Blogs from Milan, Lombardy, Italy, Europe - page 8

We woke this morning to the sound of heavy rain. The news on TV last night reported flooding in Genova and storms were predicted in the wider region. The buffet breakfast was great and we wondered how we were going to get around today without being soaked. Our guardian angel came in the form of a man waiting outside our hotel selling umbrellas. Normally these salesmen are just serial pests but this was one occasion when he was a welcome sight. We entered the underground near our hotel to avoid the rain and caught a train to the Duomo. Trains run very frequently in Italy and if you miss one, the next is only minutes away. The Duomo Met station opens straight onto the Piazza Duomo so the first thing you see is the magnificent gothic ... read more

The plan today was to leave Venice and head to Milan. Milan is one of the places I didn't get to do on my last trip. I wanted to go to Milan last time, but I had some complications with my Eurail pass back then. Unfortunately, I had to change plans on the fly and skip it. However, this time was different. Train ticket, check. Room, check. Beautiful girl by my side, check. We checked out of the hotel at about 10 or so and grabbed a quick bite on the way to the vaporetto. We headed to the train station soaking in the last few glimpses of Venice. It really is a beautiful city. After a couple hour train ride, we arrived in Milan. Luckily, our hotel room was right next to the train station. ... read more

Geo: 45.4643, 9.18951After our final breakfast looking at the lovely view of Lake Como, we left for Milan.We had organised a driver through the Metropole, Fabio Fantoni, for the transfer which worked very well. After we arrived in Milan, we were able to check into our hotel, the Gran Duca di York nice and early. After dropping our luggage the front desk explained how to get to the railway station and we headed straight there to catch the train to Malpensa airport. We were very happy with our room - not only was the cost incredibly reasonable, it was a lovely sunny room with a balcony and a complimentary mini bar, non alcohol only as well as excellent free wifi. Our review can be read here: http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/ShowUserReviews-g187849-d2... read more

As in the name, the institute I study at is IFOM, which stands for (in english) the FIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology. FIRC stands for the Italian Foundation for Cancer Research (again, in English). So, really, IFOM is an acronym that contains an acronym. Anyways, the institute is very small in comparison to campuses of other institutes I have visited. IFOM shares a campus with IEO (the European Institute of Oncology), which is a more medical oriented (as opposed to basic science) research campus. There are 17ish labs on the IFOM campus, and some labs that are technically IFOM labs but operate elsewhere. For example, my PI also has a lab in Pavia, a city south of Milan. It's really an exciting place to be! So far I have met people from Brazil, India, Spain, Germany, ... read more

My first night here, Thursday, I tried to go get dinner at some of the restaurants suggested by the HR office, around 5 PM, only to find that both were closed until 6 or 7. Fortunately, a small cafe across from the second restaurant I tried was open. I had some delicious pasta with pesto, and was given directions to the supermarket for some groceries (bread, cheese, prosciutto, wine, and a few other less important items.) While I was not too pleased with the prosciutto, the bread and cheese were ridiculously tasty, as expected. And the wine, for how little I spent on it it and how little I know wine, was also exceptional. On Friday I got a tour of the institute - very small, you can traverse it in ~1 minute - and was ... read more