Prioca via Milan

---

(note to readers...this is a little delayed due to impossible net access further north in Italy)

Yay! Today we head to Priocca, a divine little vineyard town about 1 hour east of Milan.

We got up in Levanto, and headed up the massive hill loaded up with our packs (wishing I had a suitcase with wheels) to the train station. While waiting for the train I figured out how to play one of these crazy Italian pokies and managed to win enough money for lunch, great start to the day!

We boarded yet another train, I thought I'd let the Trenitalia staff drive today, I was a little tired, then headed for Milan!

We only had a day in Milan, in fact we only had about 4 hours, so we had to make the most of it. WE arrived in Milan Train Station and were totally blown away. This is the most amazing station, kicks the butt off half the buildings we've seen so far, honestly! It was so HUGE and really 'Batman Gothic City' looking, very cool.

So stepping onto the streets of Milan we made our way to the Tram station (yes, they have trams!!). Mel took us to the Dumom (every city in Italy seems to have one of these) but this one was extra special. Apparantly inside it has a nail that came off the cross that Jesus was crucified on....we looked but couldn't find it.

They also had another creepy glass coffin with a REAL preserved woman in it. Now please excuse my ignorance, but I can't remember who she was, no doubt a saint, but it still creeps me out seeing these glass coffins, they still have skin on their hands etc..

So after visiting the Duomo, we set out to discover Milan!

Well, it's certainly the most 'modern' of all the cities we have visited in Italy. Very very cool shops, all the top labels sure, but every city has those, but Milan also had LOADS of cool streety type shops, very cool.

Jule also managed to find a RECORD STORE!!! But in true italian style, the shops closed at 12:30pm and wouldn't be open till 3pm (when our train was leaving).....so Jules tried to plead with the 'ever-so-cool-DJ-who-works-in-a-record-store-in-Milan' guy, but to no avail.

So with every really cool store shut, we could only window shop at all the cool clothes and shoes we could have bought....oh well, definitely a 2-3 day stop next time. LOVED it!

So 3pm approaching, we headed back to the station to board our train for Priocca.

After about 2 hours, we arrived in Asti (the home of Spumante!) and had to wait at the station for the bus. After asking Mel when the bus would arrive, she told us that 'the' bus driver would be here after he finished 'the school run'....something tells me Priocca is maybe not such a big place....

I was right.

After an hour bus trip into far away lands that I'll never know how to find again, even with GPS, we arrived at our accomodation.

So far our accomodation has been good, well by European standards it's ben good. The odd shower didnt stay hot for long, the odd bed had seen better days, but all in all it was pretty good. Jules and I had long forgot the luxuries of Dubai only a few days back, so we were expecting a typically average hotel....

How wrong we were...

Mel gave us our key, we walked up 1 flight of stairs (bonus!) and walked into our room......

We both stood in silence.....

It was.....

INCREDIBLE.

Probably the size of our whole apartment, massive bathroom and shower and toilet, HUGE King Size bed....and it was WARM! I forgot to mention this, but as we travelled further north, it got COLD!

The room was absolutely amazing, we couldn't have been happier! Oh, and did I forget to mention 'underfloor heating'!!!

We unpacked and headed into the 'town' (4 shops) and went to the pub for a sandwich and a beer....dinner. Travelling all day makes you tired, so does 1 litre steins of beer.

Tomorrow we head to a winery, better get some rest.

---