15th September (Diary according to Daniel Hiles)

Up early and off to train station, train we were aiming for gets more and more delayed and in the end we resort to Eurostar Italia £12 supplement but much faster and god knows when we would have arrived otherwise. Had to sit in smoking carriage/floor for most of journey, when in seat it is much comfier. Arrived in Milan just 20 mins late-see our original train is now 3 hours late! Sussed out metro and after a bit of help from a couple of locals we find hostel with queue but eventually got served. It is single sex dorms but the boys are all together and it is only £10 for the night with breakfast included. Midnight curfew and 7:20am wake up call but this suited us fine as we needed to be off early in the morning for train anyway, glad we are not staying longer as we would get pretty annoyed with it. Rooms are pretty good and after shower we head off for the evening. Catch metro to S. Babila then walk along main street to Piazza Duomo passing Williams formula 1 car on the way. Cathedral looked spectacular and Milan is packed with people all trying to look more fashionable than the next although in England they would all be laughed away! Continue walk to castle and grounds and then finally to restaurant-Mike and Liz not satisfied but my pizza was nicest meal in Italy. Leave restaurant and I need to find beer of the day-buy off street vendor-last Italian beer! Stroll back along main street-glad we stopped over here, and back to hostel.