It may seem incomprehensible that one has visited over 40 countries but is yet to visit Italy which is practically on the UK’s doorstep? Well not any more as the exploration of Milan and Florence begins.
With a few new cables for Superbunny and the Cerberus heatwave keeping to the south (for now!), we took the 1.75 hour flight from Bristol landing in Milan to 27C. Upon disembarking onto the ambulift (which arrived before the passenger shuttles…now that is efficiency!), the captain explained that they were unable to turn off the chair in Bristol. Most airports would simply leave it after checking that it wouldn’t move but no, Bristol had to mess around with the cables and rip apart the one that I have yet to replace meaning that the chair won’t turn on unless the connection has been made (swear that one should train to be an engineer), Ahh well, perhaps by the next trip to Armenia, every cable will be brand new!
Anyway, enough of the usual airport drama, let’s discuss the Milan Malpensa Airport Express which transports you from the terminal to Milano Centrale in around 60 minutes (slightly longer from T2). As one had already bought tickets online (saving around £40), we headed onto the platform in the hope of catching said train that was scheduled to leave in 1 minute. Luckily, the driver saw some British tourists approaching and kindly waited for us to board. Akin to the Heathrow Express in London, the train doors are level with the platform (well, there is a really small gap if we are getting picky!) thus easy to roll on and off.
Our hotel (ibis Milano Centro) is conveniently situated around 10 minute walk from Milano Centro making it easy access to said train, the metro network and high-speed train services (which we will be using to travel to Florence)…wonder who booked that?
Tomorrow we plan to head into the centre and take in the usual tourists sights including the Duomo di Milano and Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II plus sampling the Milan Metro
(I must say that it is nice to be back in a city with actual drop curbs!)