth too. After what must have been a good 40 minutes we heard Kim's voice outside and hung out of our window to see them all getting out of the second taxi.Apparently the taxi driver had taken them for an 18 euro drive all across the city thinking they had said Marconi Street, not Marconi hotel!! Anyway the main thing is even if they were 15 euros lighter than they should have been at least they were safe.

We all chilled out and rested for a couple of hours at the hotel before the 7 of us taking the metro down to the Duomo cathedral.

Joe and Kim arrive in Milan                             Zach and I chilling out in the hotel.

      

I've seen the Duomo before but never been inside and certainly never been on the roof before which gave us some fantastic views!

Kami, Beth, Kim and Mark

                 

After wandering around the Duomo for an hour and then  taking the elevator onto the roof we took a walk around the Galleria shopping area, stopped for some amazing Gelato ice cream and then headed to a restaurant across from the Duomo with an excellent view of the square and a great place for people watching.

Gelato store:

     

It took us 5 or 10 minutes to persuade the waiter that we did NOT need the $300 bottle of wine he was trying to sell us and settled for a couple of bottles of Chianti.The food was great and i had the best bruschetta ive ever had!

 

Dinner the first night:

 

After dinner we all headed back to the hotel, i was in bed for 9pm to be woken at 10:30 by a text from Kevin saying he was outside our hotel with Philippe, i got dressed, headed downstairs and had a couple of glasses a wine in a local bar with them before heading BACK to bed around midnight.

Full album of pictures below:

Milan day 1 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL