14th November 2014: St Petersburg to Milan, Italy

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This morning I received an email from my flight booking office informing me of a strike today involving air traffic controllers, baggage handlers and other ancillary staff at Italian airports. I didn't care what it was about, I just needed to know how it affected us, as our car was picking us up in half an hour to take us to our flight. Well, it seems we just avoided another 'Paris' dilemma. The strike in Milan was for 5 hours, commencing at 1pm and we landed at about 12.20; lucky.

The flight was very smooth and we arrived at Malpensa Airport at the estimated time. The airport was very quiet and it looked like our flight was the only one landing for some time. Customs in Milan is pretty efficient and we were sitting on the bus for the city within 20 minutes of landing. This drops you at Milano Centrale, the main station, and from there it was a quick walk to Bernina, our conveniently located hotel.

Today was really just for settling in and getting some train tickets, one to Rome and one to Duomo Station, for tomorrow. Sue had a rest while I walked back to the station to organise tickets. There was a long wait on the queue and after waiting 35 minutes I made it to the counter only to learn that cards were not accepted, cash only. I left the station, drew some money from the ATM and rejoined the queue. Apparently the air strike had caused a spike in demand and some trains were being cancelled as well.

After finally buying tickets, I went back to pick up Sue so we could go and sort out our movements tomorrow, where to have dinner, and grab a coffee. For dinner we had pizza and water and went back for an early night. The traffic in Milan is chaotic and it's obvious Sue is not enjoying being amongst it again. On crossings, once you start walking, you do not hesitate. There are no lights and while you do have the right of way, you need to impose it on the traffic. If you don't start walking, they will just keep coming. Often they just slow down and go around you. Milan is just good training for Rome, so we had better be used to it. It is meant to rain tomorrow and we are going to the Piazza Duomo and then to visit Michaelangelo's Last Supper, painted on the wall of Chiesa San Maria delle Grazie.

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